bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Naissances et destins : les enfants de fer et les enfants de beurre.
Authors: Smith Pierre
Published: October 2008

P. Smith—Birth and Destiny: Iron Children and Butter Children.

In some African taies analyzed by D. Paulme, the characters of 'Tom Thumb' and 'Clever Boy' are marked at birth with special traits turning them into 'over-begot-ten' heroes. These traits (in association with several others) are developed in ail the epic legend cycles found from Southern Cameroon to Rwanda to define a figure of the epic hero par excellence. They can be found as well in West African epics and also among the Finn, the Greek, the Khirgiz, etc. These traits can be opposed in every detail to those which define the character of the 'under-begotten' child, as exemplified by the man-made children to be found in Rwandese, Senegalese, Malian, and other myths. This pattern of opposition applies to the contrasting figures of John the Baptist and Jesus, whose special traits at birth foretell their destiny. This throws a new light on some of the motifs in the Gospel and the liturgie tradition. The secret logic of the characters is thus shown to be an essential dimension of narrative art, ail too often neglected in formai analysis. [pp. 329-352]
Le mâle en gésine, ou De l'historicité des mythes.
Authors: Meillassoux Claude
Published: October 2008

C. Meillassoux—The Pregnant Male, or On the Historicity of Myths.

C. Meillassoux first sets forth hypotheses on the relationships between the socio-historical foundations of anthroponomic societies and the form and contents of the modes of cultural expression. As an application he shows how concerns related to social reproduction are to be found in the myths, legends and taies produced in this type of societies, and how men use these media to seemingly invest themselves with women's procreation capacity, thus laying bare men's century-old attempt to appropriate that function at the social level. [pp. 353-380]
Une tentative de vulgarisation avortée : l'hévéaculture villageoise en Côte d'Ivoire.
Authors: Pillet-Schwartz Anne-Marie
Published: October 2008

A.-M. Pillet-Schwartz—An Aborted Attempt at Vulgarisation: Small-Scale Rubber Cultivation in the Ivory Coast.

The development of rubber cultivation in the Ivory Coast is essentially based upon large-scale plantations owned and exploited by foreign capitalist firms in association with Eburnean State corporations (SODE). Nevertheless an attempt was made, in 1968-1970, to experiment with smallholdings, on the Malayan-Indonesian pattern, among Atie and Ebrie planters in the Lagoon region, west of Abidjan. The author analyses the factors which resulted into an overall failure of the experiment.
Situational Analysis : Its Potential and Limitations for Anthropological Research on Social Change in Africa.
Authors: Doorne-Huiskes Anneke
Published: October 2008

J. H. Van Doorne — L'analyse situationnelle : son potentiel et ses limites pourra recherche anthropologique sur le changement social en Afrique.

Critique détaillée des méthodes structuralo-fonctionnalistes de la social anthropology britannique classique, en particulier en ce qui concerne l'approche du social change, le tout d'un point de vue plutôt watsonien.
Position de l'enquête anthropologique en milieu urbain africain.
Authors: Gibbal Jean-Marie , Le Bris Emile , Marie Alain , Osmont Annick , Salem Gérard
Published: October 2008

J.-M. Gibbal, E. Le Bris, A. Marie, A. Osmont, G. Salem—The Position of the Anthropologie al Approach in an African Urban Environment.

The practical experience of a multidisciplinary team working on family de-structuration and group formation in African towns has led to the conclusion that an anthropological, rather than sociological, approach is best fitted for the study of a number of urban situations. The anthropologist is, however, confronted with a variety of methodological, theoretical, and practical (as well as ethical) problems often quite different from those encountered in rural field work. This paper is an attempt to define these problems without setting forth any actual solution.
Les kodro de Bangui : un espace urbain « oublié ».
Authors: Adrien-Rongier Marie-France
Published: October 2008

M.-F. Adrien-Rongier—Bangui's ' Kodro' : A Forgotten Urban Space.

In Bangui three specifie modes of urban adaptation are to be observed not so much in the city's centre and allotted wards (as is usually the case with officiai enquiries and declarations) as in the kodro, which occupy some 75 % of the built up area. For the last fifteen years the town has grown rapidly without the benefit of a consistent employment and education policy. Hence the nature of the kodro's social and economie practices, as exemplified by the Gbaya of the Gbafio ward: persistence of a family-based habitat, co-existence of agriculture, trade and wage-earning activities with a sexual division of labour, economie survival organized on kinship terms. While the administrators' and technicians' studies ignore or deplore this state of afiairs, the governement has chosen to control it by delegating a part of its authority to the ward chiefships while 'forgetting' this urban space, which remains, for this reason, underequipped.
The Kingdom of Kongo, ca. 1390-1678. The Development of an African Social Formation
Authors: K. Thornton John
Published: October 2008

J. K. Thornton — Le royaume du Kongo, ca. 1390-1678. Développement d'une formation sociale africaine.

L'abondance et l'ancienneté de la documentation concernant le Kongo permettent d'analyser son évolution par les méthodes du matérialisme historique. Le royaume apparaît alors comme une formation sociale combinant deux modes de production : un mode esclavagiste centré sur la capitale, et un mode villageois dans les zones rurales. La période 1390-1678 correspond au développement et à la prédominance du mode esclavagiste. Elle s'achève quand ce mode est détruit par la guerre civile. La contradiction centrale réside dans le fait que, alors que les forces économiques concentraient leur domination dans la capitale, une compétition constante pour le contrôle de cette ville opposait les lignages. Quand la traite atlantique provoqua le développement d'une deuxième ville dans la province de Sonyo, les vaincus de la lutte pour la capitale purent y trouver refuge. Ainsi, lorsque les troupes portugaises infligèrent une défaite temporaire au Kongo (1665), il se produisit une situation —crise dans la capitale, conflit entre ses lignages et ceux de Sonyo — qui entraîna la guerre civile et la destruction de Sâo Salvador.
Trade and Tribute. Archaeological Evidence for the Origin of States in South Central Africa
Authors: Bisson Michael S.
Published: October 2008

M. S. Bisson — Commerce et tribut. Documents archéologiques sur l'origine des États du sud de VAfrique centrale.

Cet article examine le rapport du négoce et du tribut avec le développement d'États préhistoriques en Afrique sud-centrale, à l'aide de données historiques et archéologiques. L'hypothèse selon laquelle le négoce organisé sur de longues distances aurait été la cause première de la formation des États est examinée en ce qui concerne les Yeke, le Monomatapa et les Lunda du Sud et de l'Est. Les données archéologiques porteraient à conclure que le commerce au long cours fut un facteur important dans la croissance de l'État. Toutefois, il y a aussi trace d'une formation d'État antérieure, et qui aurait été provoquée par le développement d'un réseau tributaire, avant l'apparition du négoce s'étendant aux littoraux.
Le héros et son destin. Essai d'interprétation des traditions orales relatant la genèse d'un État du Soudan central, le Kabi, au XVIe siècle
Authors: Piault Marc-Henri
Published: October 2008

M. H. Piault — The Hero and his Destiny: A Tentative Interpretation of Oral Traditions concerning the Genesis of a Central Soudanic State (Kabi, 16th Century).

History—or rather ethnohistory—as practised here is not a reconstitution of the past but an attempted restitution of the way in which the various participants in a contemporary polity conceive that past. We deal with a body of remembered facts whose 'reality' is established through the multiplicity of evidence. Yet we also have to allow for the emergence of collective fantasies, which express norms and their transgression, as well as the loci of group identification. In this respect the heroes' story is a 'recollected' acting out of the social organisation, a corpus of the values and behaviour viewed as normative. The hero and his story give a nearly concrete shape to the ideological production concerned with the value System, the social practices and the generally accepted norms. The remembered history of the founder of the Kabi kingdom in North-West Nigeria (16th century) is hereby shown, through the choice and identification of its hero, as being one of the logical forms of legitimation of the State structure as well as the ordering stroke of a pseudo-historical necessity.
Dār Silā, the Sultanate in Precolonial Times, 1870-1916.
Authors: Kapteijns Lidwien
Published: October 2008

L. Kapteijns — Le sultanat du Dâr Sila à l'époque précoloniale, 1870-1916.

Au moment de la conquête du Wadai par les Français, en 1909, le souverain du sultanat dâjû du Dâr Silâ préféra éviter l'affrontement en se plaçant spontanément sous protectorat français, en échange de la reconnaissance et du maintien de sa souveraineté interne. En dépit de quoi, en 1916, après sept ans d'incompréhension réciproque, il fut détrôné et son royaume annexé. L'histoire précoloniale de ce petit État, coincé entre ses puissants voisins du Dâr Fur et du Wadai, explique son choix politique.
Sur quelques problèmes pratiques d'onomastique africaine : toponymie, anthroponymie, ethnonymie.
Authors: Alexandre Pierre
Published: October 2008

P. Alexandre - On Some Practical Problems in African Onomastics: Topo-, Anthropo-, and Ethnonymy.

These two papers approach the problems of writing or spelling African languages from slightly different angles: M. Diki-Kidiri's is more generai and closer to scientific linguistics, P. Alexandre's is restricted to proper nouns and more oriented toward editorial needs. Both plead for pragmatic rules and favour deviation from strict phonemic principles for the sake of practicality.
Métis et colons : la famille Devès et l'émergence politique des Africains au Sénégal, 1881-1897.
Authors: Manchuelle François
Published: October 2008

F. Manchuelle — Mulattoes and Settlers : The Deves Family and the Political Emergence of Africans in Senegal, 1881-1897.

The Creole community which dominated Senegal, even after the recall of Briere de l'Isle (1881), was sharply divided because of divergent economie interests in Saint-Louis and Goree. Around 1890, the political landscape was profoundly altered by the arrivai of French immigrants in the colony. In an attempt to wrest power from the Saint-Louisian Creoles, the Goreans, led by the Deves family, joined forces with the French colonists, supported by the Bordeaux commercial interests. This almost provoked the disintegration of their party, the electoral base of which was composed of small African traders threatened by the French penetration. Hoping to regain their influence, the Deves family made signincant contributions towards the emergence of black politics in Senegal. The article ends with an evocation of probable links between the Deves and the first black African deputy to the French parliament, Biaise Diagne.
Le refus du travail forcé au Sénégal oriental.
Authors: Touré Oussouby
Published: October 2008

O. Toure — The Refusal of Compulsory Labour in Eastern Senegal.

The economie policy of French colonialist rule used constraint to mobilize the labour force of local people for its own profit. In Tanba Kunda district, as else-where, labour conscription benefited private companies which, from 1923 to 1946, were allowed the use of numerous workers without paying for the maintenance and reproduction costs of this labour force. The article analyses the many forms of resistance the local population opposed to this regime.
Towards a Better Understanding of Socio-Economic Change in 18th- and I9th-Century Ungonde.
Authors: Kalinga Owen J.M.
Published: October 2008

O. J. M. Kalinga —Pour une meilleure compréhension des transformations socio-économiques des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles en Ungonde.

Contrairement aux théories reçues antérieurement, le développement d'un État centralisé chez les Ngonde (dans l'actuel Malawi) ne paraît pas lié à l'existence d'un commerce à longue distance : l'économie, à l'arrivée des fondateurs de la dynastie des kyungu, était fondée sur l'agriculture et la pêche, auxquelles s'ajouta ultérieurement l'élevage. Ce dernier facteur paraît avoir joué un rôle important au xvme siècle, en raison du besoin d'espace qu'il impliquait : la nécessaire extension territoriale provoqua une modification du pouvoir des kyungu, en même temps que des rapports sociaux entre propriétaires de bétail et clients. Après un stade initial de renforcement du pouvoir central, au xvme siècle, les nouvelles conditions économiques produisent l'effet inverse au xixe, les princes « éleveurs » essayant de s'affranchir de l'absolutisme des kyungu jusqu'à ce que, après 1880, ces derniers recherchent l'appui des traitants swahili.
Résistance et rébellion. Une lecture de l'insurrection menalamba.
Authors: Esoavelomandroso Faranirina
Published: October 2008

F. V. Esoavelomandroso — Resistance and Rebellion: An Interpretation of the Menalamba Insurrection.

A review of S. Ellis' The Rising of the Red Shawls, a history of the Malagasy rebellion which followed the fall of Antananarivo and suppression of the monarchy by the French. The movement had its roots in the late precolonial evolution of the kingdom, especially the conversion of its elites to Christianity, which resulted into a tension between a traditionalist periphery and a Christianized central oligarchy, viewed as collaborationist. The French conquest brought to light a latent crisis engendered by the contradictions which marred the Malagasy social and political organization in the last decades of the 19th century.
The Mane, the Decline of Mali, and Mandinka Expansion towards the South Windward Coast.
Authors: Massing Andreas W.
Published: October 2008

A. W. Massing — Les Mane, le déclin du Mali, et l'expansion mandingue vers la Côte du Vent méridionale.

L'analyse des traditions orales et des écrits européens des xvie et xviie siècles tend à indiquer que la prétendue invasion des Mane au xvie siècle n'était qu'une incursion parmi d'autres. Les Mane seraient des Manding, du groupe dialectal mande-nord plutôt que mande-sud. Cette invasion n'a guère intéressé que la péninsule de Sierra Leone et ses environs, et doit être distinguée de la prétendue invasion « kquoja » dans le Libéria actuel. L'élément dominant de la « mandinguisation » et de l'islamisation de ces deux pays serait le clan des conquérants du Konyan, les Kamara Diomande. Ces mouvements vers la côte correspondent à l'ouverture de nouvelles routes commerciales, à une époque où l'empire du Mali connaissait de sérieuses difficultés politiques internes.
Les zambaigos dans l'Amérique espagnole, au XVIe siècle.
Authors: Mari Françoise
Published: October 2008

F. Mari-—The 'Zambaigos' in 16th-Century Spanish America.

The zambaigos, offspring of African serves and Indian mothers, are to be distin-guished from the other mixed-ancestry groups: half-caste (Spanish fathers, Indian mothers) and mulattoes (Spanish fathers, African mothers). Miscegenation between Africans—be they freemen or slaves—and Indians was subjected to par-ticularly stringent repression for both socio-economic and cultural reasons: while the zambaigos were legally free since the abolition of Indian slavery, they were also completely estranged from Spanish-Christian ways of life. Yet, despite ail legal discriminations and prohibitions, they constituted a sizable portion of the colonial population by the end of the ioth century.
Entité étatique et développement en Afrique tropicale.
Authors: Gu-Konu Emmanuel Y.
Published: October 2008

E. Y. Gu-Konu—The State as an Entity and the Development of Tropical Africa.

Is a quarter century time enough to test the capacity of African States to promote their countries' development? The apparent trend looks more regressive than progressive, and the role and nature of the African State seem to be prime factors in this respect. The genesis of independence (peaceful or following a struggle), the subsequent ideological orientation and the military coups resuit into a diversity of situations, the common traits in ail cases being the extraneous character of the institution, reinforced by its integration in the world market. Hence the necessity of a centralized despotic power which in turn generates corruption and nepotism. While the material resources for development do exist, they can only be put to worthwhile use through a radical transformation of the extant States including a spatial re-structuration.
Aménagement de l'espace et mouvements de populations au Togo : l'exemple du pays kabyè.
Authors: Pillet-Schwartz Anne-Marie
Published: October 2008

A.-M. Pillet-Schwartz—Space Management and Migratory Movements in Togo: the Kabye Case.

Since the accession to power, in 1967, of a military officer of Kabye origin, an attempt has been made to build up a northern pole of development intended to match the southern one in Lome. A high population density coupled with intensive agricultural methods are characteristic of Kabyeland which has long remained self-contained, opening only recently to disseminate migrants into the central plain and the adjacent massifs. This diaspora is essentially rural, with a population (236,000) outnumbering that (139,000) of its original home. The planned development sets up the urban elite against the peasantry, the latter being able to secure its survival outside as well as inside a region where the State's aims pertain more to politics than to economies. Will this ensure success for an enterprise calling for the urbanization and stabilization of the inhabitants?

Unsurprisingly, Kara's attraction of the Kabye peasants remains weak, the striking fact being that this goes as well for the agricultural development areas. Is it that they are unwilling to submit to modem Systems of intensive cultivation because for them emigration implies liberation through extensive methods? Or do they look at the proposed development as not worthwhile in regard of what would be left behind? They are challenging the significance of a prestige operation, unlikely to devitalize the concerned area. Would purely economie goals be more valuable for the population? Which is the role assigned to the people in this scheme? In short, what is the true nature of power in today's Togo?
L'État de la santé.
Authors: Hours Bernard
Published: October 2008

B. Hours—The State of Health.

Illness and disease are connected with the State in every society, not only when there is a social protection but also when healing therapists are maintaining social integration within a local or national group disturbed by illnesses and diseases. Our purpose is to analyse politico-therapeutical functions of the State by contrast-ing, on the one hand, the ' doctor-State' endowed with apparent reality and dealing with health problems through financial and technical means, and, on the other hand, the 'witch-State', acting as a healer through a symbolic and ideological manipulation of societal powers.
Prémisses d'un État moderne ? Les projets coloniaux dans le bassin des Volta, 1897-1960.
Authors: Marchal Jean-Yves
Published: October 2008

J.-Y. Marchal—Premises for a Modem State? Colonial Projects in the Volta Basin (1897-1960).

To which uses can one put a dense population inherited from a strong, enduring political power? Should it be either compelled into production or else driven to export its life force ? The alternative which confrontee the colonial administration of Upper Volta has apparently fashioned the destiny of Burkina Faso.
Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Class in Africa : A Retrospective.
Authors: Young Merwin Crawford
Published: October 2008

M. C. Young — Nationalisme, ethnicité et classe en Afrique : une rétrospective.

Ces trois notions ont, tour à tour, constitué les thèmes dominants des études africanistes au cours des trente dernières années — chacun de ces thèmes, avec sa méthode d'approche particulière, ne permettant que peu d'imbrications et de recouvrements. Une confrontation systématique de ces approches — et de leurs limites (vite atteintes) — avec les faits de l'histoire récente souligne tout à la fois leur utilité, leur complémentarité, et leurs insuffisances. L'analyse globale de la riche littérature sur ces thèmes génère plus de questions que de réponses, ce qui témoigne de son opportunité.
A Provisional Historical Schema for Western Africa Based on Seven Climate Periods (ca. 9000 B.C. to the 19th Century).
Authors: Brooks George E.
Published: October 2008

G. E. Brooks — Un schéma provisoire de l'histoire de l'Afrique occidentale, fondé sur sept périodes climatiques (de ca. 9000 av. J.-C. au XIXe siècle).

Examen de l'évolution historique de l'Ouest africain au cours des sept ères climatiques s'étendant sur onze millénaires. Une périodisation construite à partir des changements climatiques fournit un éclairage significatif sur des phénomènes tels que les structures du peuplement, la diffusion des cultigènes et des animaux domestiques, le développement des routes commerciales reliant les écosystèmes, l'usage de la cavalerie pour la guerre et dans la genèse des États. Eh outre, la détermination des systèmes climatiques contribue à l'établissement de périodisations historiques indépendantes des chronologies d'inspiration européenne.
Environnement et densités de population : le recours à l'histoire.
Authors: Cambrezy Luc
Published: October 2008

L. Cambrezy — Environment and Population Density : Resorting to History.

In the arduous study of the relationship between Nature and Society, environment must needs be considered as a global whole, since it is perceived and used as such by its occupants. This affirmation is a triviality, y et the implementation of an approach fitting this objective is confronted with a permanent contradiction between an analysis which has to conform strictly to the traditional classification of sciences, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the imperative demand of a quest for relations and interactions which is hardly reconcilable with that division of knowledge. Problems have to be set down under a systemic approach, in order to account for the actual interactions as well as to avoid the danger of a mechanistic interpretation. A recourse to history in the examination of the relations between a society and its environment is no protection against reasoning linearly.

The present study is based upon the question of demographie density in Rwanda. Its aim is to show that historical analysis, necessary as it may be, is not sufficient. To become fully convincing, it must also take account of locational data. Space is no longer a concept to be used by geographers only: like history it has become a compulsory access-way into the understanding of the complex Systems with which we are dealing.
The Historical Approach to the Study of Societies and their Environment in the Eastern Upper Nile Plains.
Authors: Johnson Douglas H.
Published: October 2008

D. H. Johnson — L'approche historique dans l'étude des sociétés et de Venvironnement des plaines inondées du Haut-Nil.

La prise en considération des facteurs écologiques, plus spécialement de la climatologie et, surtout, de l'hydrologie (hauteur et durée des crues et étiages) est indispensable à la compréhension des mouvements historiques des peuples de langue nilotique, ainsi que de leur répartition et de leurs relations actuelles. La tâche majeure des historiens consiste sans doute dans l'étude des diverses façons dont elles ont réagi aux changements de leur environnement, tant sur le plan de l'adaptation de leurs genres de vie que sur celui de l'organisation sociale et des rapports entre ethnies
Une histoire maritime africaine est-elle possible ? Historiographie et histoire de la navigation et de la pêche africaines à la côte occidentale depuis le XVe siècle.
Authors: Chauveau Jean-Pierre
Published: October 2008

J.-P. Chauveau — Is a Maritime History of Africa Possible? Historiography and History of African Navigation and Fishing on the West Coast since the i$th Century.

Historical works dealing with African societies' relationship to the sea indicate that they ignored the marine milieu or even found it repulsive. The recurring environ-mental and historical arguments supporting this 'fact' are examined and criticized from the view-point of their inner validity. It is quite exceptional to find it examined in itself. Even so, such an examination is biased by the representative interference of external factors—mainly the 'great inland history' and the European expansion. The 'maritime fact' is held for null or negligible simply because it cannot be conceived within the frame of African historiography and its attendant notions.

In opposition to this interpretation, we are proposing an outline reconstruction of West African maritime history from the Mauretanian to the Nigerian coast. The existence of marine foci before the coming of the Portuguese and their conti-nuity up to the 2oth century are presented in their relation with the main environ-mental and historical factors. The conclusion sets forth the hypothesis that, far from being unilaterally determined by the 'European factor', West African maritime history has been a precondition of Afro-European contacts and an important element in the development and shaping of European settlement. That is not without consequences touching the historical interpretation of the relations between 'economies-worlds'.

(A note by G. Chauvet on The Repartition of Pathogenic Risks bound to Vector Endémies in Relation to Phytoclimatic Milieus is appended to this paper.)
Démographie et écologie en Afrique orientale à la fin du XIXe siècle : une crise exceptionnelle ?
Authors: Chrétien Jean-Pierre
Published: October 2008

J.-P. Chretien— Demography and Ecology in East Africa at the End of the icth Century : An Exceptional Crisis?

Recent publications on East Africa in the 19th century and surveys on the history of the plains bordering lake Tanganyika in Burundi permit to critieize the stereo-typed opinion opposing a 'traditional' demographie standstill to a progress due to colonization. A relative prosperity is, indeed, broken off by a both demographie and economie crisis which reaches its peak between 1890 and 1930: the insecurity created by the Arab slave trade and European expeditions combines with droughts, locust invasion, cattle-plague, smallpox and sleeping sickness. It might be that the population of some regions then decreased by at least fifty per cent. Other crises probably affected East Africa (in about 1830 and 1870-1880), but their importance and impact can only be assessed through a cautious interpretation of scattered and indirect sources (hydrographical data, oral traditions...) which should be system-atically put back in their geographical and ecological setting. The history of societies and that of landscapes are closely linked.
Where is the Real Thing? Psychoanalysis and African Mythical Narratives
Authors: Mudimbe Valentin Y.
Published: October 2008

V. Y. Mudimbe — Où est la chose réelle ? Psychanalyse et récits mythiques africains.

A partir d'une lecture de l'ouvrage de Luc De Heusch, Le Roi ivre ou l'origine de l'État (1972) cet article essaie de cerner dans une mémoire africaine un cauchemar originel dont la violence ne paraît ni mineure, ni différente, face à celle qui, dans le capitalisme, marque et accompagne les figures d'Œdipe ou d'Electre.
La pensée politique kikuyu et les idéologies du mouvement mau-mau
Authors: Lonsdale John L.
Published: October 2008

J. M. Lonsdale — Kikuyu Political Thought and the Ideologies of Mau Mau.

This article questions the conventional social-science dichotomy between the categories 'class' and 'ethnicity', by reference to the political history of the Kikuyu people in colonial Kenya. It is argued that Kikuyu ethnicity was created by a form of nationalism comparable with those of nineteenth-century Europe. The idea of the Kikuyu nation was conceived and articulated by a new clerical and commercial elite; their nationalism legitimized their consolidation into a middle class which was opposed not only to alien rule but also to many of the practices of the old society. Mau Mau was conceived by a younger generation who feared lest their incipient proletarianization might deprive them of their ethnicity, which alone could guarantee them local rights of land usage. They could have acted as a working class, but did not; to do so would have required first that they have some conception of the State. Instead, they tried, by initiation into Mau Mau, to reactivate in their own interests some of the basic concepts of Kikuyu citizenship.
Un historien et anthropologue sénégalais : Shaikh Musa Kamara.
Authors: Robinson David
Published: October 2008

D. Robinson — A Senegalese Historian and Anthropologist : Shaikh Musa Kamara.

The author draws the historical background and the geographical setting of Shaikh Musa Kamara's life and regrets that, notwithstanding his being a prolific historian of the Fuuta Tooro, he be so unrecognized. Robinson recounts his life and divides it in three large periods: the thirty initial years, with a studious youth and three marking influences; the time at the beginning of the colonial period, which is not very well known; and the twenty-five last years when he took up writing. The article presents Kamara's works, their characteristics and topics. A complete list of his manuscripts and a detailed table of contents of his materpiece, the Zuhur, are appended.
Le pouvoir sur scène : contorsions politico-religieuses dans le théâtre de Soyinka.
Authors: Fioupou Christiane
Published: October 2008

C. Fioupou—Power on Stage: Political and Religious Contorsions in Soyinka's Dr amas.

The major themes, identified herein, of Wole Soyinka's theatrical works take the form of allegories of good and evil, and of cruelty. As Soyinka's whole work centers around the political and religious contorsions of African leaders, it turns out to be an extremely fierce satire of the powers that be. Though deahng exclusi-vely with Africa, Soyinka uses Western theatrical schemata, borrowed in particular from Genet and Brecht. Beyond the purely literary aspects of his theater, a clear statement is made about politics in sub-Saharan Africa.
Gudur : Chefferie ou royaume ?
Authors: Jouaux Catherine
Published: October 2008

C. Jouatjx — Gudur: A Complex Political System.

Given the dimculty of precisely and pertinently qualifying the Gudur political System, it is necessary to start by describing political reality there. The Gudur foundation myth is used to analyze the basis and legitimation of political power in this society. Defining the status of the Gudur chief-priest (Bay) and describing how he exercises power leads to distinguishing " power zones": the Gudur mountain range where this officiai dwells; the "brother" ranges that recognize real bonds of kinship with Gudur; and the ranges in Mofu-Gudur areas. There may even have been a fourth zone covering the neighboring peoples who made pilgrimages to the Gudur area, but the Bay's power there was more symbolic than real. Although his power had a religious essence and was fully displayed in the religious sphere, it intervened concretely in the social, juridical and economie management of dependent communities. Its reality keeps us, when trying to classify the Gudur political institution as either a "reinforced chiefdom" or kingdom, from establishing a parallel with sacred kingships such as the Bemba's where only "ritual actions" ensure unity.
Le roi chronophage. La construction d'une conscience historique dans le Maroc postcolonial.
Authors: Valensi Lucette
Published: October 2008

L. Valensi — The Chronophagous King. The Construction of an Historical Consciousness in Postcolonial Morocco.

This essay on the construction of collective memory in new states presents a case study of Morocco after it became independent in 1956. Based on a study of Moroccan newspapers, it shows how the free market of national symbols that prevailed in the early years of independence was enventually transformed into a monopoly of the monarch who used the past as one of the devices for his self celebration.
So Who Was Elias Kuzwayo? Nationalism, Collaboration and the Picaresque in Natal.
Authors: La Hausse Paul
Published: October 2008

P. La Hausse — Nationalisme, collaboration et « picaresque » au Natal : à propos de la vie d'Elias Kuzwayo.

Bien que le point de départ de cet article ait trait à la carrière relativement obscure d'Elias Kuzwayo — criminel de petite envergure et escroc —, son objet principal est relatif aux questions plus larges que son existence soulève. On tente de montrer que la notion de « picaresque », lorsqu'elle est soutenue par des données historiques suffisantes, peut non seulement aider à éclairer les points nodaux de la présentation publique que Kuzwayo donne de lui-même, mais sert également à définir des personnages analogues ainsi que les crises historiques auxquelles ils ont été confrontés. On suggère également que l'ambiguïté morale que Kuzwayo élabore de façon picaresque, non seulement nous informe sur l'émergence de certains styles de leadership africain après 1940 mais attire également l'attention sur les sources culturelles de l'autorité politique populiste et sur certaines formes de collaboration entretenues vpar des membres de l'élite colonisée africaine avec l'état de l'Apartheid. À cet égard, la notion de « picaresque » fournit un mode d'accès au domaine largement inexploré du nationalisme ethnique et conservateur zoulou dans les années 1940 et 1950.
L'évolution foncière de la rive droite du fleuve Sénégal sous la colonisation (Mauritanie)
Authors: Leservoisier Olivier
Published: October 2008

O. Leservoisier — Changes in Land Tenure on the Northern Shore of the Senegal River during the Colonial Period (Mauritania).

Some scholars have tended to minimize the effects of colonization on land tenure. Herein, this impact is shown in four ways: the resettlement of the Senegal River's northern shore following pacification, which affected control over the land; the colonizer's policy of redistributing land; the increasing number of conflicts over land, which cannot be reduced to a mere ethnie opposition between Moors and Haalpulaar'en; and the introduction of ground rent (rempeccen) in the land tenure System. Similar to the failed application of colonial land legislation, changes in land tenure have more often corne out of indirect than direct measures..
From Pastoralist to Politician : The Problem of a Fulbe « Aristocracy ».
Authors: Burnham Philip , Last Murray
Published: October 2008

P. Burnham & M. Last — Des pasteurs aux dignitaires : la question de l'aristocratie fulбe.

Le terme « aristocrate » est souvent utilisé pour distinguer les Fulbe qui gouvernaient les émirats et les lamidats du Califat de Sokoto au XIXe siècle de leurs parents restés pasteurs. Cet article tente de montrer que cette distinction est inadéquate. En effet, nombre de détenteurs de charge loin d'être des aristocrates étaient choisis parmi les peuples vassalisés ou asservis connus sous le nom de haade. Il n'existait donc aucune « caste » aristocratique au sein de laquelle auraient été recrutés les dignitaires. Ce n'est que dans les États anciens, comme Kano, que des conditions propices à l'épanouissement d'une telle aristocratie furent réunies et, même dans ce cas, l'ethos musulman entrava l'apparition des marqueurs requis pour délimiter une catégorie sociale de ce type.
Gbahié Koudou Jeannot. Le prophète annonciateur de la crise
Authors: Dozon Jean-Pierre
Published: October 2008

Résumé

Au milieu des années 1980, tandis que le « miracle ivoirien » s'estompait, le combat du prophète Gbahié Koudou Jeannot contre ce qu'il appelait « le fétichisme et la sorcellerie » rencontra une très large adhésion et eut un grand retentissement national.

Bien qu'on puisse la considérer comme un nouvel avatar d'un phénomène prophétique qui n'a jamais cessé de hanter l'histoire de la Côte-d'lvoire, la geste de Gbahié Koudou force le commentaire sous deux aspects essentiels. D'un côté, elle rappelle l'épopée de W. W. Harris qui, de 1913 à 1915, mena un combat similaire et fut au départ des prophétismes ivoiriens, indiquant ainsi qu'à soixante-dix ans de distance, et malgré l'ampleur des changements, l'histoire du pays se répétait singulièrement. Mais, de l'autre, elle s'inscrit profondément dans son époque en en révélant les principales contradictions et, mieux encore, en anticipant la crise socio-politique du tournant des années 1990 qui ébranlera le règne d'Houphouët-Boigny et provoquera le retour au multipartisme.
Edouard Glissant. Naissance d'une anthropologie antillaise au siècle de l'assimilation
Authors: Fonkoua Romual Blaise
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Edouard Glissant: The Birth of Anthropology in the French Antilles during the Century of Assimilation. — The anthropology of the French Antilles is yet to be done, because of the assimilation experienced by these societies. Through essays, poems and novels, Edouard Glissant has undertaken this endeavor. He has discovered: the possibility of philosophical anthropology; the need to construct a vocabulary for a cultural anthropology by epistemologically criticizing several European ethnologists; and the urgency of inventing a social anthropology of the Antilles. His approach is a mixture of concepts and theories often borrowed without any precise references to contradictory disciplines. But its interest lies in the works he has selected to use with the legitimate consciousness of taking a special look at a unique reality. Instead of an affirmed, recognized scientific method, E. Glissant has invented an "ethnopoetics", a literary endeavor with anthropological aims. According to him, this represents the only way to tackle the complexity of Antillean society.
Résistance, Politics of Protest, and Mass Nationalism in Colonial Malawi, 1950-1960. A Reconsideration
Authors: Kalinga Owen J.M.
Published: October 2008

Résumé

Résistance, contestation politique et nationalisme de masse au Malawi (1950-1960). Une réévaluation. — Cet article conteste l'idée reçue selon laquelle la résistance au pouvoir britannique au Malawi, à la fin de la période coloniale, aurait été en grande partie l'œuvre de nationalistes occidentalisés, c'est-à-dire de ceux qui s'engageaient dans le combat pour l'indépendance au début des années 1950. Sans sous-estimer la contribution inestimable de ces « jeunes Turcs » à la cause nationaliste, l'auteur montre qu'une approche centrée sur l'élite est trompeuse, car elle tend à minimiser le rôle déterminant des classes paysanne et ouvrière urbaine. L'auteur souligne également que puisqu'il reste de nombreuses preuves de l'existence d'une agitation anticoloniale croissante au sein des communautés rurales ainsi que différentes formes de luttes sourdes sur les lieux de travail, il est nécessaire de reconsidérer, entre autres choses, les relations entre le programme politique et les activités des leaders occidentalisés et des autres élites, d'une part, et les relations entre les paysans et les travailleurs, de l'autre. Ce faisant, il devient possible d'oeuvrer dans le sens d'une histoire totale qui prend en compte les différentes strates de la société et laisse de côté celle qui va du sommet vers la base de la hiérarchie sociale. Dans le contexte de l'assouplissement du climat politique au Malawi, une telle réévaluation est actuellement envisageable.
The Younger Brother and the Stranger : In Search of a Status Discourse for Mande
Authors: Jansen Jan
Published: October 2008

Abstract

This article examines different categories of expression (genealogies, family histories, themes from the Sunjata epic, principles of segmentation, labour division) in Mande, and proves that they ail develop along lines of predictability, and are therefore products of the same discourse, lt is argued that genealogies are artificial kinship constructions which represent status daims. Any genealogy in Mande is operative only in a specifie context, as an argument in a struggle for interpretation, and thus the usual positivist, chronological interpretation of genealogies is contested. The relationship oldest/youngest in particular serves to express unity and tension in diplomatie relations between social groups, and relationship has been articulated politically in a functional way in relation to other oppositions such as mobile/immobile, interior/exterior. This status discourse is illustrated by the discussion on the position of the rulers of Kangaba, the alleged ancient capital of the Mali empire.
The Unraveling of a Neglected Source : A Report on Women in Francophone West Africa in the 1930s.
Authors: Lydon Ghislaine
Published: October 2008

Abstract

In October 1937, the Governor-General of AOF appointed Denise Moran Savineau to head a mission of inquiry into the social and economic situation of women and the family in the French West African colonies. Moran, one of the rare women to be employed by the French colonial administration, produced a remarkable study. This article attempts to place her document in its historical context. Attention is paid to the economic and social conditions of the 1930s and the French colonial policy of the 1936 Popular Front government. In the second part of the article, the document in question is examined by themes: women and production, trade, employment, rural and forced labor (especially the case of the Office du Niger), slavery and pawnship, women and the colonial justice System, education and medical facilities.
Secrets and Lies : Context, Meaning, and Agency in Mande
Authors: Hoffman Barbara G.
Published: October 2008

Abstract

This article explores the agency of Mande social actors and the profusion of perspectives at play in the production of meaning through language. It follows the interpretations of Bakhtin, Volosinov, Goody and Douglas in conceptualizing how humans communicate through categories such as truth and falsehood, accuracy and equivocation. Varying interpretations by the same person at different times of a single proverb or a single set of events illustrate significant differences between Western literate and Mande oral ways of thinking about these issues, as well as issues of the categorization of knowledge, and of access to it by Western researchers. The polysemy of Mande languages and the implications for research are explored, taking into consideration issues of veracity and proof in worlds of orality, particularly with regard to research on the speech of griots, for whom "the meaning" of an utterance may be very different from what the Western researcher expects.
La circoncision en pays maasai et borana. Guerre, procréation et virilité en Afrique orientale
Authors: Hazel Robert
Published: October 2008

Résumé

Tant chez les Maasai que chez les Borana, deux ethnies respectivement nilotique et couchitique qui ont marqué l'histoire de l'Afrique orientale, la circoncision vient « dévoiler » la virilité des hommes à un moment crucial de leur existence. Faisant l'objet d'annonces pré-figuratives, elle est ensuite revécue à l'occasion de mises en scène réitératives qui constituent autant d'étapes le long du processus de « masculinisation » auquel sont soumis les membres de toute nouvelle classe d'âge. Vu son importance, la circoncision évoque culturellement une variété de significations. Certaines d'entre elles sont propres à chaque groupe du fait, notamment, que le rite n'intervient pas au même point dans la carrière masculine.
L'Afrique naturalisée
Authors: Dias Nélia
Published: October 2008

Résumé

II est communément admis que les modes d'exposition des objets dans l'espace des musées ethnographiques nous renseignent tout autant sur les cultures représentées que sur les époques et la culture productrices de ces représentations.

Deux techniques expositives dominent de nos jours la présentation des objets africains dans l'espace des musées : le souci de contextualisation avec une dimension ethnographique (musée de l'Homme) et l'approche esthétique (fondation Dapper, musée des Arts africains et océaniens). Cependant, et au-delà de la dichotomie objet ethnographique/objet d'art, force est de constater que dans certains musées, notamment au musée de la Chasse et de la Nature à Paris, nature et culture semblent aller de pair dans la salle d'Afrique. Ainsi, des lances, des armes, des masques et des sculptures sont exposés à côté de têtes d'animaux, d'animaux empaillés, de cornes d'éléphant en ivoire, de peaux d'animaux, le tout présenté sous forme de trophées de chasse. Si nature et culture sont étroitement liées pour ce qui est de l'Afrique, en revanche la salle d'Asie contient essentiellement des objets de culte. À la fin du XXe siècle les objets africains semblent occuper une position inégale face aux productions matérielles des autres régions géographiques : ce sont quelques-uns des aspects de cette situation que cet article entend examiner.
Des mises en scène de curiosités aux chefs-d'œuvre mis en scène. Le Musée royal de l'Afrique à Tervuren : un siècle de collections
Authors: Bouttiaux Anne-Marie
Published: October 2008

Abstract

From Displaying Curious to Showing Masterpieces: the Musee Royal de l'Afrique In Tervuren, Belgium, a Century of Collecting. — For a century now, the ethnological section of the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, has managed a vast collection of objects. At the start, sculptures were exhibited for neither aesthetic nor scientific purposes; they merely served as an exotic decor for colonial propaganda. Over time, some of these sculptures have attained recognition as "masterpieces", whereas others have been catalogued as the material evidence of given cultures. The way these objects have acquired status in a museum with many other sections of natural and human sciences is described.
Musées et colonisation en Afrique tropicale
Authors: Gaugue Anne
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Museums and Colonization in Tropical Africa. — The first museums in tropical Africa, created in the early 20th century by Portuguese and British colonists, were designed as showcases for the colonization and development of the conquered lands. As of the 1940s, museums became centers for research on African cultures and history with the aim to better understand local peoples and thus facilitate colonial policies. The image of Africa diffused in exhibitions differed from colony to colony. Basically defined as a place of research, museums in French and Belgian colonies presented colonial ethnography's view of ethnie divisions. In the British colonies of the Gold Coast (Ghana) and Nigeria, as independence seemed inevitable in the late 1950s, plans were made to open museums in Accra and Lagos as places for promoting the African heritage; these museums were thus destined to favor the emergence of a national conscience. In settlers' colonies in southern Africa (Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe), museums were used to display the superiority of European civilization.
L'ethnologue « gênant », ou les vicissitudes du projet de création du Musée national du Cameroun
Authors: Pompeo Francisco
Published: October 2008

Résumé

Les vicissitudes du projet pour la création du Musée national du Cameroun, racontées à travers l'expérience directe de l'auteur, mettent en relief une série de paradoxes et de contradictions. La dimension spécifique de la mise en œuvre du musée, dans le cadre de la politique nationale, montre un « refoulement » des catégories ethniques ainsi que leur rôle dans l'histoire tourmentée du pays africain, à travers une approche écologique et en faisant référence à l'ethnographie classificatoire.