bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Status of African Dance Studies
Authors: Hanna Judith Lynne 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphWith the exception of such pioneering efforts as Evans-Pritchard's structural functional analysis of the Azande beer dance, which appeared in this journal in 1928, African dance has rarely been the focus of research. Thirty-eight years after that article appeared I can write, as Evans-Pritchard did then, that African dance is usually given a place quite unworthy of its social importance. The typical report on African dance is either a limited, vague description without reference to context, or a discussion of the context of a dance without explicit reference to its function, style, and structure.
The Changing Political System of the Temne
Authors: Dorjahn Vernon R. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThe purpose of this study is to consider some of the changes that have taken place in the positions of political officials and in the administrative hierarchy of the Temne of Sierra Leone, British West Africa. The time period under concern extends from approximately 1880, towards the end of the ‘tribal wars’, as they are called by the Temne, through the establishment of the Protectorate and the later introduction of the Native Administration system, to the ‘disturbances in the Provinces’, November 1955 to March 1956.
Experiments in Modern African Art: Etchings in French Equatorial Africa
Authors: Italiaander Rolf 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphMany different examples of African art were made available to me while I was collecting material for a book on the subject, but my main interest was to observe systematically the way Africans work as creative artists. In order to do this, I decided to play the role of instigator and teacher while, at the same time, introducing them to a technique and art form unknown to them. I thought it would be interesting to teach them the art of etching and to see them at work as etchers.
Hyena and Rabbit: A Kaguru Representation of Matrilineal Relations
Authors: Beidelman Thomas O. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThis paper has two purposes: (1) to present a text in Chikaguru, a Bantu language spoken by the Kaguru of East Africa: this language has not been properly described by linguists and no extensive text in it has yet appeared; (2) to present a tale (the text) which serves as an interesting illustration of certain problems in Kaguru society.In the first part of this paper, I present this tale in a free English translation with a few notes in explanation of certain details in the story.In the second part I discuss the significance of this tale as a means by which one may gain insight into certain important problems in one African matrilineal society.Two appendixes at the end of this paper present the original Kaguru text and an attempt at a literal translation, together with a list and a very brief discussion of the published material dealing with the Kaguru language.
The Clans of Nangodi
Authors: Hunter John M. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphIn respect of its social organization and settlement pattern, Nangodi State is typical of extensive areas of northern Ghana. Three forms of authority are recognized: politico-military, kinship (or family) and spiritual. Politico-military authority is exercised through ten chiefdoms which are in turn divided into 28 sections. Kinship authority is represented by 64 agnatic lineages 57 of which are hierarchically grouped into seven major clans. Clan and lineage areas are complexly intermingled. Spiritual authority is wielded by 11 Nangodi earth priests and two outsiders over a total of 43 areas. Each of these three forms of authority in Nangodi State operates within separate and distinct geographical areas which are superposed but not co-terminous.
Ritual Man in Africa
Authors: Horton Robin 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThis paper starts with a critique of two recent essays on African religion—Professor Max Gluckman's essay ‘Les Rites de Passage’, and Dr. V. W. Turner's Chihamba: the White Spirit. Though the first is a generalized interpretation of African rituals, and the second a close study of one rite in a particular culture, the two make an interesting comparison. First of all, they are inspired by strongly contrasted theoretical premisses. Secondly, one represents a well-established approach to the study of ritual, while the other includes a powerful objection to this approach. Thirdly, the two essays exhibit a polarity of attitude which I suspect has a wider currency both in Social Anthropology and in Comparative Religion. In what follows, I shall argue that the polarization of thought suggested by these two essays is basically unhelpful to the study of African religions; and I shall go on and suggest an approach which seems to me a fruitful middle way into the subject.
The Story of Mariya and Yozefu: A Case Study from Bunyoro, Uganda
Authors: Beattie J. H. M. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThe following text was the last to be recorded by my Nyoro assistant, Mr. Perezi Mpuru, before his sudden and untimely death in July 1953. I present a full translation of it here because I believe that as well as providing an illuminating picture of some aspects of Nyoro village life, it also vividly illustrates some of the ways in which participation in a new and wider social and economic world can affect the everyday lives of members of an African rural community. The story was told to my assistant over a period of two or three days by a middle-aged man, Yowana, who had been a primary school-teacher. As well as bringing up his own son and daughter, Eriya and Mariya, Yowana had also brought up another boy, Yozefu, who was the son of neighbours who had died, although he still had relatives living some miles away.
The Moon as a Symbol of Life and Fertility in Sandawe Thought
Authors: Raa Eric Ten 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThe Sandawe of central Tanzania speak a click language which shows no relationship with the languages of their Bantu-speaking neighbours, nor with any of the other non-Bantu languages in the neighbourhood; rather, it may be remotely related to the Khoisan languages of South Africa, in particular to Nama Hottentot. Physically the Sandawe differ to a degree from their neighbours, and their closest affinities may again be with Hottentot peoples. Sandawe material culture also differs to a degree from the cultures of their neighbours; like them, the Sandawe have an economy which largely depends on cattle-keeping and horticulture, but it is less sophisticated and their reliance on food-gathering and hunting is still considerably greater. Considering this difference in background it would be not at all surprising if their system of beliefs also showed differences. Comparisons cannot yet be profitably made, however, because little has so far been published about Sandawe religion, except a paper by van de Kimmenade and some details which can be found in the writings of Dempwolff and Bagshawe. In his ethnographic survey Huntingford draws our attention to the lack of knowledge of Sandawe religious beliefs, pointing out that these have been imperfectly recorded; yet he recognizes that the moon (láb′so or !áoso) and the sun (//′akásu) occupy a central position in Sandawe religion, which he summarizes as follows:It appears that the sun and the moon are regarded as supreme beings, and that propitiatory sacrifices are made to the ancestral spirits who can do both good and evil to mankind.
The Blood Covenant and the Concept of Blood in Ukaguru
Authors: Beidelman T. O. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThe problem of the nature of the blood covenant (also called blood pact or blood brotherhood) still awaits adequate detailed comparative analysis. This is unfortunate since detailed consideration of such practices would be interesting in itself and might also provide valuable means for understanding some of the notions of physiology, kinship, magic, and alliance in the societies in which this institution exists. A blood covenant establishes a close bond between two persons not linked by kinship but who, nevertheless, desire social relations supported by stronger sanctions (physiological and/or magical) than those afforded by mere communal, tribal, or trading connexions. It is clear that blood covenants do not establish conventional kinship relations and that the term ‘blood brotherhood’ is misleading. However, the physiological basis of these covenants and the terminology sometimes employed by the persons involved in them do suggest that some comparison with kinship may be useful if only to indicate the differences between these two institutions. By examining some of the ways in which a people's blood-covenant relations are similar and dissimilar to certain of their kinship relations, and by considering the significance which the people themselves see in the physiological link of common blood, we may gain a clearer understanding of both these types of relations.
Milho Zaburro and Milho Maçaroca in Guinea and in the Islands of Cabo Verde
Authors: da Mota A. Teixeira , Carreira António 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphIt has been claimed that Zea mays existed in Africa before the discovery of America, but the plant is more generally considered to be a native of America, which could have spread through other continents only in post-Columbian times.This latter opinion has recently been challenged by several writers. Jeffreys, for instance, has since 1953 consistently maintained that on arrival in Guinea the Portuguese found Zea mays already well established there, as the cereal they called milho zaburro, previously introduced by the Arabs, who would have visited America long before Columbus. On the other hand, V. de Magalhães Godinho, pertinently refuting many of Jeffreys's reasonings and identifications, has put forward the view that, before the Portuguese voyages of discovery, there existed in Africa a variety of Zea mays, which was subsequently replaced by the American variety; the Portuguese would have become familiar with this variety in Morocco, and it would be this plant which they called milho zaburro, or milho maçaroca. To both these authors the designations milho maçaroca and Zea mays are indisputably synonymous.
Prestige, Status, and Power in a Modern Valley Korekore Chiefdom, Rhodesia
Authors: Garbett G. Kingsley 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphIn present-day Valley Korekore society, new opportunities for achieving status have arisen. Alongside traditional institutions, modern political, economic, and religious institutions have developed and, together, these provide a wider and more complex arena than existed in the past in which ambitious individuals compete with one another for prestige, authority, and power.
The Diffusion of Age-Group Organization in East Africa: A Controlled Comparison
Authors: LeVine Robert A. , Sangree Walter H. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThe ethnography of Kenya and Tanganyika presents a problem of great significance to the study of culture history and social organization: why have some Bantu-speaking peoples adopted age-group organization and associated rituals from their non-Bantu neighbours, while other Bantu peoples in the same region have not? That this borrowing has occurred in some cases is suggested by the extant ethnographic literature. Wagner states that the age-group organization of the Vugusu of Nyanza ‘corresponds closely to the age-group organization of the Nilo-Hamitic tribes with which it is obviously historically connected’. In discussing the pairing of Vugusu circumcision groups, he says: ‘We have here a case of a formal feature borrowed from a group of neighbouring but structurally quite different tribes which has not been functionally integrated into the structure of the recipient society.’ The Kikuyu, whose age groups are of great importance in their social structure and may antedate their contact with the Nilo-Hamitic Masai, recognize a division among themselves between members of the ‘Kikuyu guild’, who practise one set of age-grade ceremonies, and members of the ‘Masai guild’, most of whom live in south-west Kikuyuland near Masailand and conduct different ceremonies. Lambert states that the Kikuyu age-regiments alternate between those of the right hand (tatane) and those of the left hand (gitienye).
The Divine Kingship of the Jukun: a Re-evaluation of some Theories
Authors: Young Michael W. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphFor many social anthropologists the problem of divine kingship was solved in 1948 when Professor Evans-Pritchard, in a well-known Frazer Lecture, put a respectably structural interpretation on the facts of the Shilluk case. Divine kingship in Africa was rather an embarrassment because the central tenet of its doctrine—that the king must be killed when he fell sick or grew senile—was usually beyond empirical verification. There was also perhaps some reluctance to accept the explanatory theories of Sir J. G. Frazer when in so many other respects his authority had long since been overthrown. In a single essay Evans-Pritchard appeared to have effectively slain both the problem and its discoverer. Such problems and such intellectual kings, however, have a way of rising from the dead. In this paper I resuscitate in part Frazer's theory of divine kingship and try to show that it illuminates important aspects of the problem which are ignored by the structuralist interpretation. With reference to a single example of divine kingship, that of the Jukun of Northern Nigeria, I utilize two familiar conceptual distinctions—person/office and political/ritual. Complementary to these, and perhaps even more analytically fruitful, is the man-god dichotomy which was one of Frazer's main preoccupations.
Letter from Mbugwe, Tanganyika
Authors: Mbee Gicha 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphGicha Mbee, the author of the following report, is a member of the Mbugwe tribe of northern Tanganyika. I first met him, then a youth of about fifteen, in 1951 while doing an anthropological field study of the Mbugwe. I soon discovered that he was proficient at writing, although he had had only four years' schooling at the local mission school, and engaged him as an informant to write ethnographic texts. Since then he has corresponded with me and has continued to send me ethnographic material written in Swahili—about 700 pages altogether, including a detailed sketch of his childhood which I am at present translating for publication. In 1963 I suggested to him that he compose a narrative of recent events in Mbugwe, giving special attention to the local effects of Tanganyika's independence. He sent the report in several instalments, and this, translated from his Swahili, constitutes the article which follows.
Tsimihety Kinship and Descent
Authors: Wilson Peter J. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThough the Tsimihety tribe is the subject of three monographs by Molet (1953, 1956, 1959) and a number of papers by various authors (e.g. Mattei, 1938; Magnes, 1953), its social structure has not yet been adequately described. Indeed, there is no adequate account of the social structure of any Malagasy group, although Ottino's (1963) analysis of aspects of Vezo social structure is very illuminating. The primary aim of this paper therefore is to describe two of the major features of Tsimihety social structure—kinship and descent. As there are facets of Tsimihety kinship and descent that have some bearing on recent discussion of these topics, a secondary aim is to contribute, in a minor way, to that discussion.
The People of the Spirit: An Independent Church in Rhodesia
Authors: Aquina Sr. Mary 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThis article deals with the system of beliefs of an Independent African Church, the Apostles, founded in 1932 in the eastern province of Rhodesia by John Maranke. It seeks to define the Apostles' concept of ‘the Holy Spirit’, around which their whole religion centres. An analysis of this concept will make it clear that it has arisen out of a synthesis of elements from two older religions, namely traditional Karanga religion and Christianity as it has been presented to Rhodesian Africans by Catholic and Protestant missionaries.
Paintings of Ghanaian Children
Authors: Lystad Mary Hanemann 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphChildren's paintings are interesting for what they tell us about children's perceptions of and feelings about their universe, and the choice and presentation of subject-matter within the paintings can be indicative of early socialization and of attitudes and values of the children. Such projective material is thus useful in providing hypotheses regarding the social backgrounds of those who produced them, and in relating personality traits exhibited to already established culture patternings in the lives of the authors. Paintings of children who are living in a period of social change can also be suggestive of changes in culture patterns and of the presence or absence of culture conflict in the change situation.
Caste in Africa?
Authors: Todd D. M. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphEminent Indologists have stated that it is inappropriate to use the word ‘caste’ in non-Hindu contexts. Despite such warnings numerous Africanists have used the term, with varying degrees of imprecision. In this paper I first outline different emphases which have appeared in the literature concerning caste in India; then discuss several examples of hierarchical systems in Africa which have been described as ‘caste’. Finally, I focus upon my own fieldwork data concerning the Dime of South-West Ethiopia, amongst whom there operates a system which can, I believe, be unequivocally labelled caste.
Rwenzururu protest songs
Authors: Cooke Peter , Doornbos Martin 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphIn this article we shall examine songs of the Rwenzururu movement of the Bakonzo and Baamba people in Western Uganda. We will be concerned with their different uses, as repositories of history and vehicles of exhortation, and also with their origins in time and space. The main interest in this paper, however, is to find explanations for the simultaneous expression of often strongly contrasted moods, viewpoints and styles in Rwenzururu songs.
Social Anthropology in Nigeria During the Colonial Period
Authors: Jones G. I. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThis essay examines anthropology and the work of anthropologists in Nigeria during the colonial period, which, for the sake of convenience, can be taken from 1884 and the establishment of the Colony of Lagos and of the Oil Rivers Protectorate to the end of the Second World War and the introduction of Regional self-government in the 1950s. During the latter part of this period I was a colonial administrator in this colony, and therefore absorbed the administrative bias in regard to anthropology and anthropologists. After the colonial period I became a professional anthropologist and acquired some of the bias of the professional anthropologist towards the colonial bureaucracy and its Nigerian successor. In what follows I am attempting to recapture my original attitudes.
Food-Farming and Migration from Fante Villages
Authors: Hill Polly 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphIn January to March 1975 I visited certain Fante food-growing villages near Cape Coast, in southern Ghana, with the intention of investigating the organisation of food-farming, with special reference to the position of women farmers. In the event, as I shall relate, much of my time was spent studying the outward migration which involved nearly all young men and women. In this short article I shall deal with the main sociological factors which account for what I can only assume to be the extreme inefficiency of most food-farmers in these villages in terms of crop yields per cultivator.
Symbolic Rebirth: TheMwaliRite among the Luguru of Eastern Tanzani
Authors: Brain James L. 
Published: April 2006

IntroductionIn this paper I shall describe the rites performed for Luguru girls at puberty, and attempt an interpretation of their symbolic significance and sociological functions. In a recent article (Brain 1977) I have re-examined the whole question of initiation rites, and I propose to treat the Luguru case in the light of the ideas developed therein.Briefly, I see the rites as having both psychological and sociological importance. Psychologically, they compensate for male envy of female precreativity (Bettelheim 1954); affirm the culturally prescribed sex roles (Freud 1962 [1905] and Rank 1929); and provide a means of dealing with the threateningly anomalous nature of the transition from an asexual to a sexual world (Douglas 1966). Sociologically, they effect a transition from one status to another; clarify male and female roles and the nature of legitimate authority; and provide instruction in traditional lore and sexual conduct. It is plain that the psychological and sociological aspects overlap considerably. This is most evident in what I regard as the prime function of the rites: to correct any tendency on the part of women to assume a dominant role in a society where political and economic factors might permit them to do so.
Role Segregation for Fun and Profit: The Daily Behavior of the West African Lorry Driver
Authors: Jordan James William 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThe purpose of this paper is to present evidence of the changes which occur in the behavior of truck and lorry drivers when they are operating their vehicles as opposed to their behavior at other times. Specifically, it is hypothesized that drivers of trucks and lorries in certain West African societies behave in a very time and profit oriented, efficiency conscious manner when they are actually driving, but that this mode of behavior is not carried over into other spheres of their daily interaction. The impression, to use Ferdinand Tonnies' terms (1887), is one of an island of gesellschaft behavior (driving the vehicle) surrounded by an ocean of gemeinschaft behavior (the remainder of daily life).
Circulation monétaire et évolution des structures socio-économiques chez les haoussas du Niger
Authors: Raynaut Claude 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphNotre propos, dans cet article, n'est pas de tenter une analyse détaillée de la manière dont la monnaie moderne est actuellement maniée par les agriculteurs haoussas. Nous allons, plus modestement, nous contenter de souligner les mécanismes généraux auxquels obéit la circulation du numéraire au sein de la communauté rurale et, surtout, d'en faire ressortir les effets socio-économiques. Nous espérons pouvoir montrer ainsi comment l'argent constitue un des instruments privilégiés par lesquels se transmettent jusqu'au coeur du monde rural africain des influences déterminantes, issues de sphères économiques beaucoup plus vastes.
Who are the Waswahili?
Authors: Eastman Carol M. 
Published: April 2006

Opening ParagraphThe question as to who are the Swahili has long been controversial. Captain C. H. Stigand is responsible for the most widely accepted definition,A Swahili … in the more confined sense of the word, is a descendant of one of the original Arab or Persian-Arab settlers on the East African Coast. In the broader sense of the word it includes all who speak a common language, Swahili.