Order and Rebellion in Tribal Africa

Max Gluckman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136528569
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

These essays are mainly concerned with the development of some of Max Gluckman's ideas about African politics. He regarded frequent rebellions to replace incumbents of political offices (as against revolutions to alter the structure of offices) as inherent in these politics. Later he connected this situation with modes of husbandry, problems of the devolution of power, types of weapons and the law of treason. He advanced to a general theory of ritual, as well as to general propositions about the position of officials representing conflicting interests within a hierarchy, typified by the African chief under colonial rule. Originally published in 1963.

INDEX

abductor: sued for damages, 186. ,

‘absorbent’ concepts, 205 f. ,

adaptation in colour bar, 220. ,

administrative organization: various authors on, state—, 31; in tribal states, 59. ,

administrator and Zulu, 233 f; administrator (white): role in colour bar, 218. ,

adultery: mystical repercussions of, 64. ,

African disabilities: Kenya, 144. ,

agnatic descent, social principles of, 63. ,

agricultural ceremonies: classical, 258 fn. 18.; in ancient Near East and Mediterranean, 111. ,

agricultural rituals, 132 f.; and priest-kings, 110 f. ,

allegiance to chief: in tribal law, 22; in mediaeval English law, 22. ,

Alur: Southall on, 30. ,

ambivalence, 78; of followers to headman, 152; of social relations, 126; to chief, 123. ,

ancestor-cult, 72 f, 75; bounded by kinship, 141; of chief, 58; focus of differentiation and cohesion, 73; and kingship, 57 f; shrines, 54. ,

ancestors: in segmentary vs. state society, 58; power of—in relation to chiefs, 79; relation of chief to, 125, 133. ,

Andrezejewski, S., 253, FN. 5. ,

ankole: inheritance wars, 131; rebellions and revolutions, 9; succession among, 14, 20. ,

anthropology: behaviourism and—, 236; early field-workers, 242; and lawyers, 185-6; Malinowski on— and government, 210; Malinowski’s polemics in, 208; need for comparative work in, 207; practical—, 217; scientific correlations in, 229; specialized social—, 238. ,

anti-witchcraft movements: in C. and S. Africa, 143. ,

Anuak: segmentary society, 87; studied by Evans-Pritchard, 15. ,

appeal courts: in Barotseland, 181, 183. ,

archeologists: and anthropologists, 41. ,

archival research: Malinowski’s sneer at, 210. ,

Aristotle: catharsis, 126; on rebellions and revolution, 9 f; on Greek institutions, 6. ,

Ashton, H., 35. ,

Azande, 137. ,

Bacchantic ceremonies: among S. E. Bantu, 114 f; among Tsonga, 114 f. ,

Bambada Rebellion, 144. ,

Barnes, J. A.: on Ngoni, 160; changes in anthropological analysis, 41; on Ngoni chief, 43; analysis of Ngoni, 34; on Ngoni rebellions, 30; treatment of power, 46. ,

Barotse (see also Lozi); description and government of, 180; law of treason, 22; rebellions and revolution, 33; ritual and secular organization, 26; treatment of commoners after civil war, 22. ,

Barotse law: general and particular rules in, 198; procedure of, 180-1. ,

Basuto: first-fruits ceremonies among, 35- ,

Bateson, G.: Naven, inspiration of, 44; theory of, 18. ,

Beattie, J. M.: treatment of political problems, 45. ,

beer: attitude to, 164. ,

behaviourism: in Malinowski’s theories, 236. ,

Bemba, 147; cleavages and cooperation, 89; chiefs’ sons, 90, 95; conflict over succession, 99, 103 f; civil war, 104; fission and fusion, 104; laws of succession, 82-3, 89, 101; political structure, 87; rebellions and revolutions, 9; Richards on—succession (1961), 254, fn. 20; status of royal women, 98 f, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• I. An Advance in African Sociology
• II. Succession and Civil War among the Bemba - An Exercise in Anthropological Theory
• III. Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa
• IV. The Magic of Despair
• V. The Village Headman in British Central Africa (with J. C. Mitchell and J. A. Barnes)
• VI. Chief and Native Commissioner in Modern Zululand
• VII. The Reasonable Man in Barotse Law
• VIII. Malinowski's ‘Functional’ Analysis of Social Change
• IX. Malinowski’s Contribution to Social Anthropology
• X. Malinowski—Fieldworker and Theorist
• Index