bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Division of Work according to Sex in African Hoe Culture
Authors: Baumann Hermann
Published: April 2006

Eduard Hahn, to whom the ethnological study of economics owes a considerable number of important discoveries which have been published repeatedly and in varying forms, seems to have paid scarcely enough attention to the good work of the scholars who preceded him in the fight for the recognition of the outstanding position of women in the lower forms of soil cultivation. Steinmetz and quite recently Koppers, have pointed out that Buckland already attributed to the female sex the invention of the most ancient method of soil cultivation, or hoe culture, as, since Hahn, it has generally been called. He was followed by Roth, Lippert, Mason, Grosse, Schurtz, and finally Eduard Hahn with his very logical and ingenious deductions. The modern student of social history is not so easily satisfied with evidence arbitrarily collected from all over the world and the theories based on it, which are then said to hold good for all mankind; he finds the results of the research of the so-called ‘zones of culture school’ (Kulturkreisschule) much more convincing. Gräbner, the leader of this group of German ethnologists, has now recently made his numerous works, in condensed form, accessible to a wider public. Here we find, in particular, a clearer statement of the arguments of Grosse, Bachofen, and others about the connexion of matriarchal society and lower forms of soil cultivation. Matriarchy and hoe culture are assigned to definite chronologically determined stages of civilization (older forms of the so-called ‘two class culture’, and later ones of ‘bow culture’). Koppers, of the Austrian branch group, associates matriarchy and hoe culture with these two civilizations, which he, as does P. W. Schmidt, designates more aptly as ‘exogamous matriarchal’ and ‘free matriarchal’.
Grundsätzliche Fragen völkerkundlicher Bibliographie
Authors: Heydrich Von M.
Published: April 2006

Jeder, der sich mit völkerkundlichen Fragen beschäftigt, muss selbst das meist weit verstreute Material mühsam zusammensuchen, das nicht nur in der nicht allzu umfangreichen ethnologischen Fachliteratur, sondern in Reisebeschreibungen, in den Veröffentlichungen der Missionsgesellschaften und Kolonialverwaltungen, ja mitunter sogar in populären Zeitschriften verstreut ist. Die bibliographische Erfassung der bisher erschienenen wichtigen Literatur kann nur durch Sonderuntersuchungen erfolgen, wie sie in mustergültiger Art etwa von amerikanischen Forschern für einzelne Kulturprovinzen Amerikas geschaffen wurden. Für Afrika fehlen moderne geschlossene Bibliographien fast völlig. Die etwa zu nennenden Untersuchungen sind meist landeskundlicher Natur, die auch die ethnologischen Arbeiten mehr oder minder vollständig mit aufführen. Obwohl auch die natürlich nicht vollständigen Literaturnachweise der Handbücher, Monographien, Sonderuntersuchungen und Zeitschriften gute Dienste leisten können, fehlen doch für Afrika modernen Ansptüchen genügende völkerkundliche und linguistische Bibliographien. Es ist deshalb sehr verdienstlich, dass das Internationale Afitika-Institut zunächst eine Bibliographie der afrikanischen Eingeborenensprachen herausgeben will und mit dieser Arbeit den hervorragenden Kenner afrikanischer Sprachen, Professor Struck, beauftragt hat.
Social Systems of Africa
Authors: Thurnwald Richard
Published: April 2006

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The study of the social problems of Africa demands primarily a definite knowledge of the actual state of affairs, of the facts which to-day represent the fundamental conditions determining the direction in which the life of the natives is developing. It is not a question of one single manifestation or another, since whatever we may find anywhere as custom or practice is only part of an entire system, intimately connected also with the intellectual life of the people.
The Use of the Vernacular in Education in Africa
Authors: Schmidt P. W.
Published: April 2006

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Our Institute should, from the very beginning of its activities, both in connexion with languages and with the cultures of the African native, bear in mind its ultimate aim, and not be satisfied with the mere introduction of more or less casual individual measures. This should not be interpreted as the pedantry of the German professor, nor should the contention be put forward that British experience goes to prove that such matters must be dealt with as they arise without considering future possibilities too seriously. In my opinion it is, on contrary, typically British to take distant ultimate aims into consideration at an early stage of the proceedings, and to bear them in mind while maintaining flexibility in the intermediate stages and adapting them on a wide scale to present contingencies.
A Muslim Divine of the Sudan in the Fifteenth Century
Authors: Palmer H. R.
Published: April 2006

One of the chief impediments to ethnological study in Africa, south of Egypt and the northern coast belt of the continent, lies in the meagre amount of archaelogical data which exists, as also in the paucity of records which can be called historical. The position as regards these matters, however, is not as bad in the Sudan belt as is sometimes thought. The historical data collected by Barth and other writers concerning the Sudan belt in past ages, have been perhaps too readily considered as of doubtful authenticity. Consequently, any surviving direct evidence concerning Sudanese history and chronological data to fix it, is valuable not only in itself, but as helping to substantiate other traditions and notices which may not be considered to be fully authenticated.
The Stone Ages in South Africa
Authors: Goodwin A. J. H.
Published: April 2006

Tutankamen, Ur, and Glozel have all aroused so great an interest in the various branches of archaeology and prehistory that the European presses seem to find it difficult to turn out archaeological works sufficiently fast to meet the public demand; writers, too, seem to find it difficult to vary their choice of facts and their points of view. Yet in spite of all this, one type of archaeological work has never yet made its appearance,—a good, comprehensive study of archaeological method. The more one studies the subject, the more one realizes the importance of the methods necessary, both those used by the field worker in his excavations, and also those to be used by the museum worker in correlating the material before him. In time these methods begin to formulate themselves in the student's mind, and it becomes fairly clear what the original modus operandi used by men like de Mortillet must necessarily have been.
La Renaissance de l'Olivier et la Propriété foncière dans l'Afrique du Nord
Authors: de Lacharrière J. Ladreit
Published: April 2006

L'Olivier, très vieil arbre. Il en est peu qui puisse s'enorgueillir d'une tradition si ancienne et si humaine: un de ses rameaux dans le bee de la colombe n'annonçait-il pas à Noé la fin de la colère divine?

Sur tout le pourtour de la Méditerranée, l'olivier trouve des conditions favorables dans les sols considérés comme les plus arides aussi bien que sur les terres les plus riches. Il est en Syrie, en Anatolie, en Italie, en Provence, en Espagne; Athènes en a fait l'attribut de sa marraine, la sage Pallas; les rives redoutées de l'Afrique septentrionale en sont couvertes comme par contraste, car l'arbre de paix a fructifié au milieu des pires complications de l'histoire, de celles déterminées par le seul goût des rapines qui, pendant des siécles, a poussé les tribus pillardes à dévaster villes et campagnes, les pirates barbaresques à écumer la mer.
The West African Students' Union: A Study in Culture Contact
Authors: Garigue Philip
Published: April 2006

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This study of a specific instance of culture contact, that provided by the situation of West African students in Britain, is limited to a discussion and analysis of their association in the West African Students' Union. The fact of common geographical origin partly explains the formation of such a Union, for the same reason as United States, Canadian, South African, and other large groups of students living in Britain have become so organized. But this would ignore the situation of colour prejudice facing coloured students in Britain, and also their colonial status in relation to Britain. Because of this determining characteristic of being an association of coloured colonial students, the West African Students' Union has developed, throughout its history, certain features not normally found among students' unions, and which are reminiscent of ‘protest movements’. The analysis which is presented here seeks to determine the reasons why West African students organized themselves into the West African Students' Union from 1926 onwards. It is unfortunately not possible to do more here than touch briefly upon the major changes which took place during that time, but as most of the data here presented have not hitherto been published, enough details have been included to give an idea of the manner in which members of the West African Students' Union responded to the situation of culture contact. The paper is divided into two parts: first, an historical account of the type of ideas held by the members of the Union; and, secondly, a discussion of the reasons why West African students join the Union.
Ibadan Annual Festival
Authors: Parrinder E. G.
Published: April 2006

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Ibadan is said to be the largest town in tropical Africa and is widely known as a rail and road junction, an air-port, and a large commercial and marketing centre. Ibadan is also a centre for education: it possesses primary, secondary, and training schools of various types, and has been chosen as the site of the new University College. There are about 50 churches in the town, and hundreds of mosques.
Le Marbat: Marché au Bétail de Louga
Authors: Robin J.
Published: April 2006

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Louga au Sénégal, à environ 60 km. s.s.e. de Saint-Louis, fut au siècle dernier la capitale d'une sorte de diocèse. Serigne Louga était alors considéré comme le chef religieux de tout le Ndiambour et avait, à ce titre, les honneurs du Moniteur du 25 décembre 1856. Il perdit cependant son autorité religieuse, et Louga du même coup sa notoriété, dans le naufrage de l'empire des Darnels. Louga n'était plus en 1905 qu'une maigre bourgade sans signification, lorsque se produisit un évènement qui allait étendre à tout le Sénégal, et même à la Mauritanie, sa renommée. C'est en effet cette année-là qu'un groupe d'hommes d'affaires entreprenants et astucieux, en tête desquels il faut citer Hamadou Barka, prit l'initiative de fonder le ‘Marbat’.
Popular Verse of the Swahili Tradition
Authors: Harries Lyndon
Published: April 2006

In countries where conditions favour the preservation of manuscripts and books, the survival value of much of the literature may not be directly related to its popularity. Unpopular works may remain neglected for long periods and then regain favour; but in the conditions which have prevailed in East Africa, only those literary works receiving the continued favour of the people have had any chance of survival at all. There have been no library stacks, no dry cupboards or shelves for storing manuscripts, but only the white ant and the damp. The love of the Swahili people for a good poem has been the means of retaining much valuable work that would otherwise have been lost. Even so, much more has been lost to posterity than has been preserved.
The Karamojong Cluster: A Note
Authors: Lawrance J. C. D.
Published: April 2006

Those who read in Gulliver's ‘Karamojong Cluster’ that the Iteso are socially and culturally divided from the rest of the Teso Dialect Cluster, may not realize how closely many of their customs resemble those of other members of the Cluster. In fact all the six main social or cultural features which Gulliver enumerates as common to the Karamojong Cluster are common also to the Iteso.
Comparative Masai Word List: Nilotic-Nilo-Hamitic-Masai-Hamitic-Semitic
Authors: Hohenberger J.
Published: April 2006

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The classification of Masai and the Nilo-Hamitic languages with the Hamitic and JL Semitic language groups is a problem which is engaging the attention of linguists at the present time. In 1948 M. A. Bryan and A. N. Tucker, of London, published a short linguistic survey: Distribution of the Nilotic and Nilo-Hamitic Languages of Africa In this survey the generally accepted view was put forward that the Nilo-Hamitic and Nilotic languages, though they have a number of common features, show considerable differences. This theory is attacked by J. H. Greenberg of Columbia University, New York. In his opinion the relationship of the Nilotic and the ‘Great Lakes’ languages is so close that he combines both groups in the ‘Southern Branch’, i.e. one of the seven sub-groups of his ‘Eastern Sudanic’ language family; he rejects the term ‘Nilo-Hamitic’. In Volume III of the Handbook of African Languages, Tucker and Bryan refute the criticism of Greenberg, and put forward arguments to justify the distinction between ‘Nilotic’ and ‘Nilo-Hamitic’ and the retention of the term ‘Hamitic’ in the second title. A quite different approach to the problem in question may be found in the publications of A. Drexel and L. Homburger.
Nuer Curses and Ghostly Vengeance
Authors: Evans-Pritchard E. E.
Published: April 2006

In this short article I present some of my notes on what may broadly be called Nuer religion. It describes two important concepts of the Nuer of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan: biit, a curse, and cien, the vengeance of a ghost.

The curse of certain persons in Nuer society is believed to be effective if they have been wronged. If they utter curses without due cause (cuong) the curses will not harm those against whom they are uttered, but will either be ineffective or harm the speakers of them. A man curses another by uttering an invocation (lam)— which in this context is an imprecation—over, or about, him; and the Nuer distinguish different kinds of curse by reference to the relationship of the persons implicated in it—biit gwan, the curse of a father, biit nara, the curse of a maternal uncle, biit kuaara, the curse of a leopard-skin chief, and so forth. Some of these curses are regarded as weightier than others.
The Question of Ghana
Authors: Mauny R. A.
Published: April 2006

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In recent years the question of Ghana has acquired new importance for two reasons: firstly, the recent excavations made at Koumbi Saleh in Southern Mauritania, the most probable site of the medieval Western Sudan capital and, secondly, the belief expressed by some Gold Coast authors that the Akan are descended from the ancient Ghana people. This paper is mainly concerned with the first of these.
The Politics of African Church Separatist Movements in British Central Africa, 1892–1916
Authors: Shepperson George
Published: April 2006

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The scope of this subject and convenient chronological divisions for it may be suggested by three quotations. The first comprises questions put to the Undersecretary for the Colonies in the British House of Commons, 1 and 8 September 1909, by Keir Hardie:

…whether Elliott Kamwana, a native missionary working in Nyassaland under the auspices of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, was detained as a prisoner at Chinteche from 18th March till 4th May and then deported to Cape Town, at his own expense, by the Governor…[whether] the preaching complained of referred to the Second Advent…[and]…was the statement [made] that the abolition of taxation was to follow the Second Advent…whether all this was done without any charge having been formulated against Kamwana or any form of trial having taken place…?
Dual Organization in Ibo Social Structure
Authors: Jones G. I.
Published: April 2006

There are many Abajas in the Ibo country; there were, until recently, two village groups of this name attached to a single Native Treasury. Its Native Authority officials were wont to distinguish them as Abaja-Isu and Abaja-Green. The former has now been transferred to Isu Native Authority, the latter is the subject of a recently published study by M. M. Green. It forms the third-ranking village group of the Ehime ‘clan’ (tribe) which belongs to the eastern section of the Isuama division of the Southern Ibo. This section was classified by Talbot as the Abaja ‘sub-tribe’ after its most important ‘clan’ (tribe), and within this ‘sub-tribe’ he distinguishes as the Abaja-Osu ‘clan’ (tribe) the two related ‘clans’ of Ehime and Ugboma. With so many Abajas to confuse the local issue the reviewer proposes to follow the Mbano Native Authority procedure and to refer to the community with whose affairs Miss Green is concerned as Abaja-Green.
The Beef-Cattle Trade in Nigeria
Authors: Jones G. I.
Published: April 2006

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The export of cattle from the northern to the southern provinces of Nigeria is one of the most important internal exports in the Protectorate, and one which offers possibilities of considerable development. It is proposed in this paper to give a summary account of this trade, followed by a more detailed examination of the trade to Umuahia, which is the distributing centre for the eastern provinces.
Report of the Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies: Mass Education in African Society
Authors: Vischer Hanns
Published: April 2006

The appearance of this report, with the far-reaching proposals which it contains, is an important landmark in the history of the African peoples in the various British territories. It is, in a way, a sequel to, or rather the culmination of, the many statements which have been issued by the Colonial Office concerning the education of the people in these territories, from the publication of the White Paper on Education in Africa in 1942. But the report is more than that; it is the reply of the Government to the constantly increasing demand of the people themselves. There can be no doubt that for some years the main activities in the various territories will be connected with the education of the people and the spread of literacy—matters with which our Institute has been closely connected for many years, and in which the great majority of our members are keenly interested. It is felt, therefore, that a full account of the proposals and suggestions in the report will be appreciated by readers of Africa.
The Family, Household, and Minor Lineage of the Konkomba
Authors: Tait David
Published: April 2006

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Since the household contains members drawn from the larger minor lineage group, we may expect to find that it functions within the framework of the latter. This is indeed the way in which Konkomba think of the household—as part of something larger, as something that is now isolated from and now merged in the larger group. The phrase ‘Ti je mfum mba’ (we are one) may refer to a household, a minor lineage group, a major lineage group, a clan, a tribe or the whole Konkomba people. When speaking of co-operation they speak in terms of the minor lineage group rather than in terms of the household. We shall try to differentiate the role of the household as a unit of reciprocal help, of social control, and of instruction, &c.
Tax and Travel among the Hill-Tribes of Northern Adamawa
Authors: Kirk-Greene A. H. M.
Published: April 2006

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The area under consideration consists of 1,100 square miles of the Madagali, Cubunawa, and Mubi districts of the northern touring division of Adamawa emirate, whose sub-headquarters at Mubi is responsible to the administrative capital at Yola on the River Benue. It is occupied by a heterogeneous population of fairly primitive pagans, and some 400 square miles of the area are still declared closed territory under the Unsettled Districts Ordinance. Though there is a steady, if unspectacular, movement down to the plains, a large proportion of the people remain in their mountain fastnesses whither they fled in the nineteenth century to seek safety from the marauding Fulani cavalry during the slave-raids that characterized the period between the jihad and the British occupation.
African Linguistic Classification
Authors: Westermann Diedrich
Published: April 2006

Professor Greenberg, in his series of linguistic studies, writes: ‘From the present series there will emerge a complete genetic reclassification of the languages of Africa. These results are so at variance from the commonly accepted scheme that a brief methodological foreword seems in order.’ This is a clear and frank statement and a great promise. Until now, in spite of several attempts, no satisfactory classification of African languages has existed. Though it may seem natural not to be satisfied with an analysis of individual languages but to aim at a synthesis, to see the whole and its interrelations, there was in many quarters a definite aversion from a holistic approach; it was even said to be more important to stress the differences than to try to find relationships. It is certainly necessary to study each single language in all its peculiarities, but it is wrong to maintain that a comparative investigation should not be undertaken until every African language has been analysed; that would defer the matter ad kalendas graecas. It is not necessary to analyse every Bantu language in order to show the characteristic features of Bantu languages and their relation to other languages. We are grateful to Professor Greenberg for his attempt, which reveals a familiarity with the problem and a sound and extensive knowledge of many African languages. Though not every point he makes is new, yet he indicates new roads and provides food for reflection and discussion.
The Tabulation of Tenses in a Bantu Language
Authors: Sharman J. C. , Meeussen A. E.
Published: April 2006

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1. The material on which the present findings are based was collected during the period January 1950 to June 1951 near Kasama (Central Bemba) and the period July 1951 to June 1952 from Central Bemba informants in Lusaka, N. Rhodesia.

2. If we disregard all subject and object prefixes, locative suffixes, and the existence of high- and low-toned radicals (all of which affect tense signs, but only at a phonological and tonological level), we find that formally speaking the Bemba verb has at least 48 positive and 31 negative single-word main-sentence tenses. (Object and subject relative sentence and sub-relative sentence tenses also exist, but are essentially mainsentence tenses with regular tonal modifications.) In order to study and evaluate a verb of such complexity, it is necessary first to find some method of tabulation. There are two possible points of departure: form, and meaning. If we use the latter, we arrive at a matrix involving at least the categories of order (positive or negative), time, aspect, mood, and emphasis. But then we find that certain ‘pigeon-holes’ in the total table are filled by tense forms that also occur elsewhere, given the right context and the right radical. (‘Radical’ we may define as that element in a Bemba verb carrying that meaning which is independent of tense signs and prefixes and infixes.) It is convenient for demonstration and other purposes to construct our tables showing these dual- and triple-function forms occupying their complete range of pigeon-holes, even though this may mean a sacrifice of formal clarity. (It should be remembered, however, that even such compromise tables—in a ‘mere’ order-time-aspectemphasis-mood matrix—can only expose basic meanings; the precise applications of some of the tenses are so subtle as to defy even five-dimensional tabulation.)
Some Social Consequences of Nineteenth Century Missionary Activity among the South African Bantu
Authors: Hutchinson Bertram
Published: April 2006

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The missionary in South Africa found himself, from the earliest years of the 19th century, in an equivocal position, and the role he actually played was the result of the varied and sometimes conflicting hopes and expectations entertained by the Bantu people, by the white settlers and, not least, by the missionary himself. Though he was at this period usually racially tolerant, the missionary was nevertheless out of sympathy with many aspects of traditional Bantu life. There were in consequence certain social changes which he regarded as a necessary preliminary to the establishment of Christianity on a permanent basis. Many of the modifications in Bantu living which the missionary favoured encouraged the gradual transformation of the Bantu population into a reservoir of labour for the growing European economy; while rudimentary education, European crafts, and Christian (or Protestant) individualism, which the missionary taught, contributed to the same end. For this reason, and because of their pacifying influence upon tribes antagonistic to the Europeans, the missionaries enjoyed the support of colonists urgently in need of an amenable labour force. It was widely believed in the early years of the 19th century that only among those Africans who were under missionary influence was there to be found a strong desire to adopt western habits; and colonists who, for other reasons, were not friendly to the missions, freely admitted that personal safety during an armed raid by Bantu tribesmen could be obtained only in refuge at a mission station.
Parenté et Mariage chez les Dogon (Soudan Français)
Authors: Dieterlen G.
Published: April 2006

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La structure sociale des Dogon a fait l'objet d'enquêtes consignées, depuis 1931, dans un certain nombre d'ouvrages. Cette population observe dans le cadre de la famille indivise une filiation patrilinéaire et patrilocale, le totem étant hérité en ligne agnatique. Abstraction faite des manages avec les gens de caste (forgerons, griots, travailleurs du bois, du cuir), strictement prohibes, les Dogon pratiquent, au sein des quatre grandes tribus ou groupes qui les composent, l'échange généralisé.

Une synthèse des renseignements recueillis a été effectuée par M. D. Tait qui a procédé à ‘une analyse structurale des matériaux’ et conclu à la nécessité, pour comprendre les problèmes de la structure dogon, d'une ‘investigation plus poussée’.
La Polygamie au Congo Belge
Authors: Wing J. Van
Published: April 2006

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L'étude complète de ce vaste sujet demanderait un volume. Le but de cet article est plus modeste. Il ne veut donner qu'un aperçu de la situation actuelle de la polygamie; exposer les causes qui la maintiennent et d'autres qui la font évoluer, commenter la position que prend l'Administration à son sujet, et pour finir indiquer l'attitude des Missions à son égard.

A cause de l'usage général, nous employons le mot polygamie au lieu de polygynie. Il est cependant à noter, à l'encontre d'une opinion largement répandue, que la polyandrie existe au Congo Belge. Elle est coutumièrement organisée chez les Bashilele du Territoire des Basongo. De là elle s'est introduite dans quelques villages de leurs voisins, les Badinga.
Arab Knowledge of the Niger's Course
Authors: Jeffreys M. D. W.
Published: April 2006

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In the first half of the nineteenth century European knowledge of the course of the Niger was vague. Sir Taubman Goldie summed up the position when he said: ‘In 1819, only those interested in geographical research were familiar with the name of the Niger, or knew that its upper waters, down to Bussa, had been traced fourteen years before by a Scotchman, Mungo Park, the father of African exploration in modern times. It was only in 1831 that the lower waters of the Niger and their path from Bussa to the ocean were discovered by an equally great Englishman, Richard Lander.’ Up to 1831 it was thought that the great river of the Western Sudan, known to flow from west to east, continued across Africa to enter the Nile as a tributary in the region of the Sudd. Alternatively it was popularly supposed to be a tributary of the Congo. To such an extent had this popular idea been accepted that in 1816 the following instructions were issued to Captain Tuckey who, in 1818, led an expedition to explore the River Zaire or Congo. ‘Although the expedition, about to be undertaken for exploring the course of the river Zaire, which flows through the kingdom of Congo . . . was originally grounded on a suggestion of its being identical with the Niger, it is not to be understood, that the attempt to ascertain this point is by any means the exclusive object of the expedition.’
La Voix de l'Afrique: Un Poème du Rwanda avec traduction par l'Abbé
Authors: Kagame Alexis
Published: April 2006

La poésie du Rwanda comprend trois genres principaux: la poésie pastorale, la poésie guerrière, et la poésie dynastique. Cette dernière dont je vais dormer ici un échantillon s'occupe du Roi, exaltant et inspirant, tour à tour, son rôle politico-social dans le pays qu'il régit. II y aurait beaucoup à dire sur le style compliqué de ce genre de poésie, où les archaïsmes abondent et où les figures, par suite, sont difficiles à comprendre. Les plus anciens morceaux remontent au grand Ruganzu II Ndoli, 12e ascendant du Roi actuel.
Industrial Efficiency and the Urban African. A Study of Conditions in Southern Rhodesia
Authors: Gussman Boris
Published: April 2006

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The report of the Commission of Enquiry set up to investigate the protection of secondary industries in Southern Rhodesia, published in 1946, produced statistical evidence to show that output per head was considerably lower than in any other Commonwealth country. The figures quoted refer to 1938, but there is little evidence of any marked advance in African productivity since that date. Only in isolated instances is native labour today working to the full satisfaction of its European management and, as a general rule, Government officials and industrial or commercial employers are unanimous in their condemnation of African inefficiency. Many of these opinions are founded upon race prejudice or ignorance of industrial history, but there is, nevertheless, ample evidence in the form of high absentee rates, rapid labour turnover and an almost complete failure of normal incentives to produce increased productivity, to indicate that something is radically wrong in the industrial field.
The One-word Tenses in Cokwe
Authors: Atkins Guy
Published: April 2006

Introduction

The material for this study was collected during the first two months of 1954, while camping in a Cokwe village about 50 miles north-east of Vila Luso in the administrative area of Camanongue, County and District of Moxico, Province of Bié, Angola. My chief informant was Sr. Francisco Casueka, aged 44, a Cokwe- and Portuguese-speaking African from the printing press at Boma Mission near Vila Luso. He was the ablest assistant I had among many good informants during my stay in Angola.
Matiyo and his Two Wives: A Further Case Study From Bunyoro
Authors: Beattie J. H. M.
Published: April 2006

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The following text was recorded in 1953, in Lunyoro, by my assistant at that time, Mr. Edward Byaruhanga, a young man who had just finished secondary school. It is about a man called Matiyo (I have altered all the personal names) who decided, against his father's advice, to take a second wife, and it tells how this decision led to misfortune for Matiyo and his family. Traditionally in Bunyoro men liked to have two wives, or even more if they could afford to pay the bridewealth for them, and many still do. But it is well known that such joint households are not always happy ones, for two women who are competing for the favours of one man sometimes become jealous of each other, and this may lead to accusations of sorcery, even to violence, between them. Things are more difficult now than they were in traditional times, for many modern women, even in remote areas, have been to school for a year or two, and have learned to expect a more equal relationship with their husbands than their mothers enjoyed. Such a woman, after she is married, does not always look kindly on the arrival in her home of a second wife, especially if she is younger and prettier than she is. Also, more than half a century of Christian missionary activity has led, if not to the abandonment of polygyny, at least to the recognition that monogamy is the European ideal, and so—at least from the woman's standpoint—a status of rather higher prestige by modern standards. Many women leave their husbands, even after years of marriage, when they take second wives.
The Imagery of Death in African Poetry
Authors: Moore Gerald
Published: April 2006

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This paper rests on the belief that traditional oral poetry from many parts of Africa exhibits a number of common themes in the imagery with which it handles the fact of death. Further, it argues that these themes are often to be found in the work of contemporary African poets, writing in English or in French. Their treatment in such work may be the sort of sophisticated examination of inherited beliefs that we find in a writer like Euripides, but there can be no doubting the strength of this movement, among younger writers, to come to grips with Africa's traditional systems of thought and make them part of a living intellectual and emotional heritage. The old missionary-inspired dichotomy between ‘modern’ and ‘backward’, as that between ‘Christian’ and ‘heathen’, is gradually breaking down and giving place to the reunified culture that is painfully emerging. As this new cultural unity establishes itself, Africans will no longer be required to amputate a large part of themselves, and almost the whole of their ancestry, in order to qualify for civilization. Hence the importance of the role which African poets are playing in this whole process of restatement and reassessment. In their work the concern for bringing these things to the surface of the mind, for integrating them consciously with the personality, is more explicit and more personal that it can be with the novelist or the dramatist.
Religious Ideas and Social Action in Gurage Bond-Friendship
Authors: Shack William A.
Published: April 2006

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Institutions of bond-friendship as a form of voluntary association exist in many societies and, when viewed cross-tribally, they show considerable variation both in form and function.1 Even so, variations in the order of bond-friendship associations seem related to a common theme: namely, that there is an exchange of goods and/or services between parties to a ritual covenant that is reinforced by supernatural sanctions; and that protestations of mutual goodwill, together with calling for imprecations of evil to befall the individual who breaks the agreement, are elements which bind the covenant.
The Sculpture and Myths of Eshu-Elegba, the Yoruba Trickster: Definition and Interpretation in Yoruba Iconography
Authors: Wescott Joan
Published: April 2006

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During my field study of Yoruba art (1955–7) little of the symbolic meaning of the forms and component elements of the ritual sculpture was revealed to me through straightforward answers to straightforward questions. Indeed, it soon became evident that if meaning with any degree of resonance was to be arrived at, such a technique had to be abandoned in favour of an interpretative analysis in relation to myths and praise songs on the one hand, and the observation of the use of sculpture in ritual on the other.
Structure de la Parenté chez les Goula Iro
Authors: Pairault Claude A.
Published: April 2006

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L'étude d'un système familial postule l'inventaire et l'analyse des termes par lesquels les personnes apparentées s'appellent ou se désignent. Une investigation de cet ordre engage l'ethnographe (et son lecteur) sur des chemins arides, mais elle a chance d'aboutir aux distinctions pertinentes qu'une société donnée met en œuvre dans son mode de vie familiale. Notre propos se limite ici à rechercher de telles distinctions dans le cadre de Boum Kabir, village tchadien habité par 900 Goula Iro.
!Kung Bushman Bands
Authors: Marshall Lorna
Published: April 2006

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In this paper I describe the band organization of the !Kung Bushmen. The !Kung word n//a besi was translated by the interpreters as ‘people who live together’. I use the word band for n//a besi, meaning by band, in this connexion, the grouping in !Kung social organization which is above the family grouping. It is a grouping precisely of the people who live together.
Cousins Croisés et Descendants: Les Systèmes du Rwanda et du Burundi comparés à ceux du Bas-Congo
Authors: de Sousberghe L.
Published: April 2006

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Depuis Morgan la relation de parenté ‘cousins croisés’ a été fréquemment observée et décrite ainsi que les formes diverses d'union préférentielle qui s'ensuivent. Mais que devient la relation de parenté par la suite? Comment évolue-telle entre les descendants de ces cousins et conjoints éventuels dans le cas, fréquent, où l'union matrimoniale ne se réalise pas entre eux? se retrouvent-ils frères et sœurs, tout comme si leurs parents respectifs (père des uns, mère des autres) s'étaient réellement mariés? restent-ils, au contraire, cousins croisés, dans la même relation de conjoints possible que leurs parents?
The Left Hand of the Mugwe: An Analytical Note on the Structure of Meru Symbolism
Authors: Needham Rodney
Published: April 2006

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In his admirable study of the Mugwe, a religious dignitary among the Meru of Kenya, Bernardi reports a singular fact which raises a problem of comparative and theoretical interest: viz. that the left hand of the Mugwe possesses and symbolizes his ritual power. The issue is best seen, to begin with, in the following passage:

Among the Imenti [a sub-tribe] an unusual aspect of the people's conception of the Mugwe concerns his left hand. It is this hand…that should always hold the kiragu [insignia] and be used only to bless. It is a most sacred member of the Mugwe's body and no one is allowed to see it. During the day, the Mugwe spends his time playing kiothi, the Meru draughts, but even while he plays, he must always keep his left hand covered and no one must see it. Sudden death would overtake anyone who dared to look at the left hand of the Mugwe.
Asoŋu Worship among the Nzema: A Study in Akan Art and Religion
Authors: Grottanelli Vinigi L.
Published: April 2006

Introduction

Apart from its aesthetic evaluation, the study of any art object or class of objects should be carried out following three distinct though interrelated lines of analysis. The first is iconographic, i.e. at the same time morphological, technological, and historical, and concerns the nature of the objects per se, their formal characters, the technique of production, their distribution in space and time, and their stylistic affinities to similar productions elsewhere. The second is iconological, and has to do with the meaning of the representation, the nature of the beings it purports to portray, and the underlying system of conceptions and beliefs in which it is integrated—the world of ideas and symbols in a given culture. These first two aspects of the analysis are common also to archaeological research. The third approach, on the other hand, is more distinctly anthropological, as it deals with the impact of those ideas and of their concrete symbols on the everyday life of the society concerned and with their influence on the ritual and social behaviour and thought of individual men and women. Only a combination of these three approaches can give us a true picture of the phenomenon we are called upon to investigate.
Niumi: A Nineteenth-Century Mandingo Kingdom
Authors: Quinn Charlotte A.
Published: April 2006

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By the middle of the nineteenth century Niumi, a small Mandingo kingdom at the mouth of the Gambia river in West Africa, was on the verge of profound social changes. Until almost the end of the century it was swept by secular and religious warfare, important segments of its population were displaced, many members of its ruling clans were killed or driven into exile, and the state itself was divided to be later reconstituted under European colonial rule. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the social-political organization of Niumi in the 1850s before the traditional political system which had existed for over two centuries was destroyed. Niumi was one of fourteen small river kingdoms, ruled by Mandingo, some more clearly defined and centralized than others, together comprising one of the major areas of Mandingo settlement in West Africa. Although Niumi enjoyed a favoured economic position among these Mandingo states of the Senegambia its institutions were typical of Mandingo organization in the area and its history has proceeded along lines similar to the rest.
The Role of Proverbs in Fante Culture
Authors: Christensen James Boyd
Published: April 2006

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A Knowledge of what has been traditionally termed ‘folklore’, and more recently ‘verbal art’, has long been considered essential for any well-rounded ethnography. Among many non-literate peoples this art form sanctions and validates other aspects of culture such as religious, economic, social, and political institutions. This paper will discuss the role of one of its elements, the proverb, in a West African culture.
The Ashanti War of 1900: A Study in Cultural Conflict
Authors: Wasserman B.
Published: April 2006

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The Ashanti Nation was a federation of Akan tribes united in 1697 under the Golden Stool. This federation, while functioning effectively in war, was loose with regard to internal administration. The chiefs of the constituent tribes had very wide autonomy, and a tendency to assert their independence from the Asantehene at Kumasi.

The British occupied neighbouring territory on the Gold Coast and were primarily interested in trade. For trade to prosper it was necessary to have order in the area. There were two policies which would have made this possible: the British could have supported the power of the Asantehene, who would then have been sufficiently strong to keep his constituent tribes in order, or it could have taken the entire region under its protection and enforced peace among the tribes.
Wiving and Thriving in Northern Rhodesia
Authors: Chaplin J. H.
Published: April 2006

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With the publication of Jahoda's (1959) study of letters addressed to the advice column of a Ghanaian newspaper, my plans for a similar study in Northern Rhodesia crystallized into action. Fortunately at about the same time the country's sole independent newspaper aimed at the indigenous population began publication. The paper, which is weekly and is written in English throughout, has a circulation of some 20,000 copies, and with shared readers may be expected to reach a public of about 70,000 all told. (The total African population is somewhat over 2½ million.) Through the kindness of the editor, I have been allowed access to the complete incoming correspondence dealt with in a feature offering advice to inquirers; letters addressed to the editor have been excluded from this survey.
How Ancient is West African Maize?
Authors: Jeffreys M. D. W.
Published: April 2006

Eastern Whites in Western Africa

My article on Zaburro was written in the expectation that it would stimulate discussion over the antiquity of maize in West Africa, and the matter has been taken up by Professor Portères (1959), on whose publication Mr. Willett has relied for certain inferences in his article inAfricafor January 1962. Among the interesting points brought forward by Professor Portères (1959, vi) are the groups of African vernacular names which indicate that maize was introduced by foreigners, strangers, whitemen. A similar observation had been made more than a hundred years ago by Koelle (a.1854, v), a missionary in Sierra Leone, who wrote: ‘…the names for onion, rice, maize, &c. show that in many countries [in Africa] these articles have been introduced by foreigners.…’ Who these foreigners were Koelle, with his long list of vernacular words for whiteman to choose from, leaves indeterminate. On the other hand, underlying Professor Portères's view that it was the Portuguese or the Dutch who brought maize to the Guynee coast, lies the assumption that the foreigners, the strangers, the whitemen indicated by these vernacular names were the Portuguese and the Dutch.
Joking Slavery
Authors: Launay Robert
Published: April 2006

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The Dyula of northern Ivory Coast consider that joking behaviour (tlon, a word that applies more generally to ‘play’, such as children's games) is an appropriate mode of social interaction between a variety of categories of persons. Such behaviour is by no means peculiar to the Dyula and to related societies. For the most part, the kinds of role relationships characterized by joking among the Dyula have long been familiar to anthropologists: ‘grandparents’ and ‘grandchildren’, cross-cousins, certain categories of affines (cf. Radcliffe-Brown 1952: 90–116). But there is indeed one form of joking which, if not entirely specific to the Dyula, is something of an ethnographic rarity, or else has gone largely unrecorded in the literature: second and subsequent generation slaves (worosso) can and frequently do joke at the expense of free men (horon) in general. The forms which this joking may take are, in certain respects, atypical of other joking relationships among the Dyula. Consequently, it may be of some interest to compare joking between slaves and free men with other types of joking relationships.
Famines et sécheresses chez les Touaregs Sahéliens: les nourritures de substitution
Authors: Bernus Edmond
Published: April 2006

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Pour les pasteurs nomades sud-sahariens, l'insuffisance ou l'irrégularité des pluies se traduit par une réduction des ressources fourragères annuelles et, par voie de conséquence, par un déficit alimentaire. Les calendriers historiques touaregs, qui privilégient pour chaque année l'événement majeur, resté vivant dans toutes les mémoires, voient périodiquement s'inscrire des années mauvaises, dénommeesawetay wa n iba n allamoz, l'année de manque d'herbe—ouawetay wa n laz, l'année de la faim, ou encore,awetay wa n manna, l'année de la famine. Ces trois définitions font référence à un même phénomène, à une même catastrophe, en mettant l'accent, soit sur les troupeaux privés de pâturage, soit sur les hommes accablés par le manque de nourriture. En tamasheq,lazsignifie la faim, alors quemanna, associe la notion de famine à celle de sécheresse; c'est ainsi que Foucauld (1925/30: II 56) traduit dans un poème le terme de manna par la périphrase: ‘La famine provenant de la sécheresse, les tourmentait, je pense’. Si la sécheresse impose des modifications dans le régime alimentaire, il faut préciser que chaque cycle annuel apporte normalement une variation saisonnière de l'alimentation. Aussi insuffisantes en quantité qu'irrégulières dans leur répartition que soient les pluies, elles sont cependant concentrées en zone sahélienne durant la période estivale; c'est pourquoi chaque année voit se renouveler une saison bienfaisante où les pluies régénèrent les pâturages, remplissent les mares, réalimentent les nappes. Pendant deux ou trois mois, où le lait abonde, se joue pour toute l'année, le développement de la végétation et la constitution du stock de fourrage qui va permettre d'attendre le retour des prochaines pluies.
La fiction narrative dans la production littérature ewe: la nouvelle et le roman
Authors: Amegbleame Simon Agbeko
Published: April 2006

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Nous avons l'intention après avoir donné de brefs détails sur l'histoire de la production littraire ewe, de présenter un tableau d'ensemble de ses diverses composantes. Une telle étude aura pour intérêt de faire ressortir les interférences d'un corpus imprimé en langue africaine avec la littérature européenne. Cette analyse comparative s'impose à l'esprit si on admet l'état de fait qui le motive: d'abord les premiers géniteurs de la littérature ewe sont d'origine européenne, en l'occurrence de l'Allemagne, ensuite les littérateurs ewe sont, en tout état de cause, des produits de l'école classique anglaise ou française. Dans deux de nos articles à paraître (a and b) sur la même question, nous avons observé le conte et la poésie dans leur rapport avec l'oralité mais aussi et surtout dans leur sujétion aux modèles occidentaux.