Politics, Law and Ritual in Tribal Society

Max Gluckman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351498159
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

What can we learn from tribal societies about the ways in which, in a variety of social settings, groups of men resolve their conflicts with other men? In order to answer this question, Politics, Law and Ritual in Tribal Society compares nearly forty case study societies, most of them in Africa, in their reconstructed pre-colonial tribal condition, comparing their small-scale social relations to their large-scale social context. At the outset Gluckman explains to the reader that custom is the focus of interest of all types of anthropology. Yet his approach manifests a strong interest in economy, politics, and social relationships.In the volume, Max Gluckman offers a succinct version of a lifetime of opinionated analysis. This material is organized by theme and the ethnographic examples appear as brief illustrations of theoretical questions. Discussed here also is the relation between disputes and struggles for power within the context of mechanisms of social control and stability.In addition, Gluckman presents a step-by-step survey of the cumulative development of the anthropological analysis of tribal institutions, from the nineteenth century to the present, and supports the argument that anthropology is a science rather than an art. The new masterful introduction by Sally Falk Moore, along with a new postscript of Gluckman's professional activities and publications, provides newcomers to the work of Gluckman with deep insights into the contents as well as contexts within which the great anthropologist worked.

INDEX

absorption of non-kin, 85 f.

abuse of power, in Melanesia, 119

adjudication: and mediation, 183

Bohannan on Tiv, 185

définition of, 183

Admiralty Islands: tokens of value in, 66

African kingdoms: women rulers in, 134

age: basis for social differentiation, 19

age-mates: regiments of, 140–1

Allan, W.: on African crops, 72

allegiances: among Tonga, 117

cross-ties, 110 f., 114

division of, 111 f., 165

in Buganda, 148 f., 153 f.

in Ruanda, 156 f.

in total system, 165

in tribal societies, 164

alternate generations: identification of, 18

Alur: history, 236

ancestor-worship, 9

ancestral spirits, 7

and kinship obligations, 227

and misfortunes, 227

obligations due to, 227

Andamanese, 269

Andaman Islands, 24

Anglo-Saxon feud, 113

Ankole, 147

anthropology: and economics, 80 n. 29

and sociology, 33

books on psychological —, 35 n. 41

branches of, 30 f.

growth of, 1 f.

history of, 34 n. 1

modern, 22

social, 23, 31

specialization of, 29, 30, 38 n. 35

Anuak, 216

authority among, 123 f., 135 f.

Evans-Pritchard on, 123 f.

headmanship among, 134

installation of village headmen, 253

land shrines among, 130

leaders among, 123 f.

Lienhardt on, 124 f.

rebellions among, 123 f.

ritual emblems among, 124, 128 f.

rotation of headmen, 124 f.

apartheid, 111

Arapesh, 76

arbitrator: and authoritativeness, 189

Ashanti, 274

complicated structure, 167 n. 37

Australia: ceremonial partners in, 15

Australian Aborigines, 268–9

ideas on procreation, 11–12

authoritativeness: scale of, 189

authority: among Anuak, 123 f.

among Bemba, 145

among Swazi, 145

among Zulu, 145

Colson on, 146

division of—in Barotseland, 144 f., 148

division of—in Buganda, 148

division of—among Zulu, 148

Hogbin on—in Melanesia, 119

in Nupeland, 160 f.

in Ruanda, 154 f.

in stateless societies, 123 f.

instituted,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Glossary
• Dramatis Personae
• Introduction to the Transaction Edition
• Introduction
• Maps
• I. Data and Theory
• II. Property Rights and Economic Activity
• III. Stateless Societies and the Maintenance of Order
• IV. The State and Civil Strife
• V Dispute and Settlement
• VI. Mystical Disturbance and Ritual Adjustment
• VII. Custom in Stability and Change
• Bibliography
• Postscript: H. M. Gluckman Biography and Publications Education and Posts
• Index