CiTonga speakers in Malawi describe dominant use of the left hand as distasteful and offensive in face-to-face multimodal interactions, communicative exchanges involving both oral-auditory and visual-gestural actions. They observe a left hand taboo on religious and social grounds, linking the right hand to "good" and the left hand to "bad". Despite this widespread perception, ciTonga speakers were often observed using their left hand and eschewing the taboo even in serious situations where politeness is a social imperative. In this study, I aim to resolve this paradox by arguing that the significance of left hand taboo is domain specific. To do this, I collected 101 multimodal interactions--over 50 hours of recording--through participant observation in Cifila and Kavuzi, where ciTonga is spoken as a native language. I analyzed the gestures in two domains of interaction: everyday rituals and ordinary talks. For both domains, flexibility of handedness is determined by a ranking of four different contextual constraints. I proposed a decision matrix to describe how the type and scale of a constraint can explain the permissiveness of left hand use. CiTonga kinesic signs can elevate to taboo status when they violate the handedness convention for interlocutors with distant social relationships, but over-producing deferential signs can create a social imbalance between close affiliates. Selecting an interaction-appropriate hand preference is therefore an integral part of ciTonga communicative competence. A study on taboo in multimodality shows the ways in which domain structure and purpose shape the application of large sociocultural ideologies to spontaneous interactions in daily life. / acase@tulane.edu

The use of music for healing is ubiquitous in every human community. Music Therapy, however, as the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional, may not share the same pervasive prevalence in human society. This study explored how a culturally-sensitive music therapy process may be designed among baTonga of Mazabuka, particularly in relation to the participants’ existing understandings of masabe (musical healing ritual) Participants' perceptions of musical healing rituals of masabe were explored through focus groups, as well as, if the participants were amenable, to the use of musical healing rituals. We then designed a music therapy session together. The participants expressed delight at their involvement in the study as it communicated interest in their lives. The study affirmed their worldview and how that could be incorporated into wellness responses associated with their community. The study found that baTonga rely on musical healing rituals as they are aligned to their relational cosmology and accommodates their perceptions of wellbeing. BaTonga ritual music is rich in symbolism and imagery. Because buTonga personhood might be experienced at the intersection of the individual and the community, and at the intersection of the individual, the community and the natural environment, this study found that music therapy here would benefit from drawing on ecologically-informed community music therapy approaches. A music therapist’s role in buTonga may be seen similarly to how the role of a mun’ganga (an afflicted shamanic healer) is perceived in the community. The study argues that there is indeed a place for culture-centred, culturally sensitive and inclusive anti-oppressive music therapy among BuTonga. This research study contributes to the ongoing conversation about evolving meanings, theories, approaches and practices of music therapy. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Music / MMus / Unrestricted