The Nyakyusa of south-western Tanzania have received very substantial ethnographic coverage. Nonetheless there remain certain gaps in our knowledge of this society. The field-work by Dr. Godfrey Wilson and Professor Monica Wilson was done largely in the mid 1930s before structural-functional analysis had achieved its present refinement and was evidently influenced by Malinowski who was not himself known for a concern in sociological analysis per se. In these studies of the Nyakyusa, values, beliefs, and ritual were a main object of attention; they present Nyakyusa society as though it were a direct result of the Nyakyusa value system, although the actual workings of the society have been left rather obscure. It is presented as coherent, values and social organization reinforcing each other at every point. But internal evidence contradicts this picture, and on a priori grounds it may also be seen that there were several structural pressures towards incoherence, or rather, conflict between the actual development of social organization through time and those presumably timeless values reputed to maintain it.

L'homme ne peut se réaliser de manière humaine, dans un milieu naturel donné, s'il ne le rationalise d'une façon ou d'une autre. De plus, sa vie en société exige que cette rationalisation, même si elle émane d'un individu céateur, dépasse le cadre d'une conventionnalité purement individuelle—notion à peine concevable—et s'impose, dans la mesure où elle lui convient—c'est là l'origine du mot conventionnel—au milieu social.

This paper discusses the intertwining of the obligations among close friends and kin and the firms of market sellers in Monrovia, Liberia. The literature on entrepreneurship in Africa in many respects has been a debate on the relation between kinship obligations and the relative success of entrepreneurs. Based on data gathered during the early 1950s (e.g. Bauer, 1963: 7–8; Dorjahn, 1962), a consensus of sorts was reached by the early 1960s (e.g. Hunter, 1962: 140) holding that kinship obligations were either drains on the capital of entrepreneurs or hindered capital accumulation. At worst, such obligations were regarded as the primary cause of business failure among African entrepreneurs. At best, they were considered to be the main reason for the lack of growth in firms run by African entrepreneurs. Data gathered since the mid 1960s, however, have run counter to these earlier assessments. Rather than suggesting that kinship obligations were threats to entrepreneurs, these studies (e.g. Isaac, 1969,1971; Jones, 1969; Nafziger, 1969) made the points that such obligations had little to do with business failure, and, especially in the early stages of growth (cf. Benedict, 1968), were often critical to the success achieved by an entrepreneur. In making these points, however, relatively little attention has been paid to explaining why kinship and equivalent obligations are, on balance, beneficial for the entrepreneurs investigated. In over-all agreement with these recent studies, the data from Monrovia illustrate procedures through which entrepreneurs achieve the balance between demands and assistance determining the role—beneficial or detrimental—kinship and equivalent obligations play in their businesses.

The Mbeere live in the area east of Mount Kenya and south-west of the Tana River. Numbering just under 50,000 they are ethnographically much less well known than their related neighbours the Kikuyu, Embu, Meru, and Kamba. In this paper we first outline the social organization, then the system of land rights, continuing to describe the government's programme of land reform, concluding by assessing the probable consequences of changes in land tenure.

Africa is notable for the extent to which women participate in cultivation. An examination of the contribution of men and women by means of ‘The Ethnographic Atlas (Ethnology, 1967) shows that women play the major part in cultivation in 45 per cent of societies in Africa as a whole, and in 53 per cent of sub-Saharan societies. We are concerned here with the contribution women make to cultivation (in pastoral as well as purely farming economies) and not to its over-all control, which is largely in the hands of men.

The recent appearance of a monograph by a social anthropologist, Peter Lloyd, on The Political Development of Yoruba Kingdoms in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries is likely to arouse considerable interest among historians of Africa, whose appetites have been whetted by adumbrations of his interpretation in some of his earlier publications. Lloyd traces the political development of the kingdom of Oyo through its period of imperial expansion in the eighteenth century until its collapse in the 1830s, and of five Yoruba states in the nineteenth century—Ibadan, Ado Ekiti, Abeokuta, Iwo, and Ilorin. He seeks to apply to the history of these states a model of the process whereby ‘tribal kingdoms’ develop into ‘highly centralised monarchies’. A ‘tribal kingdom’ is defined as one in which ‘political power…rests with a council of chiefs, each of which is selected by and from among members of a descent group—[and] the king is seen more as an arbiter between the chiefs than as an autocrat’. In a centralized monarchy, on the other hand, power rests with the king, the senior chiefs are appointed by the king, and a concept of ‘citizenship’ develops to replace descent-group loyalties. The Yoruba states discussed in this monograph did not, in fact, develop in this way, and Lloyd's theme is their failure to achieve centralization. The analysis is applied principally to Oyo. Of the nineteenth-century states discussed, relatively little is said of Iwo and Ado Ekiti, while Ibadan, Abeokuta, and Ilorin did not start out as ‘tribal kingdoms’ but as war-camps without kings. Moreover, it is suggested that the failure of Oyo to achieve centralization provided precedents for decentralization which influenced the development of its successors in the nineteenth century.

In the essay which follows an attempt will be made to answer and elaborate on some of the points raised by Kopytoff in his article ‘Ancestors as Elders in Africa’ (Africa, xli, 2 April 1971, pp. 129–42), an article which will, no doubt, stimulate much argument and discussion. To do this I shall utilize both published sources and material collected in Uluguru in Eastern Tanzania.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the educational needs of one small community in Kenya in terms of its changing socio-economic patterns, and to show how attitudes towards the school system have their roots within this setting. The data are drawn from a nineteen-month study in South Maragoli Location of Kakamega District, Western Province. As part of a larger study concerning the effects of labour migration upon agricultural enterprise, a tracer project was conducted on 139 Standard VII leavers from three primary schools, situated within a one-mile radius, to learn the leaver's employment expectations, his family background, the network connections by which he enters into the labour market, and finally the way in which the community interprets and manipulates the school system to suit its particular needs. The statistical data presented have so far emerged from the school study and from a larger sub-location sample of 159 households. While several questionnaires, intended as cross-checks were administered to students and parents, the qualitative material results from an intensive study utilizing anthropological field techniques in the schools' constituent villages.

In a predominantly agricultural society, the family unit has remained a fundamental element underlying economic organi2ation among the Hausa. There is, however, surprisingly little reference in the literature to the organization of this unit since it was described by Greenberg (1946; 1947) for pagan Hausa, and by Smith (1955) for Moslems. This paper discusses those aspects of the family structure which are directly related to the organization of rural production. In particular it is concerned with the family farming unit which may be defined as those members of a kinship group who combine their farming operations under a common leadership and organization, to form the basis for a common unit of domestic economy.

Although classification of farming systems has been an important theme in the fields of agricultural geography and agricultural economics, there appear to have been no agreed criteria upon which a typology should be made (Grigg, 1969). The problem seems quite intractable as far as most of the developing countries of the tropics are concerned, because lack of statistical data on agriculture has made it impossible for the quantifiable criteria used by agricultural geographers in the advanced countries to be applied. It is therefore not surprising that ‘the notion that shifting cultivation is simple and varies little from area to area and continent to continent’ runs through much of the literature on tropical agriculture. This oversimplified picture of traditional agriculture in the tropics was drawn by earlier writers (Gourou, 1965) who established the framework for a regional differentiation of agriculture. It disregards the changes which have been taking place as a result of increased population pressure on available land, the introduction of cash crops, and the impact of agricultural innovations.

The fascinating discussions of Nyoro symbolism which were contributed to Africa a few years ago by Rodney Needham (1967) and John Beattie (1968) included contrasting explanations of the myth which deals with the origin of the recently reigning Bito dynasty. I return now to this tale, believing it to be so fecund that even when two such scholars have done with it there still remain some footnotes to be added.

This paper had its genesis in the recent thoughtful and stimulating article by Robin Horton, on African conversion; the core of his argument is summarized below. Horton's evidence is chiefly drawn from Christian African experience, though he seeks to generalize from it for both Islam and Christianity. My specific purpose here is to look more closely at the phenomenon of Muslim conversion, and to see what light this may throw on Horton's argument. In particular, he has, I think, over-estimated the survival, admittedly in considerably developed forms, of original African elements of religion; and more important, has under-estimated the willingness and ability of Africans to make even rigorous Islam and Christianity their own. My other, general, purpose is to suggest that such Muslim/Christian comparisons may considerably enlarge our perspectives upon black Africa. The comparative approach is extended further, I hope not rashly, with brief considerations of conversion in the ancient world, and of the effects of literacy.

In 1961 Marvin Miracle attempted to demonstrate that reports of ‘seasonal hunger’ in tropical Africa were to be discounted and that in fact regular ‘hunger periods’ did not occur. He based his argument on a definition of seasonal hunger which took into account only the calories people consumed. By his definition, ‘seasonal hunger’ can exist only if people consume fewer calories than they need in certain months of each year even though their total calorie intake over the year is adequate (Miracle, 1961: 277–88). He denied that there was sufficient evidence of any such shortfall to justify the F.A.O. statement (1958) that ‘pre-harvest food shortage is still a problem in many of the drier parts (of tropical Africa)’.

This paper is concerned with a description of the religious beliefs of the Tiv with regard to kuraiyol. Kuraiyol, literally translated, means ‘body protectors’. The belief in kuraiyol is closely related to the major religious belief system termed akombo a soron, or propitiation of fetishes. A good deal has been written about akombo by students of the Tiv but very little has been written about kuraiyol. It is difficult to determine when kuraiyol became an important aspect of Tiv religious practices. Dr. Paul Bohannan has recently mentioned in written correspondence to this writer that as early as 1949 kuraiyol had ‘gained a tremendous popularity’. From personal observation during the period from 1955 to 1967 an increasing emphasis appeared to be placed on kuraiyol, especially during periods of war and violence which so greatly affected Tivland. Many Tiv believed kuraiyol to be effective charms against evil forces, including the mbatsav (night witches), the adzov (wood spirits, goblins), and other malevolent spirits. In addition, kuraiyol was believed to impart to the owner certain magical powers which enhanced the wearer's ability to fight, make love, gain material possessions, and the like.