ANTH326 Peoples and Cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa

Meeting 6, October 15, 2007

Business

• Project Plan• Office Hours• Forums• Course Structure

Shanklin Themes

Rethinking Africa

• Main theme– Month-long ”semester core”– More readings– Reassess research

• Some overlap/parallels– E.g. Appiah/Diop– Perspectives on Africa

• May read in advance

European Eyes on Africa

• Colonialism• Romanticism– Otherness– Projection– Dismissed history– Dismissed diversity

• Christian/Capitalism/Industrialism• “Modernity”

Readings

• Keim on preconceptions• Appiah on Afrocentrism• Owusu on ethnography• Diop on political movement• Southall on “Tribe”• Ranger on tradition• Comaroffs on colonial conceptions• Rodney on economy

Themes in Kinship

• Marriage• Descent (lineages, clans)• Terminology

Marriage

• Difference with mating (or love)• Affinal relationships• Residence• Incest Taboo

Choice Spouse(s)

• Never free• Preferential marriage• Arranged marriage• Exogamy• Endogamy• Polygamy

Descent

• Defining Consanguinity• Recognise ancestry• Unlilateral– Matrilineal– Patrilineal

• Corporate Ownership• Cultural Stability• Segmentary lineage system (clans)

Kinship in Cultural Anthropology

• Classic anthropology• Universal but particular– Incest Taboo

• Colonial past• Kinship models• Cross-cultural comparisons• Decrease in significance

Beyond Kinship

• Defining social groups– Support systems– Solidarity– Communitas

• Ethnicity as super-kinship• Kindreds (selected kins)• “Sodalities”• Associations

Age Sets and Age Grades

• Age Set as Cohort– “Oldboy”– «Promotionneur»

• Age Grades as Steps– Rites of passage (van Gennep)

• Separate genders

Secret societies

• Initiation societies• Muslim brotherhoods (sufism)– Tijaniyya

• Freemasons

Voluntary Associations

• Social networks• Urban life• Local• "Ethnic“• Cosmopolitan networks• Political parties

Westernization

• Cultural Contacts• Cultural change– Coerced or voluntary

• Western-like but typically African– Networks– Manage change

• Other partners

Education

• School types (Koranic, Missionary, National)– Networks

• Formal education• “Western-style”• Obsession with literacy– Power of orality

• Gender• Generation gap

Shanklin Notes

• Group decision• Power of community• Complementary Kinship• Family as “African solution”• Out of Africa• Slave trade• Davidson (community, weapons, movement)

Shanklin Notes 2

• Polygamy (polyandry, polygyny)• Complementary filiation• Dual-sex systems• Matrilineal puzzle• Classless society• Maintained significance of kinship?• Chabal/Daloz on

nepotism/cronyism/corruption

Shanklin Notes 3

• Westernization• Globalization• Labour migration• Political systems• Tyranny of choice• Romantic love• Nuclear family