Historical evaluation and processes of transformation

At the end of Chapter 2, I mentioned the possibility of using age class systems for historical research, particularly in the case of linear systems of class naming. In practice, despite the attraction of such an approach, the historical depth of age class systems is very limited. Rarely do the chronological indications connected with the lists of age class names provide sufficient bases for a precise historical tie-in. The further back in time we go, the vaguer our information becomes. The very dynamic of age class systems is not well reflected in the simple listing of class names; indeed, the linear series of names can lead to the erroneous impression that a fixed, static structure and functions must correspond to the fixed linearity of names. Only the fact that a class recruits new individuals and groups age mates on the basis of a common structural age differentiates the class from those that precede and follow it. But the temporal context in which the class is found differentiates it from the context of the other classes. Each class, in fact, must confront the situations and problems characteristic of its own time. This entails adapting to different circumstances, implying a structural and functional dynamism that the simple nominal lists fail to reflect. These same events and the stories connected to the classes are passed on to the point that the collective memory allows.