Dream and Charisma in the Jamaa-Movement 
545 
tionships between charismatic leadership and various processes of ideological 
formulation, such as "theories of dreams” accepted in a movement. 
My research on the Jamaa movement is guided by two basic assumptions. 
1) A charismatic movement is an attempt at (re-)orientation in a situa 
fion of stress and cultural anomy. It is, therefore, mainly concerned with it eas 
an d ideology. 
2) In order to understand the specific formulation of these ideas (i. e. the 
ideology of a movement) and the acceptance by a group we must start wit an 
a ha.lysis of the charismatic leader, i. e. his part in finding, formulating, pio es 
Sln §, and manipulating ideology. 
In terms of these basic assumptions 1 this paper has two goa s. irs > 
s h°w that charismatic leaders do have in fact a theory of dreams , t at ey 
are aware, and make deliberate use, of a potential source of ideas an onen 
fation in a charismatic situation. Second, to demonstrate that their t eones 
of dreams” are in fact "theories” in the sense of a set of concepts, definitions, 
a nd rules of application formulated by a leader claiming charismatic aut on y. 
From among many others I have chosen interviews with two ea ers o 
same movement and I hope to show by comparison that bot o them 
ma de a deliberate attempt to formulate their own theory of dreams. 
The informants are leaders in the Jamaa, a charismatic movemen a 
^ as spread, during the last 10-15 years, from the industrial centers of ou 
Ka tanga to most of the south-eastern Congo. The Jamaa (Swahili for ami y ) 
owes its origin to a Catholic missionary, Placide Tempels (aut or o an u 
hilosophy”). Its doctrine appears to be a synthesis of Western an ncan 
Val ues of a very general, “humanistic” sort. Mafundisho ("instructions ) emg 
the central interest and activity of the movement, it has undergone very htt e 
r Fualization and has developed, up to now, almost no formal orgamza ion . 
this accounts for the fact that the Jamaa, despite its great impact on socia / 
cul tural change in the Congo, has maintained a rather inconspicuous existence 
+ Wit hin the Catholic mission. It has gone virtually unnoticed by the admims- 
rati on, thus avoiding being forced into a development as a re igious or P° 
Sec F which has been the fate of other charismatic movements m the same 
re §ion (Kimbangism, Kitawala, Bapostolo). This is not the p ace o e a 
an y further on doctrine and organization of the movement. Clarifying remai s 
win i 
°e made where necessary 2 . 
a in the Jamaa. Like other Africans 
A few words should be said on dr Xhev dream often and are 
J^naa people are deeply concerned with reamS ‘. fi to their experiences. 
s >m satisfied not to attribute some deeper *gn" ° J actio „ _ 
they have found an interpretation it is certain to 
1 For a detailed discussion cf. Fabian (1963, 196y theologica i and popular reli- 
2 Numerous articles on the Jamaa ha\ e appe documents there exists only one 
periodicals. Apart from these more or less mvolveddocume 
1Itle ographed analysis by a sociologist (de Craeme 
:to 
An thropos 61. 1966