Kwena
Sotho Tswana · mortal · legendary genealogical · Recorded classification
Eponymous founder of the Bakwena ('people of the crocodile'), settled at Molepolole; the senior Bakwena stock from which the Bangwato, Bangwaketse and Batawana royal houses branch (sharing the crocodile totem). Authored as a legendary mortal tribal-founder ancestor (Oghuz-sons pattern), son of Malope and brother of Mohurutshe, Kgatla, Ngwato and Ngwaketse. No mother is registered in the corpus, so only the father edge is wired.
Parentage
- father: Malope
Domains
- founding ancestry
- clan totem
Powers
- founds and propagates the Bakwena lineage
Relations
- sibling: MohurutsheBrother and fellow founder-son of Malope (eponym of the Bahurutshe).Schapera, I. (1952). The Ethnic Composition of Tswana Tribes. London: LSE / Athlone Press. (reference)
- sibling: KgatlaBrother and fellow founder-son of Malope (eponym of the Bakgatla).Schapera, I. (1952). The Ethnic Composition of Tswana Tribes. London: LSE / Athlone Press. (reference)
- sibling: NgwatoBrother and fellow founder-son of Malope; in the lost-cow tradition Ngwato split from Kwena and moved north (eponym of the Bangwato).Schapera, I. (1952). The Ethnic Composition of Tswana Tribes. London: LSE / Athlone Press. (reference)
- sibling: NgwaketseBrother and fellow founder-son of Malope (eponym of the Bangwaketse).Schapera, I. (1952). The Ethnic Composition of Tswana Tribes. London: LSE / Athlone Press. (reference)
Sources
- Kwena is the eponymous founding ancestor of the Bakwena, a son of Malope, whose totem is the crocodile and whose line is the parent stock of the Bangwato, Bangwaketse and Batawana.: Schapera, I. (1952). The Ethnic Composition of Tswana Tribes. London: LSE Monographs on Social Anthropology 11, Athlone Press. (reference); Ngcongco, L. (1982). 'Origins of the Tswana', Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies, 2(1). (reference)