DOI article:
Raum, O. F.: The culture historical significance of the Xhosa spade
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49000#0113
THE XHOSA SPADE
107
must be read together with Isaac’s assertion
that two or even three crops could be raised in
one year.
Form and Function
Is there any immanent link between the form
and the function of the spadoon? B.
Malinowski proposed the following principle:
“Although (the) digging stick may be identical
in physical nature with the walking stick and
the punting pole, it is quite distinct from
them, for it fulfills a distinct function. It is the
diversity of function, not the identity of form,
that is relevant to the student of culture”
(Malinowski 625). Malinowski here objects to
the inordinate stress laid by the German Cul-
ture History School (Graebner’s criteria of
form and quantity adopted by W. Schmidt) on
questions of form. Radin attacks
Malinowski’s stand and asks how the latter
could be sure that there may not be relevance
to the identity of form: in uncritically separat-
ing form and function Malinowski, in Radin’s
opinion, falls into the same error of isolating
cultural traits, the very method he stigmatizes
as sterile (Radin iq/ff). From my point of
view it is interesting to know that one tool
form may be used for a variety of functions.
Thus the Xhosa spadoon is used for digging
up the soil, for mulching the seed, and for
harrowing the ground after sowing. Conceiv-
ably it may also be used for making seed holes
but no historical record of such use exists. I
conclude that the relationship form to func-
tion is complex and that little is gained by
arbitrarily distinguishing them. The concrete
situation must be analysed. Certain functions
may then be inferred from the form, e.g.
weeding and making furrows, others not, e.g.
mulching and making seed holes.
Certainly the dumb-bell shaped spadoon
was sometimes used for other than agricul-
tural purposes. Goldswain reporting on the
Sixth Kaffir War (1834-5), describes how
British troops once discovered a large number
of Xhosa with their cattle on the mountain
slopes of the Buffalo River. The detachment
directed against them found the heights inac-
cessible. “The Kaffirs threw down assegais,
immense stones and Kaffir spades! They are
made of wood and shaped at each end for
working the ground” (Goldswain 93). Yet
here they were used as weapons. Such mul-
tiple use has also been reported of the Bush-
man grubbing stick. With it men dig up bulbs,
cut or halve tsamma fruit, open up an under-
ground water supply, dig a grave pit, and the
holes for a game fence (scil. hoppo) or
windscreen, and also unearth ant larva
(Passarge passim; Thompson 1827/1967 147).
The Bushman “Spatenstock” is thus a general
purpose tool. Certain changes in function do,
of course, indicate a change in the economic
system. Thus as long as the grubbing stick is
used mainly for uprooting bulbs and ant lar-
vae, it is part of the culture of gatherers.
Among planters or agriculturists the stick be-
comes an instrument for clearing the bush, for
preparing the field, for cutting weeds, for
making seed holes. The name digging stick
does not cover all these functions. The same
applies to the spadoon.
Conclusion: Here the Xhosa spadoon (and
similar tools of the indigenous peoples of
Southern Africa) has been investigated, in par-
ticular as to its use in tilling, mulching, weed-
ing and harvesting the grain crops cultivated.
It was found associated with broadcasting of
the seed in unworked grassland, the “fields”
being of irregular shape, and with the storing
of the crops in pits in the homestead of the
cultivator. The Xhosa were, at the time when
the spadoon was being used, still practising a
semi-nomadic transhumant economy, keep-
ing their herds on pastures near the mountain
ranges of the Eastern Cape in summer and
moving them to the warmer grasslands near
107
must be read together with Isaac’s assertion
that two or even three crops could be raised in
one year.
Form and Function
Is there any immanent link between the form
and the function of the spadoon? B.
Malinowski proposed the following principle:
“Although (the) digging stick may be identical
in physical nature with the walking stick and
the punting pole, it is quite distinct from
them, for it fulfills a distinct function. It is the
diversity of function, not the identity of form,
that is relevant to the student of culture”
(Malinowski 625). Malinowski here objects to
the inordinate stress laid by the German Cul-
ture History School (Graebner’s criteria of
form and quantity adopted by W. Schmidt) on
questions of form. Radin attacks
Malinowski’s stand and asks how the latter
could be sure that there may not be relevance
to the identity of form: in uncritically separat-
ing form and function Malinowski, in Radin’s
opinion, falls into the same error of isolating
cultural traits, the very method he stigmatizes
as sterile (Radin iq/ff). From my point of
view it is interesting to know that one tool
form may be used for a variety of functions.
Thus the Xhosa spadoon is used for digging
up the soil, for mulching the seed, and for
harrowing the ground after sowing. Conceiv-
ably it may also be used for making seed holes
but no historical record of such use exists. I
conclude that the relationship form to func-
tion is complex and that little is gained by
arbitrarily distinguishing them. The concrete
situation must be analysed. Certain functions
may then be inferred from the form, e.g.
weeding and making furrows, others not, e.g.
mulching and making seed holes.
Certainly the dumb-bell shaped spadoon
was sometimes used for other than agricul-
tural purposes. Goldswain reporting on the
Sixth Kaffir War (1834-5), describes how
British troops once discovered a large number
of Xhosa with their cattle on the mountain
slopes of the Buffalo River. The detachment
directed against them found the heights inac-
cessible. “The Kaffirs threw down assegais,
immense stones and Kaffir spades! They are
made of wood and shaped at each end for
working the ground” (Goldswain 93). Yet
here they were used as weapons. Such mul-
tiple use has also been reported of the Bush-
man grubbing stick. With it men dig up bulbs,
cut or halve tsamma fruit, open up an under-
ground water supply, dig a grave pit, and the
holes for a game fence (scil. hoppo) or
windscreen, and also unearth ant larva
(Passarge passim; Thompson 1827/1967 147).
The Bushman “Spatenstock” is thus a general
purpose tool. Certain changes in function do,
of course, indicate a change in the economic
system. Thus as long as the grubbing stick is
used mainly for uprooting bulbs and ant lar-
vae, it is part of the culture of gatherers.
Among planters or agriculturists the stick be-
comes an instrument for clearing the bush, for
preparing the field, for cutting weeds, for
making seed holes. The name digging stick
does not cover all these functions. The same
applies to the spadoon.
Conclusion: Here the Xhosa spadoon (and
similar tools of the indigenous peoples of
Southern Africa) has been investigated, in par-
ticular as to its use in tilling, mulching, weed-
ing and harvesting the grain crops cultivated.
It was found associated with broadcasting of
the seed in unworked grassland, the “fields”
being of irregular shape, and with the storing
of the crops in pits in the homestead of the
cultivator. The Xhosa were, at the time when
the spadoon was being used, still practising a
semi-nomadic transhumant economy, keep-
ing their herds on pastures near the mountain
ranges of the Eastern Cape in summer and
moving them to the warmer grasslands near