This paper examines a system of divination which is widespread in the Francistown area of Botswana and which features conspicuously in the area's various noncosmopolitan medical systems. The... Show moreThis paper examines a system of divination which is widespread in the Francistown area of Botswana and which features conspicuously in the area's various noncosmopolitan medical systems. The system involves the manipulation of four small rectangular or triangular tablets made out of wood, bone or ivory. A striking feature of the Francistown system is its fragmented and kaleidoscopic nature in terms of nomenclature, iconography and interpretative catalogue. The oracular system contains features which do not match closely with the local symbolic system, language and cosmology of contemporary users. The author argues that this indicates to the alteration and erosion of local elements and the accretion of foreign elements. A study of the four-tablet oracular system in space and time shows that the system has spread gradually over southern Africa from a Shona epicentre. Furthermore, a comparison of the four-tablet system with Arabian geomancy and the 'Sikidy' system reveals strong indications that the southern African four-tablet system in its current form emerged about half a millennium ago on the Zimbabwean Plateau under Arabian influence. Show less
Martin Bernal's 'Black Athena' has evoked three kinds of reaction: scholarly evaluation of the historical evidence for Bernal's claims, both of Ancient Europe's indebtedness to West Asia and... Show moreMartin Bernal's 'Black Athena' has evoked three kinds of reaction: scholarly evaluation of the historical evidence for Bernal's claims, both of Ancient Europe's indebtedness to West Asia and Northeast Africa, and of the construction in recent centuries of the Greek miracle as a Eurocentric, racialist myth; appropriation of the Bernal thesis by African-American and African intellectuals in the process of identity construction and in the politics of global knowledge production as a counterforce to Eurocentrism and scholarly racism; and critical scholarly extrapolation of the Bernal thesis with regard to African material beyond ancient Egypt. Arguing that origin is not to be equated with subsequent local transformation and performance in maturity, the present author posits that a different mode of thinking about cultural dynamics and interdependence is required. Two case studies tracing the geographical distribution and probable diffusion of geomantic divination and mancala board games since the 16th century, suggest that it is a typical pattern of African cultural history to see active early participation in global cultural flows, followed by subsequent 'cultural involution' and the loss of virtually all trace of an earlier intercontinental exchange. The unit of analysis is civilizations; 'Africa', the continent, is not a viable unit of analysis in this connection. Notes, ref., sum. in French (p. 100) Show less
This bibliography on Ethiopia and Eritrea is a sequel to 'Ethiopian society and history: a bibliography of Ethiopian studies 1957-1990' (1990). The present volume, which covers the period 1990... Show moreThis bibliography on Ethiopia and Eritrea is a sequel to 'Ethiopian society and history: a bibliography of Ethiopian studies 1957-1990' (1990). The present volume, which covers the period 1990-1995, contains c. 2000 items. Books, journal articles, and articles from collective volumes have been included. The entries are arranged under the following headings: Bibliographies; History and development of Eritreo-Ethiopian studies; Manuscripts, documents, sources, library studies; Travellers and foreigners; History; Cultural geography, ecology, demography; Politics and law before 1974; Politics, law and revolutionary development after 1974; Politics and law after 1991; Peasantry and the rural sector after 1974; The urban sector; Modernization, communications, industry and 'development'; Economics, economic policy, banking; Social structure, social change and gender; Drought and famine, refugees and resettlement; International relations; Ethno-regional conflicts; Education; Health and health care; Ethnomedicine and indigenous knowledge; Folklore, magic, oral traditions; Music; Material culture, architecture, arts and crafts; Christian and hagiographical literature; Religion and missions; Ethnology and anthropology. The last section is subdivided according to ethno-cultural groups. A list of collective volumes and an index of authors' names have been included Show less
In some areas in sub-Saharan Africa a rural proletariat has emerged, consisting mainly of labourers living and working on plantations and large mixed farms. Besides these fully proletarianized... Show moreIn some areas in sub-Saharan Africa a rural proletariat has emerged, consisting mainly of labourers living and working on plantations and large mixed farms. Besides these fully proletarianized estate workers, there is also a category of workers that can be labelled 'semi-proletarianized'. They live outside the agricultural estates, perform seasonal agricultural wage labour and still have control over some means of (re)production, usually a small piece of land. Based on a survey of large farms and households conducted in 1989 in Kenya's Trans Nzoia District, the present authors investigate whether differences in the degree of proletarianization of workers are reflected in differences in socioeconomic situation and living conditions (such as access to a latrine and improved drinking water, the number of household members per room, level of food consumption, nutritional condition). They also compare the situation of labourers with that of a group of non-labourers (households in which nobody had performed any agricultural wage labour in the year preceding the survey). They conclude that in terms of land and income as well as living conditions, labourers are disadvantaged when compared with non-labourers. With respect to the labourers, a higher degree of proletarianization coincides with a lower level of income but not necessarily with poorer living conditions. Show less
Among the manuscripts in the 'Umar Falke Collection at Northwestern University is a poem about .Ham_ahu 'll_ah, the 20-th century Tij_an_i shaykh and reputed 'wal_i,' born c. 1883. He was exiled by... Show moreAmong the manuscripts in the 'Umar Falke Collection at Northwestern University is a poem about .Ham_ahu 'll_ah, the 20-th century Tij_an_i shaykh and reputed 'wal_i,' born c. 1883. He was exiled by the French colonial government in the 1920s, and later in 1941, and he died in France in 1943. He attracted considerable attention since his emergence as a Sufi religious leader in West Africa, particularly in Nioro du Sahel (Mali). Although a number of scholars have written about .Ham_ahu 'll_ah and his disciples within the socioeconomic and political contexts of French colonialism, the religious aspects of the .Hamawiyya branch of the Tij_aniyya (in European writing often called .Ham_aliyya) have received inadequate attention. The poem in praise of .Ham_ahu 'll_ah, which is included in this paper in Arabic with an English translation, provides an entry into the discourse of sainthood which surrounded .Ham_ahu 'll_ah. Notes, ref. Show less
This article traces the development of corruption in one part of Africa - Seychelles - in a global context. It demonstrates how the ease with which capital can be transferred and commodities... Show moreThis article traces the development of corruption in one part of Africa - Seychelles - in a global context. It demonstrates how the ease with which capital can be transferred and commodities bought and sold and the speed of modern communication in general have been given considerable impetus to the linking of corrupt practices across borders, and that this process of transnational corruption was considerably encouraged by the Cold War. After independence in 1976 Seychelles was subject to intense international diplomatic and military activity, often of a covert nature, due largely to the islands' strategic location, which made them an asset both in US-Soviet rivalry in the Indian Ocean and in the more localized patterns of conflict stemming from South Africa's drive to assert its hegemony in southern Africa. This led to attempts to subvert or influence the islands' government by bribery and by force, while more powerful governments and business interests associated with political parties as far afield as Italy manipulated Seychelles' status as a sovereign State in order to perform various transactions of dubious legality. There is some evidence also that the islands were used for financial transactions by arms dealers and as a staging post for drug trafficking. Notes, ref Show less
Dit artikel onderzoekt de grenzen van de bruikbaarheid van het door Mary Douglas ontwikkelde 'grid-group' model aan de hand van het voorbeeld van de ontwikkeling van puriteinse (antihekserij)... Show moreDit artikel onderzoekt de grenzen van de bruikbaarheid van het door Mary Douglas ontwikkelde 'grid-group' model aan de hand van het voorbeeld van de ontwikkeling van puriteinse (antihekserij) bewegingen in Malawi. De auteur stelt, dat de rehabilitatie van het individu als actief, handelend en manipulatief subject, waarmee Douglas in de jaren tachtig haar model verfijnde, onvoldoende is om veranderingsprocessen te kunnen verklaren. Wat ontbreekt is een notie van macht zoals Michel Foucault die heeft ontwikkeld. De centrale vraag van het artikel is op welke wijze er, gegeven het bestaan van bepaalde sociale controle-mechanismen in de samenleving, veranderende percepties van bewegingsvrijheid c.q. disciplinering op gang kunnen komen, gericht op het individuele lid van de samenleving. De winst van de benaderingen van Douglas en Foucault wordt vergeleken voor een analyse van bewegingen zoals de Abadwa Mwatsopano (Wedergeborenen) in Malawi. Hoewel men vanwege de preoccupatie in dergelijke bewegingen met reiniging de bruikbaarheid van Douglas' theorie‰n zou verwachten, blijkt Foucault's concept van een 'technology of the self' meer verklaring te kunnen bieden. Bibliogr., noten Show less
The present article examines different categories of expression (genealogies, family histories, themes from the Sunjata epic, principles of segmentation, labour division) in precolonial Mande (in... Show moreThe present article examines different categories of expression (genealogies, family histories, themes from the Sunjata epic, principles of segmentation, labour division) in precolonial Mande (in present-day Guinea and Mali), and shows that they all develop along lines of predictability, and are therefore products of the same discourse. The author argues that genealogies are artificial kinship constructions which represent status claims. Any genealogy in Mande is operative only in a specific context, as an argument in a struggle for interpretation, and thus the usual positivist, chronological interpretation of genealogies is contested. The relationship oldest/youngest in particular serves to express unity and tension in diplomatic relations between social groups, and this relationship has been articulated politically in a functional way in relation to other oppositions such as mobile/immobile, interior/exterior. This status discourse is illustrated by a discussion on the position of the rulers of Kangaba, the alleged ancient capital of the Mali empire. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. Show less
In the late twentieth century, Nioro du Sahel, an economically marginal town in Mali, has become an important regional pilgrimage centre for Muslims. The present paper discusses the prayer economy... Show moreIn the late twentieth century, Nioro du Sahel, an economically marginal town in Mali, has become an important regional pilgrimage centre for Muslims. The present paper discusses the prayer economy in this town, the rather complex but pervasive practices in which gifts are given to certain Muslim religious leaders on a large scale. It focuses on the celebrated leaders of two Sufi brotherhoods - the Tijaniyya and the Hamawiyya - , their numerous followers, and their relationships, which set the context for the gift transfers. It shows how the prayer economy operates through the circulation of capital - economic, political, and spiritual or symbolic - which particular social actors are able to convert from one domain to another, with the result that in particular places, the economy fuses economic and political elites with religious leaders. This feature of the prayer economy marks a significant shift in the organization of religious practice. Ties between religious leaders and some, mostly elite, followers are no longer mediated primarily through membership of a particular Sufi brotherhood but rather through access to some of the central material tokens of value in society. This shift indicates the fragility of the hegemony of the prayer economy. Show less
Peut-on considérer que les Fulbe forment un peuple unique, malgré leur dispersion, dans la mesure où ils partagent la même langue? En comparant le discours des anthropologues et des linguistes à... Show morePeut-on considérer que les Fulbe forment un peuple unique, malgré leur dispersion, dans la mesure où ils partagent la même langue? En comparant le discours des anthropologues et des linguistes à propos du concept de 'pulaaku', les auteurs soulèvent la question de la complexité qu'il y a à définir l'ethnicité peule. Alors que certains y voient une sorte d'invariant du monde peul lorsque 'pulaaku' signifie 'code moral' ou 'comportement', dans le delta intérieur du Niger, ou au Massina (Mali), le même mot désigne l'ensemble de la communauté des Fulbe par rapport aux sociétés voisines. En guise d'exemple, les auteurs présentent les mots avec lesquels les Fulbe du clan Jallube du Hayre, dans le Mali central, expriment effectivement 'le code moral'. Elles montrent que les divers groupes sociaux d'une communauté (en l'occurrence les pasteurs et les anciens esclaves) peuvent désigner de façons différentes le contenu des éléments du code moral. Or, dans tous les cas, le discours sur l'identité est une simplification de la réalité, et cela risque de faire d'un peuple une entité artificielle et d''oublier' tout ce qui fait sa diversité et ses différences. L'utilisation du terme 'pulaaku' est le reflet de ce processus. Show less
Fundamental changes are taking place within the African State system which is still, in essence, the one created by the colonial powers and inherited at independence by the governments of modern... Show moreFundamental changes are taking place within the African State system which is still, in essence, the one created by the colonial powers and inherited at independence by the governments of modern Africa. Powerful forces in the industrialized world continue to have a crucial influence on events in the African continent. This paper identifies some of the key features of the emerging political economy of Africa, focusing on the manner in which external forces combine with internal ones in affecting Africa's politics. It pays attention, amongst others, to the importance of foreign aid as a source of revenue for African elites; the industrialized world's misperceptions of Africa; democratization and the decline of African States since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989; surviving patterns of precolonial political entities; new economic patterns in Africa; the policy of the industrialized world towards Africa and the role of African political elites now that, with the end of the Cold War, Africa has lost its global significance; the end of the Cold War as the real end of the colonial order in Africa and the intimate connection to the present crisis of African States; the collapse of African States and the world's policy of abandonment. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum Show less
