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Sacrifice and Social Structure among the Kuranko*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Michael Jackson
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Extract

The Kuranko term for sacrifice is sarake (from the Arabic sadaqa). Any gift, offering or material object over which invocations to spirits are made is a sacrifice. Sarake thus includes offerings made to the three major categories of spirit: (1) Ala or Altala (God), (2) Bəmbanu or Fɔl' mɔryonu (‘Ancestors’ and ‘First/original people’ respectively), (3) Njεnnenu (Spirits of the wild or djinn). Sacrifice also includes material objects (medicines and fetishes) which are prayed over.

Résumé

SACRIFICE ET STRUCTURE SOCIALE CHEZ LES KURANKO

On étudie dans cet article la complémentarité de deux principes, celui de ‘descendance’ et celui de ‘lieu’, qui représentent le fondement de l'organisation sociale dans les sociétés d'Afrique Occidentale. Les effets réciproques entre structures théoriques et structures réelles sont examinés. On trouvera aussi une présentation de l'organisation sociale Kuranko (Nord-Est du Sierra Leone). On souligne que la composition multilinéaire et hétérogène des communautés Kuranko rend impossible du point de vue de la descendance toute intégration d'ensemble. Afin d'éclaircir le mode d'identification de la descendance et du lieu tel qu'il se manifeste à divers niveaux de l'organisation sociale Kuranko, on a fait porter l'analyse sur les assembliés sacrifices, la nature des offrandes et les croyances qui se rattachent à la notion de sacrifice. On montre que les exigences créées par différents contextes expliquent les modes d'action et les transformations que L'on a pu observer. On a fait appel à des données provenant d'autres sociétés africaines pour faire ressortir par comparaison des principes généraux qui sont à la base des rapports existant entre croyances et formes du groupe social. On examine aussi la signification ‘sociologique’ des concepts de Dieu, des ancêtres et des esprits de la brousse.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , April 1977 , pp. 123 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1977

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