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Spreading the Risk: The Principle of Laterality among the Chopi*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

David Webster
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Extract

In a recent publication, Eleanor Preston-Whyte (1974: 209) has noted the comparative ‘flexibility’ of the Tsonga and Chopi kinship systems, which allow for a greater degree of ‘individuality’ among these peoples as compared with other southern African Bantu-speaking peoples. This paper examines the place of the systems of marriage, divorce, and succession in the socio-cultural matrix which gives rise to an egocentric rather than sociocentric emphasis which is unusual in southern Africa.

Résumé

REDUIRE LES RISQUES: LE PRINCIPE DE LATERALITE CHEZ LES CHOPI

Les Chopi sont une peuplade patrilinéaire qui occupe une partie de la ceinture côtière du Mozambique méridional. Sur le plan ethnique ils se rattachent aux peuplades Tsonga-Shangaan qui les entourent et avec lesquels ils ont en commun un certain nombre de particularités sociales: ces traits sont decrits dans l'ouvrage bien connu de H. A. Junod: La vie d'une tribu d'Afrique du Sud. Les Chopi sont des agriculteurs pratiquant l'agriculture swidden dans un milieu caractérisé par des sols sablonneux et où la forêt occupe une place très importante, et où il y a en ce moment des terres en abondance.

Le présent article examine l'un des traits les plus frappants de la société Chopi, à savoir l'apparente latéralité du système social. Cette latéralité est attribuée à l'action réciproque et complexe d'un certain nombre de caractéristiques de l'organisation sociale qui comprennent le système de parenté dans lequel les lignées ne jouent pas; le système du mariage qui a pour effet d'étendre très largement les alliances à travers la société; et les modes d'héritage et de succession qui sont collatéraux. Ce sont ces facteurs qui, envisagés au sein d'une écologie difficile, de terres en abondance (et qui sont facilement accessibles) donnent au système social un caractère superficiel qui encourage une individualité peu courante dans les sociétés d'Afrique méridionale.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , April 1977 , pp. 192 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1977

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