ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes place of beliefs about itonga and medicines in the social life of Mwanabantu tribe and relate them to the question posed by Middle-ton and Winter the point of departure. In sum, beliefs about itonga and medicines would seem to 'fit into' the Mwanabantu social system as part of a more inclusive classificatory scheme which regulates social relations. In describing the social structure and organization of Mwanabantu tribe, showed how relations of incorporation and transaction are expressed in indigenous concepts of descent and non-kinship respectively. In Mwanabantu tribe these happen to be between incorporative as opposed to transactional relations; they might be used instead between males as opposed to females or between age sets as opposed to within age sets. On the other hand, social relationships of incorporation and transaction may be symbolized in different terms, as Leach's comparative observations on five societies suggest.
