LEWIS, J; (2008) Ekila: Blood, bodies and egalitarian societies. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute , 14 (2) 297 - 315. 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2008.00502.x.

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Abstract

Mbendjele forest hunter-gatherers in Northern Congo refer to a confusing body of seemingly unconnected and diverse practices and beliefs as ‘ekila’. Ethnographically ekila has many meanings. I suggest a number of possible ways to understand what connects these different practices, but argue that it is only when considering learning in this egalitarian environment that ekila really begins to make sense. The ethnography demonstrates how formulaic and counter-intuitive explanations of specific taboos and related behaviour stimulate a learner-motivated pedagogic process which does not depend on defining any individual or institution as a focus for Mbendjele to learn important knowledge. Ekila anchors key areas of cosmological knowledge, gender and political ideology in the physical and biological experiences of human growth and maturation so that gendered practices and cultural values take on a natural, inevitable quality.

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