Belief in ‘Witches’ among the Rural Wolof of the Gambia

Africa ◽  
1959 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ames
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Gambia ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphThe material for this paper was collected while making a general ethnographic study of the Wolof people in the Saloum districts of the Gambia and neighbouring Senegalese villages in 1950–1. The extraordinary concern of the Gambian Wolof with ‘witches’ soon became evident when discussing and observing many ‘distinct’ aspects of their way of life. The object of this paper is twofold: to describe not only emotional reactions to ‘witches’, but to give an account of the behaviour ascribed to them, and the techniques for coping with their attacks; some functions and dysfunctions of these beliefs and practices will then be discussed.

The inheritance of private property among the Nama of southern Africa, reconsidered

Africa ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Carstens
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Personal Communication ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Status ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Anthropological Literature

Opening ParagraphAlthough the Khoikhoi or so-called Hottentots are still discussed in social anthropological literature, there is relatively little interest in them nowadays in comparison with the San (Bushmen) or various Bantu-speaking peoples. This lack of interest is really quite surprising since Radcliffe-Brown drew heavily on the Nama Khoikhoi material in his essay on the mother's brother in South Africa (Radcliffe-Brown 1924). Radcliffe-Brown, incidentally, based his knowledge of the Nama almost entirely on his interpretation of the field work of Mrs A. W. Hoernlé, using two unpublished papers and personal communication with Mrs Hoernlé as his sources. There is, however, a more important reason why the Khoikhoi are of interest. Many aspects of their way of life, ranging from the status of wives to religious beliefs and practices, are very ‘unAfrican’ if we equate African with Bantu-speaking Africa as is so often done.

scholarly journals Cultural Beliefs and Practices of Ethnic Filipinos: An Ethnographic Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn J. Grey
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Beliefs And Practices

<div><p><em>The study was to determine the cultural beliefs and practices of the ethnic Filipinos. This is a qualitative study and the focus is the Aetas living in Central Philippines. The informants were the 9 prominent Aetas, 6 of them were Aeta women who have experienced pregnancy or pregnant during the time this study was conducted. The findings revealed that during pregnancy their most  beliefs and practices are observed by the Aetas.  Some of the traditional beliefs and practices of Aetas  have been influenced by many factors. They have also retained some of their traditional beliefs and practices on pregnancy, childbirth, marriage, death and burial despite the effects of the factors mentioned. All throughout the life stages of the Aetas in the rural communities, their old beliefs and practices had been influenced by modernization.  It simply shows that the Aetas , are also susceptible to accept changes that may affect their way of life. Their traditional cultural practices that deeply rooted in their beliefs were difficult to neglect since it has already been part of their tradition for years.</em></p></div>

scholarly journals Speaking to My Ancestors: An Ethnographic Study of Lived Childhood Religion in Rural Gansu

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-206
Author(s):  
Joseph Chadwin
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Gansu Province ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Lived Religion ◽  
Unique Form ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Rural Village ◽  
Ethnographic Data

AbstractThis article provides an overview of the major existing scholarship pertaining to childhood religion in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). More specifically, it examines lived childhood religion in a rural village in Gānsù province. This article challenges the commonly preconceived notion that children in the PRC do not regard religious belief as important and simply mirror the religious practices of their guardians. By utilising ethnographic data, I argue that children in the PRC are capable of constructing their own unique form of lived religion that is informed by, but crucially distinct from, the religious beliefs and practices of adults. The practices and beliefs of this lived religion can be extremely important to children and the evidence from fieldwork suggests that they tend to take both their practice and belief very seriously.

Some Swazi Views on Land Tenure

Africa ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. B. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphVirtually all sub-Saharan Africa is in the throes of rapid social and economic change. The recent fashion for meteorological allegories has merely served to stress the fact that these changes are also causing very considerable problems. The dilemma facing most administrations throughout the continent is that while much of the old way of life must inevitably disappear if the tribal groups involved are to hope to survive as viable populations in the modern world, this same process can, if it occurs too fast, threaten the whole social order and the systems of social control and social organization, which have hitherto bound them together as groups and governed the day-to-day lives of their members.

Ethnographic Study

2019 ◽  
pp. 246-271
Author(s):  
Anitha Acharya
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The West

This chapter is about ethnographic study. Ethnography is the subset of social research. The term ethnography originated in the nineteenth century in Western anthropology, where ethnography was an evocative description of the culture of group of people, generally one placed in the outskirts of the west. The endeavor of ethnography is to assess another way of life from the native point of view. This chapter highlights the characteristics of ethnography, when to use ethnography, types of ethnography, procedure, and benefits and issues involved in carrying out ethnographic research.

Loss of Voice at Oneida Indian Nation: Traditional Methods of Social Control in a Contemporary Native Community

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-110
Author(s):  
Michael Taylor
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Native Community ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Tribal Government ◽  
Indian Nation ◽  
Loss Of Voice

This ethnographic study explores how contemporary Oneida people are using traditional beliefs and practices that are prescribed and enshrined in Haudenosaunee oral traditions to further their political ends. The current tribal government seeks to engender control over its citizens, affairs, and properties by using traditions of oral history to claim legitimacy. An overarching contention is over the process of governance as engendered by the process of consensus. This traditional Haudenosaunee practice is at the heart of the matter of the legitimacy of modern tribal government as it is used by the Oneida Nation of New York, including the use of banishment as a form of social control to ground its authority. "Loss of voice" has resulted in the disenrollment of those Oneida people who have been banished after questioning the current tribal government's legitimacy and practices. This essay reviews the actions of the Oneida Indian Nation as an evolving tribal authority as it attempts to reconcile the role of tradition, examining how authority is maintained in ongoing governance of contemporary tribal development.

The Gambia Section of the National Congress of British West Africa

Africa ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ayodele Langley
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Executive Committee ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Vice President ◽  
The Gambia ◽  
Local Committee ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphThe Gambia was the last of the four English-speaking West African colonies to organize a local branch of the National Congress movement. As in Sierra Leone the local committee was dominated by ‘middle class’ Creoles, although active Muslim members included Sheikh Omar Fye, who played a leading role in local politics up to the early 1950s and was a leading spokesman of the Muslim community in Bathurst. Other Muslim members were Njagga Saar, a local carpenter; Omar Jallow, described as a ‘prominent agriculturist’; Amar Gaye Cham, vice-president of the 1923-4 local executive committee and a dealer. Creoles active in the local committee came largely from the mercantile and legal professions. Isaac J. Roberts, who was president of the 1925-6 committee, was a prominent solicitor of Sierra Leone descent. He was a merchant before going to England to read law; he practised in Bathurst and Lagos despite the loss of his eyesight which occurred during his student days in England. He represented the Gambia at the Lagos Session of the NCBWA in 1930. He died in Freetown in April 1933 at the age of eighty-two. M. S. J. Richards, one of the vice-presidents of the 1923-4 local executive committee, was a local trader; J. A. Mahoney (later Sir John Mahoney and Speaker of the Gambia House of Representatives) was formerly a government employee who later worked for the French firm C.F.A.O. as a mercantile clerk; the Hon. S. J. Forster, first president of the local committee, came from a distinguished Creole family and served for several years on the Legislative Council; J. E. Mahoney was the nephew of S. J. Forster and was also a trader. B. J. George, local secretary of the committee from 1921 to 1923, and delegate to the Freetown Session in 1923, was a commission agent; Henry M. Jones was a wealthy trader and was one of the Gambian delegates to the NCBWA London committee in 1920-1; until the 1921 slump and the depression of the 1930s, ‘Pa ’ Jones was influential in both business circles and in local politics. Other prominent Creole traders associated with the local committee were E. F. Small, delegate to the Accra Conference and the London committee; E. A. T. Nicol, E. J. C. Rendall, and E. N. Jones.

An ethnographic study of diabetes health beliefs and practices in Sri Lankan adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.A.T.D. Amarasekara ◽  
W. Fongkaew ◽  
S. Turale ◽  
S.W. Wimalasekara ◽  
C. Chanprasit
Keyword(s):  
Health Beliefs ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Health Beliefs And Practices

scholarly journals Challenging the status quo of an institutional culture in theological training

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Naidoo
Keyword(s):  
Theological Education ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Institutional Culture ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
The Status

Institutional culture is one of the most salient forces operating in higher education because it is a vehicle for implementing organizational and institutional change. This article reports on an ethnographic study that focused on the role of a theological institution’s culture and how the culture shaped diversity management, and ultimately student formation. This article highlights the saliency of the institutional culture in maintaining the status quo and not supporting the establishment of more equitable learning environments. Within theological education we need to dismantle beliefs and practices that shape and sustain social injustice and that will require some institution cultures to be challenged and changed. Being aware of the formative nature of the institutional culture provides critical insights into an institution’s change process and can help theological students and educators to find a common theological discourse.

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