Pottery Taboos and Symbolism in Bukusu Society, Western Kenya

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Periodical article

Title:	Pottery Taboos and Symbolism in Bukusu Society, Western Kenya
Author:	Nangendo, Stevie M.
Year:	1996
Periodical:	African Study Monographs
Volume:	17
Issue:	2
Pages:	69-84
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Kenya
Subjects:	Bukusu popular beliefs pottery Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://jambo.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kiroku/asm_normal/abstracts/pdf/ASM%20%20Vol.17%20No.2%201996/Stevie%20M.%20NANGENDO.pdf
Abstract:	Contemporary Bukusu pottery has historical and cultural significance that reflects many aspects of Bukusu culture, past and present. Bukusu themselves believe that certain aspects of their pottery industry are intricately related to their views of cosmology, nature and culture. Because of the many associations between pottery manufacture and the supernatural, persons engaged in this art should be ritually clean. Bukusu believe that if this taboo is broken, misfortunes will occur to the affected individual, the society and the land. Based on fieldwork among Bukusu in Bungoma District, western Kenya, in 1989-1991, the author describes the taboos and symbolism associated with the making and decorating of pots and shows how they blend with other categories of taboos in the wider Bukusu society. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.