bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Les Groupes de Parenté du Rwanda Ancien
Authors: Maquet Jacques J.
Published: April 2006

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Les trois institutions qui s'appellent en kinyarwanda inzu, ubwoko et umulyango n'ont pas joui, à notre connaissance, d'un traitement définitif et pleinement satisfaisant dans la littérature ethnologique consacrée au Rwanda. D'autre part, les informateurs que nous avons interrogés sur ces institutions de parenté nous ont donné des réponses très divergentes, voire contradictoires. Il est aisé de découvrir la raison de cette confusion. Durant les trois ou quatre siècles d'occupation de ce pays d'agriculteurs bantu—les Hutu—par une minorite dominante de pasteurs — les Tutsi, les groupes de parenté ont subi un lent processus de changement sous divers aspects. L'expansion territoriale progressive sous une dynastie unique et l'intensification du contrôle exercé par l'autorité centrale sur le pays ont eu nécessairement une influence considérable sur l'autonomie, le fondement territorial et les fonctions sociales de ces groupes de parenté tant chez les Tutsi que chez les Hutu. C'est pourquoi il n'est pas étonnant qu'il y a une cinquantaine d'années, alors que cette évolution se poursuivait et au moment où l'influence de la culture et de la puissance d'Occident allait se faire de plus en plus envahissante et permanente, la situation des groupes de parenté n'était pas complètement stabilisée. Dans le présent article nous nous proposons d'indiquer les lignes principales de l'interprétation que nous croyons pouvoir dormer de ces trois institutions et de leurs relations.
La Littérature Orale Chez les Dogon du Soudan Français
Authors: Lifchitz Déborah
Published: April 2006

Dans toute l'Afrique noire la littérature orale apparaît très développée; les nombreux récits rapportés des différentes régions ont permis des rapprochements intéressants avec certains contes des autres continents. Récits et contes ont été classés, avec juste raison, par les savants européens en plusieurs groupes. On observe en général les distinctions suivantes: mythes, légendes, récks historiques et contes.
A Form of Polyandry among the Lele of the Kasai
Authors: Tew Mary
Published: April 2006

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The type of village polyandry described in this paper is found among the Lele, and possibly among other peoples, living between the Kwilu and the Kasai in the western Belgian Congo. The Pende, the Bunda, and the Dinga are reported to have a similar custom. There is a government ordinance prohibiting polyandry among these tribes, and I have followed this legal precedent in calling the practice polyandry, for lack of a better title. The Lele call it hohombe, or ngalababola, which means ‘wife of the village’. As the hohombe institution is closely connected with village life and politics, I shall begin by giving an outline of village conditions.
The Nkumu of the Tumba: Ritual Chieftainship on the Middle Congo
Authors: Brown H. D.
Published: April 2006

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The tribes living round Lake Tumba, a lake some thirty-five miles long by twelve wide lying north of Lake Leopold II (approximately o° 30′ south latitude, and 18° east longitude) and draining into the Congo River at the confluence of the Ubangi, lack cohesion and show a considerable variety of custom and language. But they are known collectively as Tumba, the Government adaptation of the Native term Ntomba. Most of them are found to the east of the lake, the whole group numbering perhaps little more than forty to fifty thousand at the present time, though there is evidence that the last twenty years have seen a great decrease in population. European occupation of this area goes back barely fifty years, Protestant missions having been established for about the same length of time. The first mission post was established at Ikoko on the north-east shore of the lake, one of the villages of a group known as Bonginda. In pursuing this investigation particular attention has been given to the practices of this group, but mention is occasionally made where considerable differences have been found elsewhere.
The Family, Household, and Minor Lineage of the Konkomba
Authors: Tait David
Published: April 2006

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This paper first seeks to show how far the actual forms of the Konkomba family and household coincide with their forms as conceived by the people themselves. The second part (which will appear in a later number of this journal) analyses some of the functions of these units of organization. By function, I mean the relation of the household to certain aspects of Konkomba life: namely, the household as a unit of production and consumption, as a unit of social control, as a ritual unit, and so on. The term ‘household’ refers to the total group of persons living together in one compound (letʃeni), which is a cluster of round houses distributed about a central space and linked by a low wall (see Fig. I). The head of a household (letʃendaa) is the senior man, the husband and the father of the family that is the nucleus of the household. This may be an elementary or a polygynous family; or it may be an expanded family consisting of a number of brothers and their wives, sons, and unmarried daughters; or it may be an extended family, consisting of a man, his wives, their sons, sons' wives and children, and their unmarried daughters. To this nucleus other kin are added and it will be shown that these additional members are always either members of the minor lineage group of the household head or wives or widows of members.
Ethnographic and Sociological Research in East Africa: A Review
Authors: Beattie J. H. M.
Published: April 2006

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A good deal of ethnographic and sociological research has recently been undertaken, or is planned or currently in progress, in the four East African Territories of Uganda, Tanganyika, Kenya, and Zanzibar. This research is being and has been carried out under a number of different auspices. These include, as well as the East African Institute of Social Research at Kampala (which has organized and directed a large part of the research so far undertaken), universities and other sponsoring bodies in England and the United States (such as the Colonial Social Science Research Council, the ‘Scarbrough’ Committee, and the Goldsmiths' Company in England, and the Ford, Fulbright, and Carnegie foundations in America), Makerere College, the East African Statistical Department, and the territorial Governments themselves.
Batoa, Batwa, Batswa
Authors: Possoz E.
Published: April 2006

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Les Bantous n'ont pas envers leurs Pygmées le même mépris que l'Européen moderne professe envers les peuples de couleur. Pourtant, malgré toute l'estime de fait qu'ils manifestent souvent pour eux, les Bantous considèrent les Pygmées comme trop anciens pour valoir les ‘moderns’ qu'ils se croient. Le respect qu'ils témoignent pour les Batwa ne dérive, quant au fond — et au fond institutional de leur vie — que du fait qu'en mentalité clanique on honore toujours ceux qui sont ‘devant’, c'est à dire dans l'ordre chronologique des vies. Et cela parce que la primogéniture est toujours la voie par laquelle on se rapproche de Dieu, premier père, et par laquelle on se raccorde à Lui.
The ‘Descent’ of the Tiv from Ibenda Hill
Authors: Sai B. Akiga , Bohannan Paul
Published: April 2006

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The Tiv, a semi-Bantu people numbering some 800,000 who live in the middle Benue Valley of Northern Nigeria, have not, according to their tradition, always lived in their present location. They account for their entrance into the territory they now occupy and the disposition of the lineages into which they are organized by means of stories which depict events of their migrations.

Tiv from every part of Tivland know bits and pieces of myth, relevant to their own lineages and those nearby, which they consider to be parts of the story of their descent (msen) from the hills. The stories vary from area to area, from individual to individual, and from situation to situation. In spite of the fact that the size of the population and its wide dispersal militate against anyone's knowing all these stories, it is an article of Tiv faith that it would be possible to correlate them all into a narrative.
Malinowski's ‘Functional’ Analysis of Social Change
Authors: Gluckman Max
Published: April 2006

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There can be no single right analysis of social change. The data are so complex and our tools as yet so crude that we must expect to work with various hypotheses and many types of abstractions. Some will be better instruments of analysis than others, and we must hope that we shall be able to subsume several of these in more comprehensive and consistent bodies of ordered knowledge. I immediately distrust such works as this latest polemic of the late Professor Malinowski's which is written in the strident terms of the one-and-only orthodoxy.
La Voyelle des Radicaux CV en Bantou Commun
Authors: Meeussen A. E.
Published: April 2006

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Les radicaux du type CV, tels qu'ils ont été donnés par Meinhof pour le bantou commun, se répartissent en cinq groupes vocaliques, la voyelle étant le plus souvent représentée par y ou w devant -a dans chacune des langues:

i̧pi̧ (cracher), ni̧ (aller à selle);

i pi (brûler), ni (pleuvoir), di (manger), gi (aller), ki (poindre), ti (mettre);

a p(a) (donner), b(a) (demeurer);

u pu (sécher), gu (tomber), cu (se coucher — soleil), mu (raser), du (se battre), ku (crier);

u̧ mu̧ (boire), du̧ (sortir de), ku̧ (mourir).
Nyanja Linguistic Problems
Authors: Price T.
Published: April 2006

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Predominant in a territory which extends roughly 500 miles north from the lower Zambezi and from the eastern shore of Lake Nyasa to the Luangwa Valley, there is a body of Africans who have for their mother tongue some dialect of the language widely known as ‘Chinyanja’. The chi- (or ci- in modern orthography) is the local form of the usual Bantu prefix to the tribal name, designating the language rather than the district or personnel of the tribe, and may be discarded in English usage. Following a now general convention, the language will be referred to here simply as ‘Nyanja’.
The Gani Ritual of Nupe: A Study in Social Symbiosis
Authors: Nadel S. F.
Published: April 2006

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The gani ceremonial, which I propose to discuss in this paper, is not Nupe by origin but was introduced by a small group of immigrants from Bornu, Mohammedans by religion, who, between 1760 and 1770, settled in Nupe country in and around the village of Kutigi. They still call themselves, after their country of origin, Benú—the Nupe version of the name for Bornu, but are in every other respect completely Nupeized. The historical facts are reasonably certain: moreover, according to two ethnographical accounts, the people of Bornu still practise a ceremonial called gani, though from the reports it is impossible to say how far this ceremonial resembles the Nupe variant. In Nupe the gani is only practised in the few villages where the immigrants now live among the original pagan population, though there it is performed by the whole community together—immigrants and original inhabitants alike. All these facts are important and will receive attention later.
Native Authorities and Education
Authors: Scott H. S.
Published: April 2006

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The student of English education who tries to envisage the development of African education is apt to be misled by the picture he has in his mind of its development in England. It is difficult for one brought up in the British tradition to divest himself of his national prepossessions, and it is hoped that any reader of this article will discount the limitations imposed by what seems to him to be British insularity. None the less, it may not be altogether without interest to readers of an international journal to see how this British tradition affects the approach to African problems. The English student is tempted to think of a vigorous and progressive Local Education Authority as part of the general local government of an area, managing and controlling schools, employing its own staff of administrative officials, building its own schools, and employing its own teachers. That picture is (of course) far from complete, for in England other parties are involved. There is the central government, which supplies from national (as distinct from local) revenue the bulk of the necessary funds. There are, too, the Churches, particularly the Anglican and the Roman Catholic, with their long educational history and their vast contributions to the educational system. Moreover, we have in England the further characteristic complication of a great and powerful body of teachers, who seem to the outsider to be partly state officials protected by the central authority and partly employees of the local authority. It is natural that in considering the supply of educational facilities in Africa we English should be in danger of being misled by our insular prepossessions. We must, therefore, be clear in our own minds as to what we mean when we speak of ‘Native Authorities’ and ‘Central Government’, and Churches, and the place and status of the teaching staffs in Africa.
Nsaw History and Social Categories
Authors: Jeffreys M. D. W.
Published: April 2006

The account of the Nsɔ given by Dr. P. Kaberry in her article in Africa, October 1950, ‘Land Tenure among the Nsaw of the British Cameroons’, is incorrect in a number of points, especially in so far as Nsɔ history is concerned. As a former Senior District officer, Bamenda Division, British Cameroons, I visited every hamlet in the Nsɔ area, took down the history of each and mapped the area. I marked the tribal boundaries of the tribes contiguous to Nsɔ and took down their tribal histories. I have an English translation of Njoya's history of the Bamum. The Nsɔ, with the Bamum and Wiya (wrongly called by Dr. Kaberry Nsungli), left their common focus Rifum together. This is confirmed by the three narratives.
The Governmental Roles of Associations among the Yakö
Authors: Forde Daryll
Published: April 2006

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In the study of indigenous African institutions that exercise control while promoting social cohesion and regulating inter-personal and inter-group competition, much attention has been given to the analysis of the governmental functions of kin groups on the one hand and of ritually sanctioned political chiefship on the other. Institutions of these two types, which correspond to the distinction made by Durkheim between segmental and organic solidarity, were the basis of the well-known classification of African Political Systems by Fortes and Evans-Pritchard into two contrasted types labelled lineage or segmentary in one case, and centralized or statelike in the other. In their classification these writers were mainly concerned to distinguish politically centralized chiefdoms from those societies in which the exercise of political authority and social control was confined to recurrent but fluctuating combinations of lineages under their ritual leaders. In this they were led to imply, perhaps as a result of the limited range of societies selected for consideration, that apart from small autonomous bands of kindred, the only alternative to an acephalous and segmentary lineage system was a centralized society in which offices and political powers were hierarchically arranged with definite relations of administrative superiority and subordination holding between offices and councils at different levels. ‘Administrative machinery’ and ‘judicial institutions’ were treated as concomitants of centralized authority.
The Status of Craftsmen among the Konso of South-West Ethiopia
Authors: Hallpike C. R.
Published: April 2006

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There are many references to despised groups of artisans in the literature on Ethiopia, but unfortunately they are scattered through travel books which, from the anthropologist's point of view, are too superficial to permit a sustained and rigorous analysis of the variant forms of this phenomenon. Among such works I would include the publications of Jensen and the Frobenius Institute. After only five weeks' stay among the Konso he attempted an ambitious account of their religion and society in Im Lande des Gada that is false or distorted in almost every detail, not excepting matters of elementary observation. Shack's study of the Gurage and the status of craftsmen among them is the only one known to the author which can be considered as the work of a professional anthropologist. This article is therefore intended partly as a contribution to the ethnography of artisan status in Ethiopia. Only when we have many more such studies will we be in a position to appraise the situation properly, and to ascertain the basic characteristics of discrimination against craftsmen in Ethiopia. It may well be that the criteria of discrimination cannot be reduced to a single pattern.
African Ethnographic Maps, with a new Example from Northern Nigeria
Authors: Prothero R. Mansell
Published: April 2006

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There is little evidence to show that ethnic differences in Africa result in problems of lesser magnitude at the present day than in the past. In recent years the problems of ‘minorities’ have had to be considered in Nigeria, while in the Republic of Congo (Léopoldville) ethnic conflicts and the reappearance of past tribal enmities have produced numerous tragic situations during the last twelve months. The frontiers of Africa were delimited by the European powers half a century or more ago and their absurdity in relation to ethnic groups has been demonstrated recently in papers by Barbour and Prescott. They were drawn in ignorance of the different groups of people through which they passed and have now been inherited by independent African governments who will have to face the problems which have been created. To solve them these African governments will need to know more of ethnic groups and their distributions than did their European predecessors and the need for more adequate ethnographic maps is likely to increase rather than diminish.
Love, Marriage, and Social Change: Letters to the Advice Column of a West African Newspaper
Authors: Jahoda Gustav
Published: April 2006

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The effects of major changes in the social system on the mental state of individuals have been the subject of a recent controversy. Miss Ward (1956), in a paper discussing the significance of an alleged increase in the number of witch-finding cults in Ashanti, argued that this can be taken as evidence of a widespread rise in the general level of anxiety resulting from rapid structural changes. In a subsequent rejoinder Goody (1957) challenged not only the view that such cults have in fact become more numerous, but also the underlying assumption, shared by many social scientists, that rapid social change produces an emotional malaise in the people caught up in it.
Urbanization and the Interpretation of Misfortune: A Quantitative Analysis
Authors: Hammond-Tooke W. D.
Published: April 2006

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The general aim of this paper is to test by quantitative methods Mitchell's statement (Mitchell, 1965, p. 193) that ‘we expect the meaning which people read into misfortunes to change when they become part of an industrial urban community’. Mitchell was commenting (and elaborating) on the demonstration by Marwick (1952) that witchcraft accusations are particularly likely to occur between people who are in competition with one another, but who are prevented by the norms of the society from expressing their hostility openly. He suggests that Africans in town continue to interpret their misfortunes in ‘personal’ terms but that ‘the meaning that they attach to the misfortune must be of a type which will allow them to take effective action’. In the towns of the Copperbelt hostility and opposition may be openly expressed toward strangers, so there is no need for accusations of witchcraft (signalling interpersonal tensions), except where townsfolk are linked in co-operative enterprises in which, nevertheless, there is an element of competition, e.g. as between rival beerbrewers or fellow workers. In such cases open accusation tends to be inhibited and the interpretation recouched in terms of ancestral wrath. Mitchell sees, therefore, an increase in ancestor-centred explanation of misfortune in urban areas and implies a decrease in witch accusations. Marwick has suggested, on the other hand, that ‘the immediate effect of contact with Western influence is not a decrease but an increase in the African's preoccupation with magic, witchcraft and sorcery’, due to new social alignments and social, economic and political changes, which create insecurity, anxiety, and impart a ‘dangerous flexibility’ to human relationships (Marwick, 1958, p. 106).
Cousin Marriage in the Afro-Arab Community of Mombasa, Kenya
Authors: Tanner R. E. S.
Published: April 2006

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The Afro-Arab community living along the coastal belt of Kenya and Tanganyika contains persons claiming Arab nationality by either patrilineal or matrilineal descent in whom the biological Arab strain may vary between individuals born to pure Arab parents and speaking Arabic and those in whom the Arab strain is unobservable and who speak Swahili. It is not accepted that the term Swahili covers the social interrelationships between these variations. The Swahili-speaking Afro-Arabs can be adequately described as Swahili but they nevertheless wish to be regarded as Arabs by outsiders and to speak as much Arabic as they can learn. The cultural and social interrelationship is so strong that a term must be used which will include the Arabs at one end of the scale and the Swahili at the other.
A Note on Some Central African Forenames
Authors: Chaplin J. H.
Published: April 2006

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Any associate or employer of Africans is aware of a great diversity of forenames among them; this habit has been discussed by Jackson for Southern Rhodesia, and for Northern Rhodesia in two papers by Munday. It is these last which this note is intended to supplement by giving quantitative examples and drawing attention to one or two further aspects of the subject.
Atonement Ritual and Guardian-Spirit Possession among Kalanga
Authors: Werbner Richard P.
Published: April 2006

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For Kalanga of Southern Rhodesia hereditary guardian spirits known as mazenge are a sanction on correct relations among kinsmen and affines. Only women are possessed by these captious guardian spirits; and I shall refer to such spirit-possessed women as mazenge hosts. Kalanga perform a ritual of atonement seasonally and whenever the illness of the host or of any of her kinsfolk, particularly children, is attributed to the affliction of a guardian spirit. Ritual obligations then draw together a congregation typically not of agnates and other cognates alone, but also of affines.
Towards Muslim Solidarity in Freetown
Authors: Proudfoot L.
Published: April 2006

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The prime part taken by the Christian Church in the foundation and development of Sierra Leone has confronted local Muslims with a challenge to their powers of association and organization to which their response is still a vital social and political force. A recent article in Africa described the tendency of Muslims in the city of Freetown to construct their mosques and order their corporate life within tribal groups, rather than in one tribally undifferentiated Islamic society. This article sets out to document the complementary drive towards Muslim unity. The dramatic, faction-ridden, aspiring character of the East side of Freetown is largely the result of the tension between these two conflicting forces.
Concubinage among Ngwa Igbo of Southern Nigeria
Authors: Uchendu Victor C.
Published: April 2006

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This paper reports the pattern of concubinage among Ngwa Igbo of south-eastern Nigeria. In this study attention is focused on: (i) the role of concubinage in the disposal of certain rights in women among the Ngwa Igbo, (ii) the folk evaluation of the status of the partners in this institution, and (iii) the strength of concubinage under the impact of acculturation.
‘Le chiot court mais ne connaît pas les odeurs’: notes sur la société et les systèmes de pensée des Minyanka du Mali
Authors: Colleyn Jean-Paul
Published: April 2006

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Dans la littérature ethnographique, le sens des mots religion, magie et sorcellerie reste trés vague. Aucune définition n'a, jusqu'ici, résisté à l'épreuve comparatiste. Longtemps enlisée dans la spéculation sur les origines, l'évolution et la fonction des faits religieux, l'anthropologie se montre actuellement trés prudente à l'égard de toute tentative de théorie générate. L'emploi de méthodes fécondes et l'approfondissement du travail ethnographique ont permis de mieux connaitre les mécanismes mis en oeuvre par le pensee symbolique, mais les concepts de religion, de sacré, de magie, de sorcellerie restent à construire. Le chercheur se trouve done, sur le terrain, privé de référence decisive, qui puisse l'aider à opérer un découpage de la réalité sociale sans négliger une partie de celle-ci.
Dreams in an Independent African Church
Authors: Charsley S. R.
Published: April 2006

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Dreams and visions have an important place in the life of many of the more colourful African churches of Zionist or Pentecostal type. This has often been noted (Sundkler, 1961; Pauw, 1960; Sangree, 1966; Welbourn, 1966; Peel, 1968) but has rarely received any detailed consideration. Any definitely sociological, rather than psychological, treatment of the topic is particularly rare. My object in this paper is therefore to attempt an explicitly sociological examination of the phenomenon in one particular church which I have studied. I shall consider the telling of dreams and the extent to which it is controlled and patterned by beliefs and expectations, i.e. dream-telling as an institution; and I shall go on to examine the part it plays in the life of the group and the ways in which it is further patterned by this.
On Bridewealth and Meaning among the Rukuba, Plateau State, Nigeria
Authors: Muller Jean-Claude
Published: April 2006

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Much ink has been spilled over the problem of bridewealth, its meaning and its functions. As Gray (1960) has summarized it, the debate first focused on refuting the idea that bridewealth was a kind of payment for the purchase of a wife, and this question still lingers on without having been quite solved. Others have seen in bridewealth a transference of rights and duties over a woman from the woman's group to the husband's group. Leaving aside the economic aspect of the transaction, this view seems particularly valid with regard to societies in which different amounts of bridewealth may be given to obtain different sets of rights and duties over spouses and their offspring (Bohannan 1949; Horton 1969; Williamson 1962). These ideas about bridewealth as a regulator of rights and duties over spouses and children are now generally agreed upon so that Goody (1973: 3), one of the acknowledged experts in these matters, can write that: ‘the relative size of payment is in a general sense linked with the quantum of rights transferred.’ Thus, generally, in societies having several kinds of marriages with a concomitant variation in bridewealth between the kinds of marriages, the rights over the woman and her children will also vary according to the amount paid, more rights being conveyed with a more expensive payment (Goody 1973: 16-17).
Colonial Chiefs and the Making of Class: A Case Study From Teso, Eastern Uganda
Authors: Vincent Joan
Published: April 2006

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This is a study of Teso District, eastern Uganda, during a period of colonial administration from 1896 to 1927. A group of appointed chiefs was brought into being and maintained within a local political environment in which neither traditional rulers nor a principle of hereditary succession to political office were recognised. The growth of the bureaucratic and authoritarian aspects of client chiefship is traced, along with changes in the relations of the chiefs with the colonial regime and with the people they ruled. In time, their increasing powers of coercion and their accumulative control of patronage led to the emergence of a class interest among them. This became crystallised in the mid-1920s when, as a body, they maintained a conservative stance within a colonial administration geared to change.
Spreading the Risk: The Principle of Laterality among the Chopi
Authors: Webster David
Published: April 2006

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In a recent publication, Eleanor Preston-Whyte (1974: 209) has noted the comparative ‘flexibility’ of the Tsonga and Chopi kinship systems, which allow for a greater degree of ‘individuality’ among these peoples as compared with other southern African Bantu-speaking peoples. This paper examines the place of the systems of marriage, divorce, and succession in the socio-cultural matrix which gives rise to an egocentric rather than sociocentric emphasis which is unusual in southern Africa.
The case of Jason Gor and fourteen others: a Luo succession dispute in historical perspective
Authors: Whisson M. G. , Lonsdale J. M.
Published: April 2006

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In June 1931, Daniel Odindo, chief of Asembo, resigned after seventeen years in office. Asembo was one of over twenty locations or chiefdoms through which the Luo were ruled by the colonial administration of Kenya; its population was no more than 20,000; it was over thirty miles from the Central Nyanza district headquarters at Kisumu; there was no mission station in the location. It possessed several bush schools, some small trading centres, a few acres of cotton, and a fishing harbour on Lake Victoria. Asembo was a backwater. But there were many parties to the dispute over the succession to Odindo. One of these was Archdeacon Owen, the local head of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) who lived at Maseno, thirty-five miles away in the Maragoli Hills which overlook Kisumu. Owen was a churchman who saw his vocation in bringing political and social as much as spiritual welfare, and was deeply conscious of the missionary's dependence upon the confidence of his African flock. His white supporters in his many political campaigns were more often to be found in England than in Kenya. One of these was Norman Leys, now retired from the Colonial medical service, the first well-informed critic of the Kenya situation and with access to the Labour Party. Leys thought that the Asembo case—then being pursued through the Colony's courts—might ‘prove to be the turning point in Kenya history and [might] become one of the famous trials of the world’. It was ‘perfectly terrific’. He believed he ‘could make a damned good book out of it’ but was thankful that Owen did not want him to take up the issue in England. ‘As well might an unknown medical practitioner in some French village have tried to get his country to undo the wrong done Dreyfus.’ But there was perhaps some hope that the Home Committee of the CMS might come to Owen's aid, for ‘the wizard-chief [Odindo's appointed successor] is obviously out to persecute the church’.
The Zambezi Goba Ancestral Cult
Authors: Lancaster C. S.
Published: April 2006

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The Zimbabwe culture of present day Southern Rhodesia and Mozambique, of which the main occupation at the nuclear site of Great Zimbabwe dates from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, is best known for its external trade in gold, ivory, and copper and for its monumental stone ruins. But while important in terms of prestige exchanges at the diplomatic level, mining and trade seem to have been seasonal occupations fitted in round the annual cycle of subsistence cultivation dependent upon the rains (Barreto 1667: 489–92; Mudenge 1974; Phimister 1974). Patron–client relations between Shona-speaking groups were expressed by limited, symbolic tribute in agricultural labor, military service, gold, ivory, livestock, wives, slaves, local produce, and other prestige items (Barros 1552:271; Conçeicão 1696: 66; Andrade 1955: 306, 310–11), but until recent times basic control over social and political groupings was probably exercised through belief in various levels of spirit cult, ranging from the grass-roots system of individual guardian spirits (mudzimu, sing.) in the ancestral cult controlled by village elders in the extended family and descent group, through a hierarchy of ritually senior, loosely territorial land spirits (mhondoro) holding sway over the progressively larger land shrine realms (nyika) of neighborhood leaders, petty chieftains, chiefs, and paramounts. Leaders at each level influenced a following of both spirits and living people who were interconnected, and the fluctuating network of alliances that existed between leaders was symbolized and kept going by an intermittent traffic in tribute, diplomatic missions, and religious congregations coming to the shrines and leaders located at the various headquarters (zimbabwes) of the confederacy. When the confederacy was large and free from civil wars and secession, the system sometimes culminated in a unifying central cult devoted to a supreme spirit (such as Mwari Nyadenga, Leza or Mulungu) supporting a Mambo, whom the Portuguese called King or Emperor (Santos 1609: esp. 196–9; Abraham 1966; Bullock 1928; Garbett 1966, 1969; Holleman 1953).
Land, lineage and clan in early Anlo
Authors: Greene Sandra E.
Published: April 2006

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According to G. K. Nukunya, the contemporary social organization of the Aŋlɔ Eve—a people located in the southeastern corner of the Republic of Ghana—is ‘based on a [segmentary] lineage system … generalized at a higher level in clanship.’ (Nukunya 1969:20). The clan orhlɔis the largest social unit in the Aŋlɔ social system and is defined as a group of males and females who observe the same totems and taboos, worship the gods of the particular clans to which they belong, and who claim to be the descendants, through approximately eight to ten generations, of a common putative male ancestor. Fifteen clans, dispersed throughout the towns, villages and hamlets of Aŋlɔ are recognized by the traditional political authorities as part of thehlɔsystem. They include the Lafe, Amlade, Adzovia, Bate, Like, Bame, Klevi, Tovi, Tsiame, Agave, Ame, Dzevi, Vifeme, Detsofe and Blu.
Wheeled transport in pre-colonial West Africa
Authors: Law Robin
Published: April 2006

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One of the most important differences in technology between Africa south of the Sahara during the pre-colonial period and many other areas of the world, it is frequently suggested, was the almost complete absence in the former of any form of wheeled transport. The transport of goods overland in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa was normally done by pack animals, where these were available, or more generally by human porterage. This lack of wheeled transport, it might be argued, had crucial implications for the history of sub-Saharan Africa, since the high cost of transport by pack animals and human porterage has often been presented as one of the principal constraints upon the expansion of trade, and hence of economic growth generally, in pre-colonial times. The lack of wheels in sub-Saharan Africa, it is clear, cannot have been due simply to ignorance, since many areas of the continent had been in contact with wheel-using civilizations outside Africa for several centuries before the colonial conquest at the end of the nineteenth century. Indeed, as this article will show, there is abundant evidence that, in West Africa at least, the technology of wheeled transport was quite widely known, though put to only very limited use, in the pre-colonial period. The reasons why this technology, although readily available, was nevertheless not generally adopted are, however, very far from being clear.
Sous-développement et développement: terrain d'étude et Objets d'action en Afrique francophone
Authors: Augé Marc
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

‘Lutte’, ‘mobilisation’ pour le développement: les termes et le thème sont familiers, de cette familiarité des objets qui ont tellement servi qu'on ne sait plus à quoi ils servent.
Analyse des nombres associés à l'homme et à la femme en Afrique de l'Ouest
Authors: Bril Blandine
Published: April 2006

Introduction

De nombreuses cultures ont matérialisé l'opposition et/ou la complémentarité existant entre l'homme et la femme par des couples basés sur des notions de latéralité (gauche—droite), d'orientation (est—ouest), de couleur (noir—blanc, rouge—blanc, …). Le nombre apparaît aussi comme un moyen privilégié permettant d'exprimer cette idée.
Economic, Residential and Ritual Fission of Sisala Domestic Groups, Ghana
Authors: Mendonsa Eugene L.
Published: April 2006

Introduction

After an initial discussion about the nature of Sisala society and the segmentary lineage system of shrine types, I will show that fission of domestic groups in Sisala-land takes place in three successive stages: economic, residential and, much later, ritual. This paper deals with two related problems, (a) Given a collective value of kinship amity and unity (Fortes 1969: 219ff), how are groups able to break the ritual bonds which serve to unite them into one body of ancestor-venerators? (b) How are the Sisala able to maintain the ideology of kinship and unity in the face of continual fission of family units?
Pragmatism and the Primary School: the Case of a Non-rural Village
Authors: Moock Joyce Lewinger
Published: April 2006

Introduction

The aim of this paper is to analyse the educational needs of one small community in Kenya in terms of its changing socio-economic patterns, and to show how attitudes towards the school system have their roots within this setting. The data are drawn from a nineteen-month study in South Maragoli Location of Kakamega District, Western Province. As part of a larger study concerning the effects of labour migration upon agricultural enterprise, a tracer project was conducted on 139 Standard VII leavers from three primary schools, situated within a one-mile radius, to learn the leaver's employment expectations, his family background, the network connections by which he enters into the labour market, and finally the way in which the community interprets and manipulates the school system to suit its particular needs. The statistical data presented have so far emerged from the school study and from a larger sub-location sample of 159 households. While several questionnaires, intended as cross-checks were administered to students and parents, the qualitative material results from an intensive study utilizing anthropological field techniques in the schools' constituent villages.
The Network of Visits Between Yombe Rural Wage-Earners and their Kinsfolk in Western Congo
Authors: Lux André
Published: April 2006

The Setting of the Problem

The present study embodies some of the results of a survey conducted in July 1966 among a sample of 268 rural wage-earners in the territory of Lukula in central Mayombe, Western Congo. The survey focused on two points: first, the labour market, and second, the social and economic ties persisting between the workers and their village kinsmen. This article deals exclusively with the latter.
Social change and the Teso
Authors: Packard Randall M.
Published: April 2006

In his recent review of Ivan Karp's Fields of Change among the Iteso of Kenya, (Africa 2, 1980,214-216) Paul Spencer questions Dr. Karp's historical account of the emergence of neighbourhoods among the Iteso during the colonial era and presents an alternative hypothesis for this development. Since Dr. Spencer devotes most of his review to this point and because the transformation of social forms during the colonial period is a topic of some interest for both historians and anthropologists, I would like to examine the historical facts related to this issue and use them to evaluate the merits and deficiencies of both positions.
Cosmologie et structuration de l'espace chez les Komo
Authors: de Mahieu Wauthier
Published: April 2006

La Structuration de l'Espace Vertical

La verticalité ne se prête qu'à une seule opposition fondamentale, celle entre le Haut et le Bas. Pour saisir pleinement la portée de sa symbolisation, il importe de savoir d'abord comment les Komo se represéntent le Haut et les phénomènes qu'ils y voient.
Rampedi revisited: Another look at a Kgatla ward
Authors: Schapera I. , Roberts Simon
Published: April 2006

Opening Paragraph

Observation of the way in which local groups develop in a given society must ideally take place over a longer period than most researchers remain active in the field, particularly if changes over time are to be charted adequately. But longer-term studies remain relatively scarce and there are obvious difficulties in the way of them: younger anthropologists are often reluctant to look again at a society that has already been carefully studied, especially if the scholar who carried out the earlier field-work still survives; and changing theoretical perspectives and field-work techniques make it hard to match data from different periods. Bearing in mind the need to overcome these difficulties, we combine in this paper field data collected in the course of expeditions spanning more than forty years in an effort to trace the development of an important Kgatla grouping, the ward.
Patterns of Land Holding and Land Distribution in the Ife Division of Western Nigeria
Authors: Driesen I. H. Vanden
Published: April 2006

The Pattern of Land Holding

The holding of land in the Ife Division is governed by a multiplicity of arrangements. Some ‘own’ land in the ordinary sense of the term; some enjoy unrestricted rights over property which in fact belongs to the ebi and not to the individual; and others again hold by leases or grants which permit cultivation under a host of different conditions. A listing based on legal and conventional norms would consequently run to considerable length, and the sheer number of discernible types may well bewilder rather than clarify.
Influence of Size on Fate and Ecological Effects of Kepone in Physical Models
Authors: Perez Kenneth T. , Morrison George E. , Davey Earl W. , Lackie Neal F. , Soper Albert E. , Blasco Richard J. , Winslow Donald L. , Johnson Roxanne L. , Murphy Peter G. , Heltshe James F.
Published: April 2006

Three different sizes of marine microcosms were used to study the influence of two features of spatial scale on the chemical fate and ecological effects of the pesticide Kepone. Increasing the size of microcosms reduced the ratio of wall surface area to volume of contained sea water, but increased the number of benthic species due to increasing sample size. Other features of spatial scale, such as water turbulence, water turnover, etc., were held constant. Intact water—column and benthic communities from a north—temperate marine system were coupled together in 9.1—, 35.0—, and 140.O—L containers. Kepone at 20.4 nmol/L was added to these microcosm systems over a 30—d period. A 3 x 2 factorial design was used to discern the effects of size and Kepone. In the absence of Kepone the phytoplankton community exhibited excessive growth relative to the field system for all system sizes. Growth was directly related to the size of microcosms. In addition, the time required to achieve maximum algal biomass was also directly related to size. Release of a growth—stimulating compound(s) from fouling organisms settling on the microcosm walls and size—dependent increases in benthic species provided the best explanation for the observed phytoplankton dynamics. Addition of Kepone indirectly increased phytoplankton densities by reducing through toxic effects, the grazing pressure of zooplankton. Because this effect and mechanism was dependent upon the size of the system, the sensitivity of future perturbation studies may be enhanced by producing similar or related variations in system size. The concentration of Kepone in surficial sediments was also size dependent. Since the average concentrations of Kepone in all water columns were statistically equivalent, these findings were the result of sediment bioturbation coupled with preferential partitioning of Kepone from liquid to the solid, organic phase of sediments. Ecological risk assessments based upon data derived from these systems are therefore dependent upon size. Furthermore, the smaller the size, the greater the underestimate in sediment exposure and the ecological risks of Kepone.
Avian Repellency of Coniferyl and Cinnamyl Derivatives
Authors: Jakubas Walter J. , Shah Pankaj S. , Mason J. Russell , Norman Donald M.
Published: April 2006

Phenylpropanoids, a class of common phenolic compounds in plants, may potentially be useful as pest repellents. We investigated the relationship between the chemical structure of coniferyl benzoate and its repellency to birds by comparing coniferyl benzoate to two analogous natural esters, corresponding alcohols, and benzoic acid. The absolute and relative feeding repellency of these compounds were assessed in choice (two—cup) and no—choice (one—cup) tests using European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). In addition, benzoin Siam (= gum benzoin Siam) was compared to coniferyl benzoate to ascertain if phenolics that naturally occur with coniferyl benzoate in benzoin Siam enhance its repellency. Two—cup tests suggested that coniferyl alcohol was the most repellent compound followed by 3,4—dimethoxycinnamyl alcohol, 3,4—dimethoxycinnamyl benzoate, cinnamyl alcohol, cinnamyl benzoate, coniferyl benzoate, and benzoic acid. The repellency of most alcohols relative to their corresponding ester reversed in the one—cup tests. One—cup tests suggested that 3,4—dimethoxycinnamyl benzoate was the most repellent substance followed by cinnamyl benzoate, benzoin Siam, 3,4—dimethoxycinnamylalcohol, cinnamyl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol, coniferyl benzoate, and benzoic acid. Three conclusions on structure—activity relationships were inferred from these data. First, benzoate esters are more repellent than their corresponding alcohols.Second, repellency is increased by electron—donating groups. Third, acidic functions decrease repellency. We suggest that one function of naturally occurring coniferyl and cinnamyl derivatives may be chemical defense. Genetically engineering agricultural crops to produce analogs of coniferyl alcohol, as an inherent defense against pests and pathogens, may be possible.