ABSTRACT
Individual variability affects all classes of society, irrespective of social stratification. Some concentrate on agriculture, others on war, others on cattle-keeping, others on specific illnesses, and so forth. The purpose and direction of the magicians, or specialists in ritual, lie in the social conditions of their times. The efforts of the Swazi specialists in ritual stand condemned by European standards of science; to the conservative Swazi these people remain the honoured representatives of law and knowledge. Swazi consider many qualities innate, so that certain individuals are born for happiness and others are doomed to misfortune. The Swazi have a generic term, inyanga, which they apply to a specialist in any handicraft or profession. Whereas in some African societies the techniques of witchcraft are distinct from those of sorcery, among the Swazi they overlap. The chapter summarizes the relationship between ritual and rank.
