Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:47:11.417Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

African Studies in Czechoslovakia: Achievements and Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Peter Skalník*
Affiliation:
Charles University, Prague

Extract

Scientific research of African societies and cultures in Czechoslovakia has developed only in the last two decades. Nevertheless, to precede the research there was a relatively extensive background shaped by the tradition of travelers whose interest was centered especially on geography, biology, and descriptive and collective ethnography. The most important of these travelers were Dr. Emil Holub (1847-1902), who crossed South Africa as far as the Zambezi River and published several books, most of which are now available in English, about his experiences; Remedius Prutký, a missionary who visited Ethiopia in 1751-1753 and not only described his travels but even compiled a vocabulary of the Amharic language; and Dr. Stecker and Čeněk Paclt, who traveled in the nineteenth century through Ethiopia and South Africa, respectively. In the twentieth century there was a considerable number of Czechoslovak travelers who acquainted their compatriots with the “Dark Continent.”

Before World War II, three professor of Semitology at Charles University, Prague -- R. Dvořák, R. Ru̇žička, and A. Musil -- started to study Ethiopian languages and history. The well-known Austrian scholar of Czech origin, Dr. Pavel Šebesta (Schebesta) became one of the best specialists in the anthropology and ethnography of the Pygmies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliographical References

1. Schebesta, P. Among Congo Pygmies. London, 1935.Google Scholar
Schebesta, P.. Die Bambutj-Pygmäen vom Ituri. Ergebnisse zweier Forschungsreisen zu den zentralafrikanischen Pygmäen. Brussels, Vol. 1, 1938; Vol. 2, Part 1, 1941; Part 2, 1948; Part 3, 1950.Google Scholar
Schebesta, P.. Les Pygmées du Congo Belge. Brussels, 1952.Google Scholar
2. Hrbek, I. (ed.). Děljiny Afriky. Vol. I: 481 pp., Vol. II: 654 pp., plates, maps. Prague: Svoboda, 1966.Google Scholar
3. Hrbek, I.Early Period of Mamadu Lamine's Activities,” in Willis, J. R. (ed.), Studies in the History of Islam in West Africa. London: Frank Cass, 1969.Google Scholar
4. Hrbek, I. Un marabout combattant: Mamadou Lamine. Un soulevement des Soninke. Mémoires de l'IFAN. Dakar, in preparation.Google Scholar
5. K. F., Ru̇žičkaLehnwörter im Swahili,” Archiv Orientální, 21:582603 (1953).Google Scholar
K. F., Ru̇žička. “Infinitive in Swahili,” Archiv Orientální, 24: 57–116, 294333 (1956).Google Scholar
K. F., Ru̇žička. “Locative Formations in Bantu Languages,” Archiv Orientální, 27:208250, 28: 181–219 (1959–1960).Google Scholar
6. Zima, P.Some Remarks on Loanwords in Modern Hausa,” Archiv Orientální, 32: 522528 (1964).Google Scholar
Zima, P.On the Function of Tones in African Languages,” in Travaux linguistiques de Prague. Prague: Academia (1966).Google Scholar
Zima, P.On Syntactic Alternation of Verbal Forms in Hausa,” Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung, XIII: 2 (Berlin, 1967).Google Scholar
Zima, P.Stratifikacija i razhlichnyje tipy jazykovykh kontaktov v zapadnoj Afrika” (Stratification and Various Types of Language Contacts in West Africa), in Jazykovaja situacija stran Azii i Afriki (Language Situation in Countries of Asia and Africa), Moscow: Nauka, 1968.Google Scholar
Zima, P. “A Contribution to the Study of the Dendi Dialect in Northern Dahomey and Ghana, ” in Papers and Studies in African Linguistics. In preparation.Google Scholar
7. Zima, P.Hausa in West Africa : Remarks on Contemporary Role and Functions,” in Fishman, J. A., Ferguson, C. A., and Gupta, Jyotirindra Das (eds. ), Language Problems of the Developing Nations, New York: J. Wiley & Sons, 1968.Google Scholar
8. Kalous, M.A Contribution to the Problem of Akori Beads,” Journal of African History, VII: 1 (1966).Google Scholar
Kalous, M.A Contribution to the Problem of the Hypothetical Connection Between Ife and the Gold Coast before the 15th Century,” Archiv Orientální, 35: 549555 (1967).Google Scholar
Kalous, M.Akori Beads,” Baessler-Archiv, Heft 1 (1968).Google Scholar
Kalous, M.Some Remarks on the Serpent Cult on the Guinean Coast,” Afrika und Uebersee, LI: 3 (1968).Google Scholar
Kalous, M.Some Hypotheses about the Art of Southern Nigeria,” Afrika und Uebersee, LI: 3 (1968).Google Scholar
Kalous, M.Frobenius, Willett and Ife,” Journal of African History, IX: 4 (1968).Google Scholar
9. Marý, Z. “Africana in Czechoslovak Libraries,” Archiv Orientální, in print.Google Scholar
Kalous, M. History of the Witu Sultanate in the Nineteenth Century. In preparation.Google Scholar
10. Hulec, O.Certain Aspects of the World Depression of the ‘Thirties in Southern Africa,” Journal of Modern African Studies, VII: 1 (1969).Google Scholar
11. Klíma, V.Tutuola's Inspiration,” Archiv Orientální, 35: 556562 (1967).Google Scholar
Klíma, V. Modern Nigerian Novel. Prague, in preparation.Google Scholar
12. Pru̇sek, J. (ed.). Slovník spisovatelu̇. Asie a Afrika. 2 vols. Prague: Odeon, 1967.Google Scholar
13. Petráček, K.Der angebliche Aufenthalt von J. J. Římař in Nordostafrika und der Verfasser von Descriptio Aethiopiae, ” Annals of the Náprstek Museum, I (1962).Google Scholar
Petráček, K.Phonetik, Phonologie und Morphonologie der Berti-(Siga) Sprache in Dār-Fūr (Sūdān),” Archiv Orientální, 33: 341366 (1965).Google Scholar
Petráček, K.Dig Morphologie des Berti-(Siga) Sprache in Dār-Fūr (Sūdān),” Archiv Orientální, 34:295319 (1966).Google Scholar
Petráček, K.Phonologische Systeme den zentralsaharischen Sprachen (konsonantische Phoneme),” Archiv Orientální, 35: 2651 (1967).Google Scholar
Kropáček, L.The Ethnic Factors of the Sudanese Mahdia,” Orientalia Pragensia V. Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Prague, 1967.Google Scholar
Petráček, K.Al-Azhar and the Modern World,” Orientalia Pragensia VI. Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Prague, 1969.Google Scholar
Venyš, L. A Survey of the Kenya Elite (with Chaput, M.J.). Syracuse: Syracuse University - PEAS, 1967.Google Scholar
Venyš, L. African Policies of the Socialist World: The Case of East Africa. Syracuse: Syracuse University - PEAS, 1968.Google Scholar
Venyš, L.The Economic Elite,” “The Professional Elite,” “The Church Elite,” in Chaput, M. (ed.), Patterns of Elite Formation and Distribution in Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal and Zambia. Syracuse: Syracuse University - PEAS, 1968.Google Scholar
Venyš, L.Soviet and Chinese Attitudes toward Africa: An Ideological and Political Review,” Orientalia Pragensia VI. Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Prague, 1969.Google Scholar
Skalník, P. A review of Skinner, K. P., The Mossi of the Upper Volta (Stanford, 1964). Archiv Orientální, 34:475478 (1966).Google Scholar
14. Herold, E. Ritualmasken Afrikas aus den Sammlungen des NáprstekMuseums in Prag. Photos by Marco, J.. Prague: Artia, 1967.Google Scholar
15. Holý, L.Local Communities among the Berti,” Annals of the Náprstek Museum, I (1962).Google Scholar
Holý, L. Rozpad rodového zřízení ve východoafrickém Mezijezéri (Disintegration of the Kinship Structure in the Interlacustrine Region). Prague: Academia, 1963.Google Scholar
Holý, L.Perekhod ot rodovych k territorialńym svjazjam u naroda Berti v severnom Darfure” (Transition from Clan Relations to Territorial Ones among the Berti of the Northern Darfur), Sovietskaya Etnografia, No. 3 (1963).Google Scholar
Holý, L.The Role of Local Communities among the Sedentary Population of the Northern Sudan, ” in Problemy Afrykanistyki (in Polish). Warsaw, 1963.Google Scholar
Holý, L.Der Zerfall der Sippengesellschaft in Rwanda,” Abhandlungen und Berichte des Staatlichen Museums für Völkerkunde Dresden, 24 (1965).Google Scholar
Holý, L.Social Consequences of Dia among the Berti,” Africa, XXXVII: 4 (1967).Google Scholar
Holý, L. Afrikanische Plastik. Das Kunstschaffen der Ost- und Südafrikanischen Stämme. Prague: Artia, 1967.Google Scholar
Holý, L.Analysis of Social Stratification” (with Stuchlík, M.), in Social Stratification in Tribal Africa. Prague: Academia, 1968.Google Scholar
Holý, L.Social Stratification in Rwanda, ” in Social Stratification in Tribal Africa. Prague: Academia, 1968.Google Scholar
Holý, L. Kin and Kith among the Berti. Dynamic Equilibrium of the Social Structure of a Sudanese Tribe. Prague: Academia, in preparation.Google Scholar
Skalníková, O.Etnograficheskoe izuchenije peremen v bytu afrikanskogo goroda” (An Ethnographical Research of Changes in the Mode of Life of an African Town), Sovietskaya Etnografia, No. 5 (1963).Google Scholar
Skalníková, O.Ethnographical Research into the Present Changes in the Mode of Life of Urban Population in Africa,” in The Proceedings of the First International Congress of Africanists. London: Longmans, 1964.Google Scholar
Skalníková, O.Social Stratification of the Agni,” in Social Stratification in Tribal Africa. Prague: Academia, 1968.Google Scholar
Svobodová, J.Social Stratification of the Bamileke, ” in Social Stratification in Tribal Africa. Prague: Academia, 1968.Google Scholar
Kandert, J.Social Stratification of the Zande,” in Social Stratification in Tribal Africa. Prague: Academia, 1968.Google Scholar
Stuchlík, M.Social Stratification of the Herero,” in Social Stratification in Tribal Africa. Prague: Academia, 1968.Google Scholar
16. Raczyński, R.Some Problems of the Ethnogenesis of Malagasy,” Przeglad antropologiczny, 153157 (1963).Google Scholar
Raczyński, R.Preconditions for the Origination of Racism from the Sociological Standpoint, ” in Against Racism and Neo-Colonialism. For the Liberation of Southern Africa. Berlin, 1968.Google Scholar
Srucová, B.Demographic and Employment Problems of Ghana,” Institute of Social Studies: Research Papers. The Hague, 1967.Google Scholar
17. Ortová, J.Problèmes de la littérature africaine.” Contribution presentée au Colloque sur les problèmes de périodisation dans l'histoire littéraire, Prague, 29 11 1966. Romanistica Pragensia V. Philologica 4. Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Prague, 1968.Google Scholar
Ortová, J.Social Aspects in Literary Work of Sembene Ousmane” (preliminary title). Black Orpheus, Ibadan, No. 4, 1968.Google Scholar
18. Pawliková, V.Buganda and the Agreement of 1900,” Asian and African Studies, Bratislava, IV (1969).Google Scholar