Metoko people

Metoko / Mituku / Mitoko

Metoko / Mituku

The Metoko (Mitoko) are a Bantu speaking people who live today on both sides of the Lualaba River, particularly on its Lilo tributary, in east-central Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Metoko ethnic group settled in the heart of the equatorial jungle and founded a patrilineal society there, without a supreme leader, who lived mainly by hunting.

The Metokos have traditionally been a riverine people whose livelihood came from fishing, trading, and river-bank farming. Most Metokos still pursue a traditional lifestyle economically, although more and more are seeking work in cities and towns.

The Mituku of Democratic Republic of the Congo are numbering 107,000, (Peoplegroups.org, 2024)

Metoko People

 

Society

The villages have a chief whose power is strongly counterbalanced by that of the initiates of the Bukota association.
This society was (is?) the center of the religious and socio-political life of the Metoko. Organized with a system of degrees to which head wives could be initiated at the same time as their husbands, the Bukota can be compared to the Bwami in their structures and functioning. Thus, we will find among the Metoko figures with specific names related to specific behaviors with the objective of teaching morality.

 

Language

Mituku (also known as Kinya-Mituku or Metoko) is a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Mokpá dialect is distinct.

 

Art

The Metoko are known in African art for their highly stylized statues.

The Metoko statues fit into the important bukota brotherhood which played a leading political role in their society. The bukota is a hierarchical society that practiced circumcision rites. It is in this context that the artistic corpus was used, during the circumcision itself.

There are also statues among the Metoko intended to be placed on tombs. Some of them are known to us as kakungu. The latter served as a temporary receptacle for the soul of the deceased.

Metoko People

Metoko People


Sources:

  • Daniel Biebuyck. "Sculpture from the Eastern Zaire Forest Region." African Arts 9 (January 1976)
  • Irving Kaplan et al. Zaire: A Country Study. 1978.