Sex, gender and Uvalo/Letswalo centred spirituality: in conversation with Gogo Mapitsi Mohoto

ABSTRACT

In Male Daughters, Female Husbands (1987) Amadiume argues that the female orientation of Nnobi society and its emphasis on female industriousness is ‘derived from goddess Idemili – the ancestral religious deity’ (27). While Christianity dominates the outlook and conservatism of the post-colonial African state, we are seeing a growing public presence of African spiritual practitioners in southern Africa. The interview with Lieketso Gogo Mapitsi Mohoto reflects on her journey of becoming a healer. She uses the concept of ‘uvalo' to argue for deeper connected spiritual awareness within this practice of healing. Using the Nguni concept of uvalo, she refers to the fluid meaning of intuition also known as Umbilini among Xhosa-speaking people, while Sesotho speakers call it Letswalo. This intimate connection with the Divine can sometimes mean a sense of fear for ordinary people, while it promotes a deep sense of knowing for the spiritually conscious. Gogo Mapitsi's connections between spirituality and land, speak to Amadiume’s matrifocal understanding of productivity as linked to the goddess Idemili in Nnobi histories. Gogo Mapitsi reminds us that the multiple health, economic, psychological crises we face today are linked 'to how uvalo works.' She tells us that the 'cultivation of that inner knowing and the cultivation of trust in that knowing' is central to how a Sangoma understands and responds to the needs of their society.

KEYWORDS:

• Uvalo
• letswalo
• ifi amadiume
• spirituality
• ancestral legacies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on the contributers

Siphokazi Magadla is a senior lecturer in the Political and International Studies department at Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa.

Babalwa Magoqwana is a Sociology senior lecturer and the interim director of the Centre for Women and Gender Studies at the Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa.

Nthabiseng Motsemme is the Academic Director of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Lieketso Mohoto is a Sangoma and former lecturer in Dramatic Arts at Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa.

Additional information

Funding

National Research Foundation Sabbatical Grant [PR_NFSG210216586749].