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
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
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
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
This chapter explores the possibilities and limits of law and institutions as instruments for generating changes in environmental behaviour. First, an overview of the different schools of thought... Show moreThis chapter explores the possibilities and limits of law and institutions as instruments for generating changes in environmental behaviour. First, an overview of the different schools of thought on law and natural resources is presented. It appears that the overall trend with regard to land and common property resources is orientated towards: 1) a bottom-up/sociological approach to the law-making process, and 2) devolution of powers to local communities in a setting of comanagement. Next, the available case studies - particularly from Africa - are examined, with a focus on two issues: security of tenure and the debate on decentralization. Special attention is paid to some recent experiences with specific forms of comanagement, notably the 'Gestion de terroir' approach and the contractual approach. Finally, the relative effectiveness of legal and institutional incentives for local environmental management are discussed. Show less
By bringing the active challenge to ethnographic authority by people written about to the fore, the authors of this chapter hope to raise some doubts about the matter-of-factness with which... Show moreBy bringing the active challenge to ethnographic authority by people written about to the fore, the authors of this chapter hope to raise some doubts about the matter-of-factness with which ethnographers maintain their identity as scholarly writers who do their research in some 'field' far away from 'home'. Focusing on the study of religion in Africa, they present two cases in which the tactical behaviour of both the anthropologists and their interlocutors challenges the hegemony of their attitudes towards each other's production of knowledge. The authors first discuss an element of anthropological fieldwork which, in practice, has been rare: the initiation of the researcher into secrets held by local religious leaders. Here, ethnographers (act as if they) accept the hegemony of the 'other' cultural practice while being initiated. Second, they describe a case from van Dijk's own fieldwork and show how the researcher was obliged to go through a penitential exercise after having produced a text in a popular magazine which insufficiently recognized the inspirational authority of religious leaders in the field (Born-Again preachers in Blantyre, Malawi). Bibliogr., notes, ref Show less
This paper describes some of the methodological and conceptual problems in researching aspects of sub-Saharan Africa's international 'underground' trade, meaning commercial transactions which are... Show moreThis paper describes some of the methodological and conceptual problems in researching aspects of sub-Saharan Africa's international 'underground' trade, meaning commercial transactions which are conducted across international frontiers but which are unrecorded in official data. The authors focus in particular on trade across intercontinental frontiers. They consider some problems of identifying and researching long-distance trade, and particularly intercontinental trade, which is illegal, unofficial or informal. They do so at two levels: first, by looking at sources of evidence for intercontinental flows (the examples of ivory and drugs); second, by adopting a 'bottom-up' approach, studying activities of individuals or small groups of intercontinental traders with a view to extrapolating from their activities in order to draw conclusions of wider application. Finally, they make some remarks concerning new modes of unofficial trade and the people who participate in them. Show less
Recent studies have pointed to the relationships between marabouts and power in West Africa. The present author argues that these studies should be broadened to include marabouts not necessarily... Show moreRecent studies have pointed to the relationships between marabouts and power in West Africa. The present author argues that these studies should be broadened to include marabouts not necessarily linked directly to particular regimes, but whose reputations and widespread popularity put them in a complex relationship to power. He presents a biographical note on the most influential marabouts in present-day Mali, Sidy Modibo Kane Diallo, born in 1925 in the town of Dilly, in the cercle of Nara which was then the French Sudan. In 1974 he became the official 'khalifa' of the Kane Diallo family. Today his reputation rests in large part on his efforts to spread Islam in Mali, particularly among the Bambara of Beledugu and Kaarta. Other factors which have served to enhance Sidy's reputation include the yearly 'ziyara' in Dilly and his role as a 'khalifa' of the Quadiriyya brotherhood. His circulation within Mali has been subject to authorization by the Malian State. Wherever he travels, he is received with great fanfare not only by villagers but also by representatives of the State who shower him with gifts and solicit him for blessings. The State cannot fail to recognize the potential benefits of its association with Sidy, and at times seems to act to exploit his influence, although he is not closely linked to the Traor‚ regime. Notes, ref Show less
