bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of Chromate Stress on
Escherichia coli
K-12
Authors: Ackerley D. F. , Barak Y. , Lynch S. V. , Curtin J. , Matin A.
Published: April 2006

The nature of the stress experienced by
Escherichia coli
K-12 exposed to chromate, and mechanisms that may enable cells to withstand this stress, were examined. Cells that had been preadapted by overnight growth in the presence of chromate were less stressed than nonadapted controls. Within 3 h of chromate exposure, the latter ceased growth and exhibited extreme filamentous morphology; by 5 h there was partial recovery with restoration of relatively normal cell morphology. In contrast, preadapted cells were less drastically affected in their morphology and growth. Cellular oxidative stress, as monitored by use of an H
2
O
2
-responsive fluorescent dye, was most severe in the nonadapted cells at 3 h postinoculation, lower in the partially recovered cells at 5 h postinoculation, and lower still in the preadapted cells. Chromate exposure depleted cellular levels of reduced glutathione and other free thiols to a greater extent in nonadapted than preadapted cells. In both cell types, the SOS response was activated, and levels of proteins such as SodB and CysK, which can counter oxidative stress, were increased. Some mutants missing antioxidant proteins (SodB, CysK, YieF, or KatE) were more sensitive to chromate. Thus, oxidative stress plays a major role in chromate toxicity in vivo, and cellular defense against this toxicity involves activation of antioxidant mechanisms. As bacterial chromate bioremediation is limited by the toxicity of chromate, minimizing oxidative stress during bacterial chromate reduction and bolstering the capacity of these organisms to deal with this stress will improve their effectiveness in chromate bioremediation.
Protein Splicing of SufB Is Crucial for the Functionality of the
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
SUF Machinery
Authors: Huet Gaëlle , Castaing Jean-Philippe , Fournier Didier , Daffé Mamadou , Saves Isabelle
Published: April 2006

The SufBCD complex is an essential component of the SUF machinery of [Fe-S] cluster biogenesis in many organisms. We show here that in
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
the formation of this complex is dependent on the protein splicing of SufB, suggesting that this process is a potential new target for antituberculous drugs.
Search on Chromosome 17 Centromere Reveals
TNFRSF13B
as a Susceptibility Gene for Intracranial Aneurysm
Authors: Inoue Kayoko , Mineharu Youhei , Inoue Sumiko , Yamada Shigeki , Matsuda Fumihiko , Nozaki Kazuhiko , Takenaka Katsunobu , Hashimoto Nobuo , Koizumi Akio
Published: April 2006

Background—

Our previous studies have shown a significant linkage of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) to chromosome 17.

Methods and Results—

Nine genes (
TNFRSF13B
,
M-RIP
,
COPS3
,
RAI1
,
SREBF1
,
GRAP
,
MAPK7
,
MFAP4
, and
AKAP10
) were selected from 108 genes that are located between D17S1857 and D17S1871 by excluding 99 genes that were pseudogenes, hypothetical genes, or well-characterized genes but not likely associated with IA. Direct sequencing of all coding and regulatory regions in 58 cases (29 pedigree probands and 29 unrelated nonpedigree cases) was performed. Deleterious changes were found only in
TNFRSF13B
, K154X, and c.585 to 586insA in exon4. The association of IA with
TNFRSF13B
was further studied in 304 unrelated cases and 332 control subjects. Rare nonsynonymous changes, a splicing acceptor site change and a frame shift, were found in unrelated cases (2.3%; 14 of 608) more frequently than in control subjects (0.8%; 5 of 664;
P
=0.035). The association study using single-nucleotide polymorphisms in an unrelated case-control cohort revealed a protective haplotype (odds ratio 0.69, 95% confidence interval 0.52 to 0.92,
P
=0.012) compared with the major haplotype after adjustment for covariates.

Conclusions—

We propose that
TNFRSF13B
is one of the susceptibility genes for IA.
Restoration in vivo of defective hepatitis delta virus RNA genomes
Authors: Gudima Severin O. , Chang Jinhong , Taylor John M.
Published: April 2006

The 1679-nt single-stranded RNA genome of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is circular in conformation. It is able to fold into an unbranched rodlike structure via intramolecular base-pairing. This RNA is replicated by host RNA polymerase II (Pol II). Such transcription is unique, because Pol II is known only for its ability to act on DNA templates. The present study addressed the ability of the HDV RNA replication to tolerate insertions of up to 1000 nt of non-HDV sequence either at an end of the rodlike RNA structure or at a site embedded within the rod. The insertions did not interfere with the ability of primary transcripts to be processed in vivo by ribozyme cleavage and ligation. The insertions greatly reduced the ability of genomes to replicate. However, when total RNA from such transfected cells was used to transfect new recipient cells, replicating HDV RNAs could be detected by Northern analyses. The size of the emerged RNAs was consistent with loss of the inserted sequences. RT-PCR, cloning, and sequencing showed that recovery involved removal of inserted sequences with or without small deletions of adjacent RNA sequences. Such restoration of the RNA genome is consistent with a model requiring intramolecular template-switching (RNA recombination) during RNA-directed transcription, in combination with biological selection for maintenance of the rodlike structure of the template.
The new EU Regulatory Framework for GM Food (Part I) Procedural aspects: safety assessment, authorisation and administrative review
Authors: Meulen Bernd van der
Published: April 2006

Introduction

On 18 April 2004, a little more than a year before the publication of this article, the core provisions of the new regulatory framework for genetically modified food products entered into force.

This article is of a descriptive nature. It goes into the new framework as far as food is concerned. Feed will not be discussed. This article is published in 2 parts. Part 1 deals mainly with the new authorisation procedure. In this context some attention will first be given to the developments that led to the new framework and at the end of part 1 to administrative review. The main topics discussed in part 2 are the traceability requirements and labelling. Further some attention will be given to emergency measures, legal protection and transitory measures.
Euthanasia, a Matrix of Cure or Exacerbation – A Legal Perspective of Current Bioethics Issue in China
Authors: Li Grace
Published: April 2006

Introduction

Euthanasia is an old topic with traditional wisdom stating that everyone should have right to choose the mean of death. In China, there are always arguments about the two extremes of the land of living – birth and death. With the study of birth, which gives rise to eugenics, the study of death has touched off a rational discussion, that is, whether or not people have a right to opt for death; that is also, to take the value of life and sustain dignity in the last moment of life.
Declaration on Human Cloning
Authors: United Nations
Published: April 2006

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly

[on the report of the Sixth Committee (A/59/516/Add.1)]

59/280. United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning
The dimensionality of notation
Authors: Polanen Petel Humphrey van
Published: April 2006

Elements of notation are variables and sentences are
sequences of different variables. Both listening and reading are processes,
which makes a sentence a stream of variations of a single variable. Thus, a
simple sentence is a one-dimensional object, measured along the stream of
variation. A sentence with coordinated or subordinated material effectively
encodes multiple streams which makes a complex sentence a two-dimensional object
with that second dimension measured across the multiple streams. A single symbol
does not vary and is therefore a zero-dimensional object. Processes exist in
time and the dimensions of notation are therefore abstract
dimensions.
De l’esprit, de la culture, et des signes
Authors: Trabant Jürgen
Published: April 2006

Les ‘sciences de l’esprit’ (Geisteswissenschaften)
deviennent sciences de la culture. L’article montre, à l’exemple des études
littéraires en Allemagne, les essais de transformation de ces disciplines,
l’échec de l’approche sémiotique et l’essor de la science de la culture.
Celle-ci tend à négliger ses bases sémiotiques. Ainsi, elle invoque Giambattista
Vico comme son père fondateur sans pour autant tenir compte de la dimension
sémiotique de la philosophie de celui-ci et de la culture en général. Face à cet
oubli l’article plaide pour un nouveau rapprochement de sémiotique et sciences
de la culture.
Attempts to chemically investigate element 112
Authors: Eichler R. , Brüchle W. , Buda R. , Bürger S. , Dressler R. , Düllmann Ch. E. , Dvorak J. , Eberhardt K. , Eichler B. , Folden C. M. , Gäggeler H. W. , Gregorich K. E. , Haenssler F. , Hoffman D. C. , Hummrich H. , Jäger E. , Kratz J. V. , Kuczewski B. , Liebe D. , Nayak D. , Nitsche H. , Piguet D. , Qin Z. , Rieth U. , Schädel M. , Schausten B. , Schimpf E. , Semchenkov A. , Soverna S. , Sudowe R. , Trautmann N. , Thörle P. , Türler A. , Wierczinski B. , Wiehl N. , Wilk P. A. , Wirth G. , Yakushev A. B. , von Zweidorf A.
Published: April 2006

Two experiments aiming at the chemical investigation of element 112 produced in the heavy ion induced nuclear fusion reaction of 48Ca with 238U were performed at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Darmstadt, Germany. Both experiments were designed to determine the adsorption enthalpy of element 112 on a gold surface using a thermochromatography setup. The temperature range covered in the thermochromatography experiments allowed the adsorption of Hg at about 35 °C and of Rn at about -180 °C. Reports from the Flerov Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions (FLNR), Dubna, Russia claim production of a 5-min spontaneous fission (SF) activity assigned to 283112 for the 238U(48Ca,3n) 283112 reaction. Hence, Experiment I was designed to detect spontaneously fissioning (SF) isotopes of element 112 with half-lives (t
1/2) longer than about 20 s. 11 high-energy events were detected. 7 events exhibit a deposition pattern resembling a chromatographic peak in the vicinity of Rn deposition. However, the energy of the events observed in Experiment I was lower than expected for a SF-decay of 283112. Therefore, these events could not be unambiguously attributed to the decay of 283112. In contradiction with earlier publications newer reports from FLNR Dubna claim that 283112 decays by α-particle emission (E
α = 9.5 MeV) with t
1/2 = 4 s followed by a SF-decay of 279Ds (t
1/2 = 0.2 s). Therefore, Experiment II was designed to be sensitive to both claimed decay properties of 283112. However, during this experiment neither short α-SF correlations nor SF coincidences were detected. The conclusion is that 283112 was not unambiguously detected, neither in Experiment I nor in Experiment II.
Adsorption of lanthanum to goethite in the presence of gluconate
Authors: Pepper S. E. , Hull L. C. , Bottenus B. N. , Clark Sue B.
Published: April 2006

We have examined the effect of the gluconate anion, an analogue for cellulose degradation products, on the adsorption of trivalent lanthanum (La3+)#to goethite. Lanthanum is investigated as an analogue for the trivalent actinides. Batch pH adsorption edge experiments were used to quantify the adsorption of La3+in the absence of gluconate and in solutions where gluconate was present at a 1:1 mole ratio to lanthanum. Using available thermodynamic data, it is calculated that lanthanum is primarily present in solution as the free La3+ion at pH values up to 8.5 in the absence of gluconate. Above pH 8.5, solid La(OH)3precipitates from solution. In the presence of gluconate, complexation decreases the free La3+concentration in solution. The fraction of La3+complexed increases, from 3% to 50%, as the concentrations of La3+and gluconate were increased. Very little effect on the adsorption of La3+to goethite was observed in the presence of gluconate below pH 7. At pH values above 7, however, gluconate doubled the maximum amount of La3+adsorbed when present at concentrations that saturated the goethite adsorption sites. The presence of gluconate did not appear to inhibit the formation of La(OH)3(s) at pH 8.5 and milli molar lanthanum concentrations. Adsorption to the goethite surface was represented with a surface complexation approach using the diffuse double-layer model. Intrinsic binding constants for the surface complexes were estimated from the pH adsorption edge data using the computer code FITEQL 4.0 and visual curve fitting. Two surface reactions were used to fit the adsorption data in the absence of gluconate: 1) a strong binding site with no proton release and 2) a much higher concentration of weak binding sites with release of two protons per La3+adsorbed. In the presence of gluconate, a third surface complex was needed that involved a ternary complex of two lanthanum atoms with one gluconate molecule.
Les Figurines Sculptées du Bas-Congo
Authors: Maes J.
Published: April 2006

Toutes les populations qui occupent le territoire s'étendant du Stanley-Pool à l'embouchure du fleuve Congo possèdent des du figurines sculptées que l'on appelle généralement ‘fétiches’. Si toutes ces figurines ont une signification spéciale, elles se rattachent cependant les unes aux autres tant par leurs caractères généraux et leurs attributs que par l'idée et les fonctions qu'elles incarnent. Sous ce rapport nous croyons pouvoir les subdiviser en deux grands groupes, (1°) les figurines fétiches, (2°) les figurines commémoratives.
The Modern Life of the East African Native
Authors: Kayamba H. M. T.
Published: April 2006

The family life of an African is primarily based on polygamy and patriarchy. Each family has its own village and the head of the family is elder of the village. As soon as a youth gets married and has children he thinks of establishing his own village in order to obtain sufficient land for cultivation for himself and his children. This is the start of a native village. He calls the village by some name which comes to his fancy. Probably after a few months few people join him at the newly established village; thus the village grows and the founder is called the elder of the village. The next thought of the African after he has acquired a little wealth is to increase the number of his wives to the number that his wealth can provide him. Very often he keeps them in different huts and at different villages which he calls Mtaa, meaning a quarter. He spends days and nights proportionately at each hut, usually three nights at each hut if they are in close proximity or seven days if they are far. He calls it Kugawa ngono, which means the distribution of conjugal rights. Each wife has her own farm which she cultivates with her children, her husband doing the heavy work. The husband has his own farm over which he has authority. Each wife harvests and keeps her own food in her granary in the hut. She has full control over her own food. She feeds and clothes her children from the proceeds of the sale of her crop; and feeds her husband with the same food when he stays with her. The crop from the husband's farm is stored in the senior wife's hut. The senior wife is the first wife in marriage. She keeps all the money of the husband and distributes food to the other wives from the husband's store when the other wives have run short of food.
Meine Forschungsreise in Belgisch-Kongo, 1929–1930
Authors: Schebesta Paul
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

Gelegentlich meiner letzten Forschungsreise in Belgisch-Kongo durchquerte ich weite Gebiete dieser blühenden Kolonie, besuchte auch Ruanda und auf der Heimfahrt Rhodesia und Portugiesisch-Sambesi. Die längste Zeit hielt ich mich in der Ostprovinz der Kongo-Kolonie auf und durchreiste den Ituri-Urwald nach den verschiedensten Richtungen hin, stets auf der Fährte der Pygmäen, deren Wohngebiet der Urwald des Ituri und seiner Nebenflüsse Nepoko und Lenda ist. Obwohl der eigentliche Zweck der Reise die Erforschung der Pygmäen war, musste ich den umwohnenden Negern grösstmögliche Aufmerksamkeit widmen, da der kulturelle und sprachliche Einfluss, den sie auf die Pygmäen ausüben, ein nicht zu unterschätzender ist. Mehrere Monate brachte ich auch noch bei den Bacwa und ihrem Wirtsvolk den Nkundu in der ‘Province d'Équateur’ zu, brach aber die Arbeit dort ab, da es sich herausstellte, dass die genannten Bacwa keine reinrassigen Pygmäen sind.
The Problem of Mass Education in Africa
Authors: Mumford W. Bryant , Jackson R.
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

The Report of the De La Warr Commission on Education in East Africa, the recent Colonial Office pamphlet on Education and Village Communities, and repeated statements and proposals by Directors of Education in British African dependencies are again drawing attention to the pressing need for new advances in the development of educational facilities in Africa. From these studies, proposals and reports it becomes clear that there are three main directions along which the need for advance seems urgent, namely: the development of higher education of a University standing (and the establishment of centres for research at the projected University schools), the increasing of facilities for secondary education which shall, inter alia, open for a greater number of Africans the doors to University studies, and, lastly, an increase in the numbers of some kind of rudimentary schools for the peoples as a whole, which will help to spread the basic tools of modern living—reading, writing, and arithmetic. It is this last line of development which is the subject of the present article.
The Writing of History Text-books for Africa
Authors: Ward W. E.
Published: April 2006

There is one great disadvantage that the history teacher must feel in drawing up a syllabus of history for African schools. It is accepted now that young children should begin their study of history by learning about their own home district; and at this stage, history and geography should hardly be separated. It is common to find quite young children in elementary schools in Europe putting together little co-operative booklets about the history and geography of their own home; and even in out-of-the-way country districts there are usually enough historical traditions for the purpose. Market charters, manorial court rolls, perhaps a battle-field, or monastic ruins, or a great historic local family—this is material which has reference to places and buildings that the children know well, and which yet leads up easily to the history of a wider area.
La Numération chez les Bergdama
Authors: Lévy-Bruhl L.
Published: April 2006

Les Bergdama sont probablement une des populations les plus anciennes de l'Afrique du Sud. Leurs petits groupes, nomades, vivant de la cueillette et de la chasse, ont été, de temps immémorial, pourchassés, massacrés ou réduits en esclavage par leurs voisins, les Nama, les Boschimen, et, en dernier lieu, les Herero. Jusqu'à la récente publication des travaux du missionnaire H. Vedder, leurs institutions, de type très archaïque, étaient fort mal connues. M. Vedder, qui possède leur langue, a longtemps vécu près d'eux. Il a su gagner la confiance de ces maigres tribus méprisées et opprimées par leurs voisins, et menacées pour la plupart de disparaître rapidement. Le peu de Bergdama qui demeurent ne tarderont pas à perdre jusqu'au souvenir de leur mode de vie antérieur en devenant sédentaires et agriculteurs au service des blancs. Ce que M. Vedder a pu noter de leurs traditions, de leurs mœurs et de leurs croyances, les textes (formules magiques, prières, chants funèbres, chants pour accompagner les danses, et proverbes) qu'il a rassemblés constituent un ensemble de documents des plus précieux.
New Ways for Old in the Treatment of Adolescent African Girls
Authors: Culwick G. M.
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

The custom of shutting young girls up at puberty is not uncommon among Bantu tribes, the period varying from the duration of the first menstruation to a matter of months and even years. In the first case she is merely removed from normal social contacts during a short period of crisis, when certain rites must be performed for her own safety and fertility, and possibly the well-being of society generally, and certain lessons regarding personal conduct, not necessarily heard then for the first time, must be finally driven home in a manner and in an emotional atmosphere calculated to impress them deeply in her consciousness. In the latter cases the idea is that, in addition to undergoing the safeguarding ritual, the girl should afterwards remain in absolute seclusion until the negotiations regarding her marriage are complete and a substantial part of the bride-wealth has been handed over. I am here concerned with the latter.
The Importance of Tribal Markets in the Commercial Life of the Countryside of North-West Morocco
Authors: Fogg Walter
Published: April 2006

Concerning trading in the countryside of North-West Morocco, Michaux-Bellaire and Salmon writing in 1906 about the Ḫloṭ and Tlīq tribes, state:

‘Toute la vie commerciale de la tribu s'écoule cependant sur le marché hebdomadaire. Si on trouve en effet quelques industries, d'ailleurs assez peu développées, dans les douars, le commerce y est totalement inconnu. On n'y rencontre même pas, comme dans quelques dchour djebaliens, de rares baqqâl (épiciers), ou des établissements publics où les paysans, la journée accomplie, viennent boire quelques tasses de thé à la menthe, en fumant le kif’;

and Michaux-Bellaire, writing a few years later about the Jbâla tribes, states that the imported goods, tea, sugar, candles, spices, matches, cotton fabrics, and imported fine-wool fabrics,

‘se trouvent également dans les villages d'une certaine importance’
Le Mariage Chez les Babemba
Authors: Labrecque Éd.
Published: April 2006

La tribu dont il s'agit est celle des Babemba. Les Babemba ont leur histoire, c'est donc une tribu importante. Ils font remonter leur origine au royaume du Lunda. Chacun sait que le Lunda, situé à la tête du fleuve Kasaï, affluent du Congo, est un des plus grands et des plus puissants royaumes nègres de l'Afrique. Les Balunda établirent leur domination sur toutes les tribus environnantes: ils fondèrent ainsi trois grandes colonies appelées Baluba. La première de ces colonies s'établit aux sources du Zambise, partie en territoire Portugais (Angola), partie en territoire Anglais (Rhodésie du Nord), cette première colonie a été conquise plus tard par les Matabélés d'origine de Zululand. Elle prit nom de Barotseland. La deuxième colonie Baluba s'établit plus à l'est entre les rivières Kasaï et Sankuru. Enfin la troisième colonie Baluba se fixa sur la Lwalaba, affluent du fleuve Congo. C'est de cette dernière colonie que sont sortis les Babemba=Baluba.
The Survey of African Marriage and Family Life
Authors: Mitchell Philip
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

The Survey of African Marriage and Family Life, organized by the International J- African Institute in collaboration with the International Missionary Council, is a formidable work of over 450 pages of small print. Though somewhat heavy reading for the general, it will be an invaluable book of reference for those concerned with the subject.
Nilotic, ‘Nilo-Hamitic’, and Hamito-Semitic: A Reply
Authors: Greenberg Joseph H.
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

In my general classification of African languages, the so-called ‘Nilo-Hamitic’ languages of East Africa were placed in the same subdivision as the Nilotic languages within a much larger linguistic stock called Macro-Sudanic. In a recent review of this work Welmers has suggested the geographic designation Chari-Nile as more appropriate, an emendation in terminology which is herewith accepted. In the same work, the traditional Hamito-Semitic family was accepted with some modifications, not relevant to the present discussion, as another major African linguistic stock, distinct from the Chari-Nile family although perhaps distantly related to it. On this view, the term ‘Nilo-Hamitic’ is inappropriate for this group of languages and the name ‘Great Lakes’ was suggested in its place. In his recent work on the Nilotic languages, Oswin Köhler takes a position very similar to my own in regard to the ‘Nilo-Hamitic’ languages. Moreover he suggests that the Bari-Masai group of languages forming the bulk of ‘Nilo-Hamitic’ is as distant from Nandi-Suk, hitherto always included under the same designation, as it is from the Nilotic languages proper. He therefore proposes a threefold division into Western Nilotic (Shilluk, Dinka, Nuer, &c), Eastern Nilotic (Bari, Masai, Lotuko, &c), and Southern Nilotic (Nandi-Suk). I am inclined to agree with him and this view is borne out by the material assembled in the later part of this article.
Economic Sense and the East African Impressions of a Visiting American Economist
Authors: Hoyt Elisabeth
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

In Western society children grow up with certain elementary ideas of the costs and values of economic goods. As they mature, their personal contacts and their reading still further impress them with the importance of effort, saving, and sacrifice in relation to reward. Their concepts of reward are enlarged and these concepts become clothed in a great variety of specific forms, which become their standards of living, and serve as incentives to further effort. That is to say, children learn, consciously or unconsciously, from the beginning, to value a large number of economic goods which they recognize as costly and needing to be cared for. They learn also that economic rewards come only with striving. And because they have experience that the opportunities which make rewards possible are precious and somewhat limited they come to prize them, conserve them, and make use of them when they are offered.
Initiation Ceremonies for Luimbi Boys
Authors: Tucker John T.
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

The Luimbi (from the root lui, ‘river’, literally two rivers: mbali) are river-folk
who occupy lands along and between the Kukema and Kuanja rivers in the Bié highlands of Angola. Subject since the eighteenth century to the depredations, aggressions, and pressure of their more powerful neighbours, the immigrant Biéan Ovimbundu, the Luimbi nevertheless maintain their tribal customs and unity and have not been without influence on their rivals and oppressors. European civilization, while it has largely liquidated the ancient tribal sanctions of the Ovimbundu, has not had an equal effect on the Luimbi.
Some Notes on Nilotic, ‘Nilo-Hamitic’, and Hamito-Semitic, by Joseph H. Greenberg
Authors: Hohenberger J.
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

By the courtesy of the author and of the editor of Africa I was able to see the proofs of the above-mentioned article in order that I might prepare a reply. As Greenberg deals mainly with the subject-matter of my article ‘Comparative Masai Word List’ (Africa, xxvi. 3, pp. 281-7), I feel that I should make some brief comments on his argument and his criticisms. I shall first examine the specific points of his criticism, and shall then discuss the more important questions and facts concerning the relations of Masai (and Nilo-Hamitic) to Hamito-Semitic.
Terminologie Classificatoire des Nkundo
Authors: Boelaert Father E.
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

Les Nkundo ou Mɔngɔ forment une ethnie importante de la cuvette centrale du Congo beige. Ce sont des patriarcaux. Pendant vingt ans j'ai habité parmi leurs tribus du centre-ouest.
Notes sur les Marchés mossi du Yatenga
Authors: Zahan D.
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

Cet article n'a pas la prétention d'être une étude sociologique et économique, même sommaire, des marchés mossi. Il a pour but de montrer simplement quelques aspects de la notion mossi du marché. Nous nous limitons également, en établissant le calendrier des marchés, aux deux Subdivisions du Cercle de Ouahigouya: la Subdivision Centrale et celle des Lacs, les seules où l'élément mossi est prédominant du point de vue démographique.
The Tones of Prefixes in Common Bantu
Authors: Meeussen A. E.
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

Those Bantu languages which show the greatest number of correspondences in their concord systems have three kinds of prefixes:

1. Nominal prefixes, with m- in classes 1, 3, 4 and 6; they are used in nouns, locatives (as pre-prefixes), and adjectives.

2. Pronominal prefixes, usually without m- in classes 1, 3, 4, 6 and without forms for 1st and 2nd person (except in the personal pronoun); they appear in all other concording words except principal (i.e. non-relative) verb forms.

3. Verbal prefixes, usually without m- in classes 1, 3, 4, 6, with forms for 1st and 2nd person, and often with a special form in class 1 (e.g. a- as opposed to the pronominal prefix u- or yu-); they obtain as subject-prefixes in the principal verb forms.
Le Consentement au Mariage et son Évolution chez les Betammadibe
Authors: Mercier P.
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

Les populations du cercle de Natitingou sont sans doute, au Dahomey, celles qui ont été le moins profondément affectées par l'influence européenne. Au moins l'apparance extérieure de leur vie a-t-elle fort peu changé. On les presente comme un cas extrême de résistance aux influences étrangères, et c'est en partie exact. Leurs contacts avec les cultures africaines voisines ont été assez réduits dans la période historique récente, et il n'en est pas autrement, jusqu'ici, avec la culture européenne. Mais alors que nul peuple voisin n'avait réussi à s'installer chez eux pour tenter de leur imposer une administration centralisée, les Européens l'ont fait. Ils demeurent, en tant que groupes, réticents devant ces formes nouvelles. Mais les individus ont vite recouru à l'administration et à la justice nouvelles lorsque leurs solutions semblaient permettre, dans tels cas particuliers, de faire échec à l'ordre ancien qui allait à l'encontre de leurs intérêts. Ainsi se sont produitès les premières failles dans la structure traditionnelle. Elles se sont étendues de proche en proche et l'action des conceptions et des solutions nouvelles, par leur seule présence virtuelle, a déjà été grande. Dans le domaine du mariage, en particulier, on peut en constater les effets étendus. C'est l'étude du problème du consentement, familial et individuel, au mariage, qui sera abordée ici dans un de ces groupes, habitant les environs de Natitingou. On verra que l'équilibre très délicat des institutions anciennes pouvait être aisément bouleversé, et l'a été déjà.

Les formes mêmes du mariage et les règles de l'attribution des enfants seront seulement décrites dans la mesure où leur connaissance est nécessaire à notre propos.
Il Cannibalismo dei Niam Niam
Authors: Giorgetti Filiberto
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

Renzo Camignani ha stampato un libro di 67 pagine, edito da Collana di Studi Etnografici a Roma, nel 1954, sul Cannibalismo degli Asandè(o Niam Niam). Il termine esatto universalmente adottato sarebbe Azande.

L'Autore tratta la questione solo basandosi sulle diverse testimonianze di scrittori e viaggiatori, missionari e antropologi. Troppe testimonianze, forse, che, a volte, sono anche in se stesse contradittorie. L'Autore, dato il materiale che aveva, ha trattato la tesi brillantemente.
Note on the Verbal -E Stem in East African Bantu
Authors: Haddon Ernest B.
Published: April 2006

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East African Bantuists and others farther south have noticed the -e stem cropping up sporadically and unexpectedly in verbal forms and this exposition is an attempt to explain them.

One has realized the dominant importance of ‘state’ in Bantu and seen that, during the development of the languages, time tenses have been formed by inflexion, and in the endeavour to fit these tenses into the framework of the indicative mood one has tended to lose sight of the principles of state. The chaotic diversity of inflexions used to express future or past time in different language groups suggests the comparatively modern development of these tenses.
Fanti Omens
Authors: Lantis Margaret
Published: April 2006

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The following short study is not presented with the assumption that it is a complete record and analysis of the omens of the Fanti. It is presented rather with the hope and appeal that some one else who is now living in the Gold Coast Colony will undertake to work out this problem more thoroughly than I have been able to do.
Some Aspects of Inter-Racial Marriages in South Africa, 1925–46
Authors: Sofer Cyril
Published: April 2006

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Where racial antipathies exist there is a tendency on the part of the dominant group to avoid personal contacts with the subordinate race or races. This is perhaps especially the case in the intimate relationship of marriage. The study of inter-racial marriage data may therefore provide useful indices to changes in caste and class relationships in multi-racial communities. In this paper figures are presented for racial intermarriage in the Union of South Africa since 1925, the year in which it became compulsory to state the race of the contracting parties, and suggestions are made as to possible reasons for the trends which can be observed.
La Famille Nucléaire Chez les Bushoong
Authors: Vansina J.
Published: April 2006

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Dans la société bushoong existent quatre institutions fondées sur la parenté: le clan matrilinéaire, la section de clan, la famille étendue mixte et la famille nucléaire. Cette dernière est la plus importante du point de vue des fonctions qu'elle remplit et de l'intensité des rôles sociaux qu'elle impose à ses membres. Nous décrivons ici ses caractéristiques, ses fonctions, le réseau des rôles sociaux qu'elle régit et enfin ses rapports avec les trois autres institutions citées.
Raffia Cloth Distribution in the Lele Economy
Authors: Douglas Mary
Published: April 2006

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The distribution of raffia cloth among the Lele raises two questions. One, mainly ethnographic, is that of the various functions served in the course of its circulation from hand to hand. In answering this, the second question arises. In some aspects raffia cloth seems to perform monetary roles. Is it to be classed as a type of primitive money? In the widest sense it seems to be an imperfect type of money, performing in a restricted manner some of the main functions of money: it acts as a store and a standard of value; it is given as payment for services and sometimes used as a medium of exchange. It is not, however, the principal, or usual, means of distribution in the economy. I hope that a discussion of the short-comings of Lele raffia as a form of money may be interesting to others working in societies which are similarly on the verge of a market economy.
Evidence of Human Migrations from the Rock art of Southern Rhodesia
Authors: Cooke C. K.
Published: April 2006

Introduction

This paper is the result of a study of all the known rock painting copies and photographs, undertaken during 1963 and early 1964—in the first instance to plot the occurrence of patterned giraffe paintings against those only in silhouette. The list has grown, however, and all animals and humans have been indexed and plotted on distribution maps, all information being finally synthesized. An analysis is presented of the human types and domesticated animals recorded in the art of Southern Africa. These items have been plotted on distribution maps, the significance of which is discussed in the following sections. The importance of the Mopani belt and of linguistics are also examined and a possible way from the east of Southern Rhodesia to the Cape of Good Hope indicated. The distribution of animal types is the subject of another paper (Cooke, 1964).
Jural Relations between the Sexes among the Barabaig
Authors: Klima George
Published: April 2006

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Many accounts of African tribal societies lack information concerning the role of women in social control and political organization. Social control is seen largely as the prerogative of males, even in societies where matriliny serves as a basis for establishing rules of succession to positions of authority. Of course, there are exceptional cases where authority and political leadership has been vested in women, e.g. the Lobedu of the Transvaal, but generally speaking, the establishment and maintenance of law and order by legitimate authority, within a specific territory, has been considered by many anthropologists to be almost exclusively the preoccupation and franchise of the male members of a society.
Ritual Oaths as Instruments of Coercion and Self-Defence among the Adaŋme of Ghana
Authors: Huber Hugo
Published: April 2006

Introduction

This paper describes a magico-religious practice among the Adanme of the southeastern plains of Ghana. The investigations were carried out during the period 1951 to 1957, mainly among the Krobo, who represent the largest division of the group. But references will also be made to the neighbouring Adarjme-speaking tribes, viz. the Osu, the Sɛ (Shai) and the Nīgo, from whom some comparative data were obtained. No specific information was collected from the coastal areas on this particular point.
The Kalabari World-View: An Outline and Interpretation
Authors: Horton Robin
Published: April 2006

Introduction

The Kalabari people live in twenty-two villages and three small towns in the tidal mangrove swamps of the eastern Niger Delta. Linguistically, they are part of the great bloc of Ijo-speaking peoples who fill the Delta; but they form a distinct subgroup both in dialect and in culture. The traditional economy of most of these communities is based on fishing, with surplus fish exported to the hinterland markets and vegetables brought down on the return trip. Over a long period, contact with the hinterland markets seems to have been more frequent than contact between any one village and its Kalabari neighbours; and as a result of this isolation, each village tended to develop certain distinctive variants of fishing technique and of culture generally. Although the general economic pattern was one of fishing, one community with a fortunate geographical position at the mouth of the Rio Real abandoned this occupation about 400 years ago for trade with European merchants, first in slaves and later in palm-oil brought down from the hinterland. Today, however, this trade has collapsed; and the descendants of those who developed it have largely returned to fishing and fish-trading.
Neologisms in Hausa: A Sociological Approach
Authors: Kirk-Greene A. H. M.
Published: April 2006

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Hausa is probably the most widely spoken language in Negro Africa. Besides being generally spoken throughout Northern Nigeria, its motherland, Hausa is, as Westermann and Bryan note, widely understood in other West African countries. They cite colonies of Hausa-speakers in Dahomey, Togo, Ghana, Cameroons, Chad, and ‘many of the greater centres in North Africa’. They could also usefully have mentioned the Sudan, where pilgrims from Northern Nigeria have settled in their tens of thousands. Indeed, it is often said that you will find Hausa-speakers from Dakar to Port Sudan, from Leopoldville to Fez. The explorer Heinrich Barth in the 1840's had his first Hausa lesson in Tunis, and fifty years later it was to Tripoli that Bishop Tugwell of the Church Missionary Society and his pioneer team of five went to study Hausa before undertaking their bold missionary thrust into the emirates. Westermann and Bryan point out that the total number of Hausa-speakers cannot be estimated in view of the enormous distribution of the Hausa and the great number of those who speak Hausa as their second language. Few of us would disagree with Cust's judgement that Hausa ‘has obtained the rank of a lingua franca and is the general vehicle of communication between the peoples speaking different languages’. Counting those who have recourse to Hausa as their second or vehicular language, it would be no exaggeration to claim that some 20 million persons ‘hear’ Hausa, as the West African languages so picturesquely express it.
Labour Emigration among the Moçambique Thonga: Comments on Marvin Harris's Reply
Authors: Rita-Ferreira A.
Published: April 2006

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1. With reference to Mr. Harris's first claim, the differences between the Thonga and Chopi cultures were greater than is commonly believed. These were based not merely on the distinct Karanga origin of the Chopi but also on their ecological environment, since they inhabited a country of forests and lagoons. When the migratory stream began, the Chopi was the only tribe devoted intensively and almost exclusively to agriculture. This environmental and cultural diversity was an undoubted factor in the different reactions on the part of the Thonga and Chopi to migration.
Akwamu and Otublohum: An Eighteenth-Century Akan Marriage Arrangement
Authors: Wilks Ivor
Published: April 2006

Introduction

This paper may be taken as an essay in the application of anthropological theory to other fields, in this case history. In it I am concerned to give a detailed account of a marriage arrangement that bound together the royal family of Akwamu and the ruling house of the Otublohum quarter of Accra. Akwamu, now a small state locked in the wooded hills of the Volta Gorge in south-east Ghana, was, in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the strongest of all the Akan powers and centre of an empire that extended for about 250 miles along the Gold and Slave Coasts of Guinea. Accra, now the capital of Ghana, was incorporated within that empire by conquest in 1681, but recovered its independence half a century later. Unquestionably a whole series of historical events involving Akwamu and Accra would be quite incomprehensible without reference to the structural implications of the marriage arrangement linking the two. The arrangement persisted through four generations, spanning the greater part of the eighteenth century. Fortunately the period is a well-documented one. The archives of the Dutch West Indies Company are especially useful. In particular, sufficient genealogical detail is recorded in the various sources for the marriage arrangement to be recognized as involving successive patrilateral cross-cousin unions.
A Note on a Demographic Sample Survey for the Study of Factors Affecting Fertility in Ghana
Authors: Pool D. I.
Published: April 2006

Introduction

Today, Ghana's rate of natural increase must be approaching the very high level of 3 per cent, per annum. Such a rapid rate of growth results from the maintenance of a high birth-rate in a period when the crude death-rate has been declining radically. Everyone wishes to see further improvements in life-expectation, but the continuation of such high rates of population growth will almost certainly prejudice or inhibit the implementation of satisfactory levels of economic growth. One immediate result could be an increase in unemployment, particularly among school-leavers, while the long-term consequences might include widespread declines in the standards of living and nutrition.
Lateral symbolism and Atuot cosmology
Authors: Burton John W.
Published: April 2006

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... explanation is no more than exact description which bears its own interpretation (Evans-Pritchard 1973b: 764).

Social anthropologists increasingly question whether or not the translation of culture is possible, at least in the most profound sense (see e.g. Beidelman 1980: 39). If we are as yet uncertain of the essential characteristics of human perception and cognition (cf. Needham 1980: 19) the task of comparison is problematic. Are we to note how ethnographic data reveal indigenous instances of a polythetic mode of classification, or construct rigid dichotomies to sort them out? A related question is whether or not an ethnographic report is valuable because it serves to verify specific theories or because it invites alternative interpretations.
Nyoro Symbolism and Nyoro Ethnography: A Rejoinder
Authors: Beattie J. H. M.
Published: April 2006

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This paper attempts to clarify a little further certain of the symbolic categories of the Banyoro of western Uganda, and at the same time to refocus attention on some of the methodological difficulties involved in the analysis of ethnographic material through the framework of the binary mode of symbolic classification. This entails some consideration of a recent contribution to this journal by Professor Rodney Needham, in which he attempts to rebut my detailed criticisms of his version of some aspects of Nyoro symbolism (Needham 1976; Beattie 1968; see also Needham 1967; 1973; and Beattie 1976: 232 n. 4). In doing so he repeats certain of his earlier misrepresentations, as well as introducing some new ones. He also asserts, of a number of my own—and some other—publications on Nyoro ritual and symbolism, to which I had drawn attention, that ‘they were either not relevant to [his] train of argument or, in general, were redundant to [his] primary sources’ (Needham 1976: 237). These assertions must be very briefly considered before I go on to deal with the further arguments he now advances.
The Story of Rukidi
Authors: Wrigley C. C.
Published: April 2006

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The fascinating discussions of Nyoro symbolism which were contributed to Africa a few years ago by Rodney Needham (1967) and John Beattie (1968) included contrasting explanations of the myth which deals with the origin of the recently reigning Bito dynasty. I return now to this tale, believing it to be so fecund that even when two such scholars have done with it there still remain some footnotes to be added.
An Analytical Note on the Land and Spirits of the Sewa Mende
Authors: Jedrej M. C.
Published: April 2006

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The aim of this article is to interpret and understand certain Sewa Mende socio-spatial categories and at the same time to attempt to reveal an order in the otherwise confusing complex of supernatural spirits. This limited aim may be justified in so far as the Mende are among the most documented of West African societies, and yet an examination of the principal works (Little, 1951; Harris and Sawyerr, 1968) would suggest that Mende society consists of a constellation of unconnected elements. Thus their secret societies have received considerable attention, but what has a secret society (hale) to do with, for example, medicine (hale), an object for swearing by (hale), or a magical thief-catching device (hale)? Little has described them as ‘“broadly speaking” patrilineal’ (1951: 98) though his data hardly support even this vague contention. And to what are the diverse modes of supernatural spirit related? Mende culture as a whole may indeed show a remarkable lack of coherence and Harris and Sawyerr (1968: xii) have commented on the cultural variations among the different groups that constitute the Mende nation; consequently it is pertinent to add that this article is based wholly on ethnographic observations made among one of these groups.
Arabic Literacy Among the Yalunka of Sierra Leone
Authors: Donald Leland
Published: April 2006

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The Yalunka of north-eastern Sierra Leone are predominantly Muslim. Their religion seems to be a straightforward variant of contemporary West African Islam. They have been exposed to Islam for several centuries and although they had powerful Muslim neighbours during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for most of this period they resisted conversion and remained pagan (Laing, 1825; Donald, 1968) until 1882, when they were conquered by one of the armies of Samory and forcibly converted. After the establishment of British and French control over their area in the 1890s many Yalunka reverted to paganism, but Islam remained viable and the number of adherents increased steadily. By the 1950s nearly all Yalunka in Sierra Leone were at least nominal Muslims.