Jinganga Missionaries

Religious Accommodation and Political Subjugation in Angola (1575-1681)

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to demonstrate how Catholic missionaries in Angola, first Jesuits and then Capuchins, accommodated the customs of their Mbundu interlocutors. Between 1575 and 1681, the Portuguese colonial presence was still tenuous and negotiations for political alliances with local authorities were essential. In these cross-cultural negotiations, missionaries positioned themselves as key intermediaries between the Portuguese and the Mbundu. To gain the trust of the Mbundu, the missionaries even agreed to allowe their sacramental duties to be conflated with those of the ritual specialists known as jinganga, who were characterized as witches by the Portuguese. The fact that the missionaries permitted this adaptation suggests that the Mbundu played a role in shaping how Catholicism was practiced among them.