The Hunganna is an ethnic group in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The tribe is variously called Baguana, Bahuangana, Bahuana, Bahugana, Bahungana, Bauangana, Huana, and Wengana. Murdock lists it as a subtribe of the Badinga.
Alternate names:
Primarily agricultural. The staple crops are manioc and maize, but bananas, earth peas, groundnuts, beans, peas, gourds, and some sweet potatoes also are grown. The domestic animals are goats, dogs, chickens, and some pigs and cats. Chickens are taboo to women. Fishing is done with baskets and traps. Hunting drives are organized by village chiefs. The bow and arrow, fire, and dogs are used in hunting. Trading is very important, and there are markets.
Men clear the land, but women do most of the agricultural work. Men alone hunt. Both sexes fish — men with traps, women with baskets.
Currency includes shell money, brass rods, and salt. Only men can own slaves. Nominally land belongs to the village chief and cannot be sold.
Inheritance is matrilineal. The preferred heir is the eldest surviving brother, then a sister, then a sister's son. The mothers brother is the guardian of an orphan.
It is uncertain whether the independent immediate family or the independent polygynous family predominates.
The typical community is a village with rectangular thatched huts.
Socially, each village is an avunculocal clan-community.
There are village chiefs, each assisted by a village council consisting of all the freemen in the village. Succession to the office of village headman is matrilineal -- preferably eldest sister's eldest son, with his mother's brother as regent if he is too young.
The former paramount chief has lost much influence, and many village chiefs today are virtually independent.
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