Circular Arguments and Self-Fulfilling Definitions: “Statelessness” and the Dagaaba

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 349-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kojo Yelpaala

Since the publication of Maine's Ancient Law in 1861 social anthropological studies have been prolific. The basic intellectual and investigative interest of these social anthropologists was and continues to be the social, political, and cultural organization of preliterate societies in their benign state of primitivity. Indeed, it might be said that the anthropologist created the savage, the barbarian, and the primitive and their state as an object of intellectual inquiry through fieldwork. Most of these studies conducted within the framework of what Owusu calls “structual-functional empiricism” were not exactly law-centered. Whatever glimpses of the legal system one could obtain was by accident. Law was merely part of a functioning, coherent, and consistent totality; part of the jigsaw puzzle of the primitive reality.Subsequent legal anthropological works clearly fell into two categories: those that thought that primitive societies did not have law and others that thought that they did. Those of the first group have viewed small-scale societies from the monocles of western jurisprudence, expecting to find a system of rules emanating from an authoritative source in a hierarchically-organized political system with government, courts, and a law-enforcement mechanism backed by coercive physical sanctions. Viewed from this perspective they not surprisingly found what they considered to be a pattern of “statelessness,” lawlessness, anarchy, and notions of justice and remedy based upon the principle of self-help or the law of the claw and the fang. Critics of colonialism and anthropology suggest that this characterization of the expectations of the colonial anthropologist might be a serious misrepresentation of their true expectations. The colonialist needed the anthropologist to provide the methods by which colonialism could be most effective. The anthropologist on the other hand created the savage and his state of statelessness, lawlessness, and self-help to provide a rational basis for colonialist subjugation and exploitation of the savage.

1958 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Krader

During the first millenium A.D. a series of states were formed by Turkic and Mongol peoples, the nomadic pastoralists of the Asian steppes - the Tatars of European and Chinese record. These political enterprises enlarged their scope and power during the period of a millenium, reaching a climax in the empire of Chingis Khan in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; from this climactic achievement they have since declined. The social and political organization as well as the economy of these peoples are at once simple and complex, primitive and advanced. The characterization of this cultural world has been given focus in a sharp controversy, the controversy over the establishment and internal ordering of the political system.


1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel D. Barkan ◽  
Frank Holmquist

Peasant-state relations in developing countries are often a function of the nature and extent of stratification in peasant populations. Where there is a rigid class structure, the prospects for cooperation by members of the peasantry are low, and large landowners tend to ally themselves with the state to exploit the rural poor. Where, on the other hand, the nature of rural stratification is ambiguous, “small” and “middle” peasants are able to organize themselves for collective action and to bargain effectively for state aid to their communities. The hypothesis is confirmed using survey data about the nature of peasant participation in the Harambee selfhelp development movement in rural Kenya. Effective peasant-state bargaining in Kenya has in turn contributed to the legitimacy of the Kenyan political system.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 236-242
Author(s):  
Barnokhon Kushakova ◽  

This article discusses the conditions, reasons and factors of characterization of religious style as a functional style in the field of linguistics. In addition, religious style and its main peculiarities, its importance in the social life, and the functional features of religious style are highlighted in the article. As a result of our investigation, the following results were obtained: a) the increase in the need for the creation and significance of religious language, particularly religious texts has been scientifically proved; b) the possibility of religious texts to represent the thoughts of the people, culture and world outlook has been verified; c) the specificity of religious language, religious texts has been revealed; d) the development of religious style as a functional style has been grounded.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ritu Singh

The ‘social banking’ policies being followed by the country resulted in widening the geographical spread and functional reach of commercial banks in rural areas in the period that followed the nationalization of banks. This paper is concluded with a view that SHG – Bank Linkage program is a success in our country India and helping many people to make their life better.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Ghani Imad

The problematic addressed in this article is the challenge initiated by the Arab revolutions to reform the Arab political system in such a way as to facilitate the incorporation of ‘democracy’ at the core of its structure. Given the profound repercussions, this issue has become the most serious matter facing the forces of change in the Arab world today; meanwhile, it forms the most prominent challenge and the most difficult test confronting Islamists. The Islamist phenomenon is not an alien implant that descended upon us from another planet beyond the social context or manifestations of history. Thus it cannot but be an expression of political, cultural, and social needs and crises. Over the years this phenomenon has presented, through its discourse, an ideological logic that falls within the context of ‘advocacy’; however, today Islamists find themselves in office, and in a new context that requires them to produce a new type of discourse that pertains to the context of a ‘state’. Political participation ‘tames’ ideology and pushes political actors to rationalize their discourse in the face of daily political realities and the necessity of achievement. The logic of advocacy differs from that of the state: in the case of advocacy, ideology represents an enriching asset, whereas in the case of the state, it constitutes a heavy burden. This is one reason why so much discourse exists within religious jurisprudence related to interest or necessity or balancing outcomes. This article forms an epilogue to the series of articles on religion and the state published in previous issues of this journal. It adopts the methodologies of ‘discourse analysis’ and ‘case studies’ in an attempt to examine the arguments presented by Islamists under pressure from the opposition. It analyses the experiences, and the constraints, that inhibit the production of a ‘model’, and monitors the development of the discourse, its structure, and transformations between advocacy, revolution and the state.


2013 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 827-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna K. Frey ◽  
Karri Saarnio ◽  
Heikki Lamberg ◽  
Fanni Mylläri ◽  
Panu Karjalainen ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Björn Hessert

AbstractSports organisations generally have the burden of proving sports rule violations of sportspersons subject to their rules and regulations. Sports rule violations can generally be proven by any reliable means. A common approach taken by sports organisations in this respect is the implementation of so-called cooperation and reporting obligations embedded in their regulations. On this basis, athletes can be obliged to provide all kind of documentary evidence related or unrelated to the matter under investigation. This may cause problems to the privilege against self-incrimination of athletes. In addition, obtaining self-incriminating information in internal sports investigations carried out by private sports organisations can have legal and personal consequences that go well beyond the professional life of athletes. The integrity of sport has been characterised as a public interest due to the social impact of amateur and professional sports in most societies. As a consequence, negative sports-related conduct, such as doping or the manipulation of sports competitions, has been criminalised in various national laws to protect sporting values and preserve the role model function of athletes for young members of our society. This development has led to cooperation between sports organisations and law enforcement agencies, such as prosecutors and the police. Specifically, both collaborate in order to assist the other party’s investigations of sports rule violations and criminal offences, respectively. However, the exchange of intelligence between sports organisations and law enforcement may cause some legal tension. If the same misconduct of athletes leads to both internal sports investigations and criminal proceedings, athletes could be forced to provide self-incriminating information in internal sports organisations, which could then be subsequently transmitted to law enforcement. This system of intelligence gathering raises serious concerns regarding the procedural fairness thereof, keeping in mind the detrimental effects for sportspersons under investigations. A closer look is thus necessary to the legitimacy of the exchange of intelligence. Therefore, the aim of this article is to shed some light on this issue and clarify if and under what conditions internally obtained evidence can be passed on to law enforcement agencies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110231
Author(s):  
Mary Walworth ◽  
Amy Dewar ◽  
Thomas Ennever ◽  
Lana Takau ◽  
Iveth Rodriguez

Each of the 65 inhabited islands of Vanuatu hosts its own unique linguistic environment in which varying degrees of multilingualism are found. This paper defines various types of small-scale multilingual settings in Vanuatu and explores what sociohistorical factors have led to them. This paper is based on first-hand observations and primary data collected by the authors in four locations in the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu since 2016: two neighboring villages of Emae Island (Makatu and Tongamea), North Malekula, and on Maewo Island. The assessments of multilingualism in these examples from Vanuatu were qualitative, based on observations of sociolinguistic practices in each of these areas, as well as data from language history and language use surveys carried out in each place. Through defining and comparing the types of multilingualism present in the four case studies, we identify patterns in the social and historical processes that lead to various kinds of multilingualism: (a) interaction of linguistic and sociocultural identities and (b) mobility of both individuals and entire speech communities. The examples described in this paper are used to highlight the diversity of multilingualism found in Vanuatu and to explore how their differing linguistic environments and histories have contributed to their varying degrees of multilingualism. This paper makes an original contribution to knowledge about the small-scale multilingual situations in Vanuatu, offering descriptions of previously undocumented and endangered multilingual environments. Through an examination of the sociocultural motivations for multilingualism, alongside historical migrations of speaker groups and marked sociolinguistic identities, this paper contributes to research on why and how small-scale multilingualism can develop. Furthermore, this paper provides the foundation for future, more rigorous investigations into the small-scale multilingual situations of this highly understudied region.


1974 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zohair A. Sebai

SummaryFamily planning is not being practised in Wadi Turaba in western Saudi Arabia, which is a Bedouin community with different stages of settlement. Children are wanted in the family, and the more children, especially boys, the better the social status of the family in the community. The desire of a mother for more children does not appear to be affected by her age group, history of previous marriages or history of previous pregnancies.Knowledge about contraceptives practically does not exist, except on a small scale in the settled community. Every woman, following the Koranic teachings, weans her child exactly at the age of 2 years, which obviously leads to the spacing of births. In rather rare situations, coitus interruptus is practised.


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