The Politics of Culture and the Transient Culture of Bojale: Bakgatla-Baga-Kgafela Women's Initiation in Botswana

To understand the politics of initiation ceremonies, this article discusses bojale, a traditional rite of passage among the Bakgatla-baga-Kgafela people of Botswana, through which a girl enters bosadi (womanhood). I focus on my experiences as an initiate and participant observer in the 2009 ceremony. Bojale has changed from a puberty rite limited to unmarried girls nearing first menarche into an initiation rite for females of any age and status, whether married or unmarried, with children or without. Despite bojale's overt purpose of preparing initiates for womanhood, as echoed in bojale songs, I argue that its recent revival among the Bakgatla-baga-Kgafela follows a pattern indicative of ‘transient culture’ determined by the needs of the paramount chief. The women who have experienced initiation together join a regiment, a social organisation that becomes the chief's practical and symbolic socio-political base. Both revival and abandonment are triggered by royal-related factors and events, in a pattern of repetitive transiency.