Chiefship and Politics in the Mlanje District of Southern Nyasaland

Africa ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-45
Author(s):  
R. L. Wishlade
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Administrative District ◽  
Southern Province ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphMlanje is an Administrative District in the Southern Province of Nyasaland. It is densely populated compared with other parts of Central Africa, having a population of 209,522 in 1945, which represented a density of 138 per square mile. The population is tribally heterogeneous, and was composed, in 1945, of 71 per cent. Nguru, 21 per cent. Nyanja, and 5 per cent. Yao people. The Nguru are the most recent arrivals, having immigrated into Nyasaland mainly during the present century. The term Nguru is used to refer to the representatives in Nyasaland of a number of tribes inhabiting that part of Portuguese East Africa which Lies to the east of Nyasaland; these immigrants call themselves Lomwe and in Mlanje are mainly Mihavani and Kokola. The Nyanja are the indigenous inhabitants of the area, who were living there before the invasion of the Mangoche Yao during the nineteenth century. Although they are linguistically distinct, the social organization of these three groups is markedly similar, and there has been a great deal of intermarriage between them, particularly between the Nyanja and the Nguru. No one of them is in sole occupation of a continuous stretch of territory, even the smallest residential groups are often tribally heterogeneous, the similarity of the social organization enabling Nyanja to be absorbed into Nguru hamlets and vice versa. For this reason it is impossible to use a tribal unit as a unit of reference in a discussion of the political organization of this area.

The Kenya Masai: A Nomadic People under Modern Adminstration

Africa ◽  
1939 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. James
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dramatic Effect ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nomadic People ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Native Policy ◽  
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Opening ParagraphExisting accounts of the Masai may be broadly grouped under three heads: (1) The popular impressionist accounts of the tribe by travellers in East Africa; the numerous travel works on this part of Africa nearly all contain some mention of the tribe, but in the main, these descriptions are calculated for their dramatic effect, and thus become largely inaccurate and valueless for the serious student. (2) Studies of the tribe such as those contained in the works of N. Leys and W. M. Ross. These authors approach the subject rather from the political angle, and make a study of the tribe largely for the purpose of criticizing Kenya's native policy. (3) The works dealing with the tribe from the ethnographic and anthropological standpoint; of the older works, the most important are those by A. C. Hollis and M. Merker. Among the more recent contributions the most outstanding are those by L. S. B. Leakey and S. Storrs-Fox. Daryll Forde has also given an account of the tribe from the point of view of the social geographer.

Sisters, wives, wards and daughters: a transformational analysis of the political organization of the Tiv and their neighbours. Part II: The transformations

Africa ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Fardon
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Local Competition ◽  
Fragmented Populations ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Supernatural Power ◽  
Unique Manner ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphIn the first part of this article I set myself two objectives, each of which took its cue from a generalization made about the political and social organization of the Tiv by their principal ethnographers, Laura and Paul Bohannan. I proposed to challenge the related views (1) that the political organization of the Tiv could adequately be described as a segmentary lineage organization and (2) that their organization was atypical of the area of middle-belt West Africa in which the Tiv live. Confining my attention to Tiv ethnogaphy, I argued in Part I that a persuasive case could be made for a more complex account of Tiv political processes which recognized the salience not only of descent but also of marriage, kinship and local competition for the achievement of personal prestige through manipulation of marriage strategies, mastery of the major akombo or cults and claims to the possession of legitimate tsav or supernatural power. Tiv society still retains remarkable features on this view of its political processes, but they are not those of complete atypicality. Instead, it becomes apparent that, while sharing many of its core institutions with neighbouring societies, Tiv culture combines them in a unique manner. The uniqueness of the combination becomes visible through the effects of Tiv social organization, the more important of which I would itemise as:1. The persistence of Tiv culture and identity in a region of generally fragmented populations.2. The capacity for expansion of Tiv society.3. The capacity of Tiv society to absorb so many circumstances conducive to the development of hierarchy yet to remain, by and large, acephelous.

Elmina and Greater Asante in the nineteenth century

Africa ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry W. Yarak
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Over Time

Opening ParagraphOne of the more interesting historiographical debates that emerged in the course of the great burst of research into Akan (actually primarily Asante) history during the 1950s and 1960s concerned the ‘structure’ of the Asante empire, or ‘Greater Asante’ as one of the contributors to the debate, Kwame Arhin, has termed it (Arhin, 1967). The debates have largely been informed by a synchronic, ‘centrist’ approach; that is, by an approach that views the imperial structure at a given point in time, and primarily from the perspective of the political centre, the capital town of Kumase. The 1970s have seen a proliferation of regional studies of the Akan and their neighbours, and so it is perhaps time to reopen the debate on the nature of the Asante imperial order from a broader perspective, one that is both more sensitive to change over time and includes the emerging views from the periphery (see, for example, Berberich, 1974; Case, 1979; Ferguson, 1972; Greene, 1981; Haight, 1981; Handloff, 1982; Sanders, 1980; Weaver, 1975; Yarak, 1976). The present paper first briefly sketches the social and political setting in nineteenth-century Elmina (εdena), then critically reviews the historiographical debate over the structure of Greater Asante, and lastly offers an alternative approach to the study of Greater Asante based on a case study of the history of Asante relations with Elmina.

Niumi: A Nineteenth-Century Mandingo Kingdom

Africa ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-455
Author(s):  
Charlotte A. Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Gambia ◽  
Small River ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
The Social ◽  
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Opening ParagraphBy 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.

Some Notes on the Political Organization of the Venda-speaking Tribes

Africa ◽  
1930 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. P. Lestrade
Keyword(s):  
Political Organization ◽  
Large Region ◽  
The Political ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphThe following notes are based mainly on information collected by the writer at Mbilwi (‘Sibasa’) from members of Mphaphuli's tribe, and at Tshakhuma (‘Tshakoma’) from members of Madzivhandila's tribe, and supplemented elsewhere in the Venda area. Obviously, over such a large region, a number of variations from the norm here indicated may be expected to exist; but it is thought that what is here given represents in substance, if not in all details, Venda law and custom in respect of this sphere of this people's life

Democracy and Indirect Rule

Africa ◽  
1947 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. H. Ashton
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Free Play ◽  
The Political ◽  
Present System ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Colonial Government ◽  
Indirect Rule

Opening ParagraphWhen discussing the political development of the African it is important to ask whether in his social organization there is a sufficiently strong element of popular participation in government to form a basis for modern democratic institutions. Another question is, to what extent the present system of colonial government (which for the sake of convenience, I shall call Indirect Rule, without analysing the various meanings and application of the term) gives free play to such democratic institutions as may already exist. In this article, an attempt is made to answer these two questions, so far as they apply to Basutoland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The position in the latter territory has recently been referred to by two writers when dealing with the second question and, as their findings were almost diametrically opposed, a detailed analysis of the position will not be out of place.

The Political Science Discipline in Argentina: The Political Scientist's National Association's Role

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (03) ◽  
pp. 616-618
Author(s):  
Diego Mazzoccone ◽  
Mariano Mosquera ◽  
Silvana Espejo ◽  
Mariana Fancio ◽  
Gabriela Gonzalez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Science Discipline ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One

It is very difficult to date the birth of political science in Argentina. Unlike other discipline of the social sciences, in Argentina the first distinction can be made between political thought on the one hand, and political science in another. The debate over political thought—as the reflection of different political questions—emerged in our country in the nineteenth century, especially during the process of constructing the Argentine nation-state. Conversely, political science is defined in a general way as the application of the scientific method to the studies on the power of the state (Fernández 2001).

Family Clusters: Generational Nucleation in Nineteenth-Century Argentina and Chile

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Balmori ◽  
Robert Oppenheimer
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Control ◽  
Broad Generalization ◽  
National Formation

This paper is derived from the authors' detailed studies of two groups of nineteenth-century families—eighteen families in Argentina and twenty-four in Chile. The studies revealed such remarkable similarities in the evolution of the two groups that it is possible to propose a broad generalization in respect to the social organization and national formation of both countries: there was, in each country, a three-generation sequence during which a number of families came together to form clusters that became the controlling entities of a region. Their base for political and economic control was either the existing capital city or a city that had been designated as the capital by these families.

Social and Intercultural Relations in Nineteenth-Century Zanzibar: Dressed Identity

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Vander biesen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Intercultural Relations ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Nineteenth Century Literature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Richard Burton ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Detailed Picture ◽  
Century Literature

Abstract Starting from the nineteenth century descriptive literatures on Zanzibar by authors such as Sir Richard Burton and Charles Guillain, and Salima bint Said-Ruete's autobiography, we can draw a rather detailed picture of the relationship between the different social layers, cultures and genders on Zanzibar. Describing and differentiating the complexity of Zanzibar society in the nineteenth century is the main aim of this paper. The focus is on clothing in order to sketch the social organization of the society and to highlight the cultural relations between the different groups in Zanzibar. The evidence obtained from the description of clothing is used as an eye-opener for the Zanzibar society and this evidence is supported by nineteenth century literature and photography on Zanzibar.

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