uMakhulu as Gobela

This entry draws from the corporeal and spiritual encounters of my paternal grandmother and from existing literature to discuss the role (and importance) of the familial Matriarch as an enduring source of indigenous knowledge, moral conscience and philosophical consciousness. It is influenced by the works of Babalwa Magoqwana and June Bam, which focus on the grandmother or family Matriarch, and which have made it possible for me to reflect on my relationship with my grandmother in this way. The entry is framed with a brief introduction on moral education in African societies, highlighting the organic nature of the pedagogical approach to teaching moral consciousness and how it is an embodied and, therefore, “living” praxis which contests the denigration of “informal education”. On this basis, the discussion focuses on how the grandmother functions as an organic teacher through her influence on the formulation of moral consciousness and moral conscience. Her role is likened to that of a Gobela (a senior Sangoma who initiates trainee or student Sangomas), as she has not only acquired bodies of indigenous knowledges, but also takes us through ukuthwasa (spiritual initiation in the Ubungoma tradition).