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From Kin to Great House: Inequality and Communalism at Iron Age Kirikongo, Burkina Faso

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Stephen A. Dueppen
Stephen A. Dueppen*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 308 Condon Hall, 1218University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Archaeological models of increasing sociopolitical complexity have over-privileged processes of centralization in comparison to decentralization. In western Burkina Faso, ethnologists have long been intrigued by several “village societies,” with complex communities characterized by heterogeneous populations (in kin and ethnicity), endogamous socioeconomic specialist groups, diverse ritual systems, and strong village autonomy. Rather than structured by a hierarchical sociopolitical organization, these multifaceted communities are defined by village communalism and an intricate horizontal organization. This paper presents the developmental trajectory of a community ancestral to a modern “village society,” through an exploration of the dynamic political strategies of multifamily houses at the Iron Age archaeological site of Kirikongo, located in Burkina Faso (ca. A.D. 100–1700). Extensions of power by Kirikongo’s founding house in the 1st millennium A.D. led gradually to increasing inequalities and a subversion of common descent. However, in the early 2nd millennium A.D. these developments were rejected through an egalitarian revolution that transformed the identity of the house, leading to an increased importance of the village community and civic institutions. In addition to exclusionary power strategies, I stress the transformative role of egalitarian behaviors in shaping the nature of power and leadership, particularly when derived from collective action by the community.

Jusqu’à ce jour, les modèles archéologiques théorisant la croissance de la complexité socio-politique ont indûment privilégié les processus de centralisation sur ceux de la décentralisation. Au Burkina Faso, les éthnologues s ’intéressent depuis longtemps à plusieurs ‘sociétés villageoises,’ des communautés complexes caractérisées par des populations hétérogènes (du point de vue et de la parenté et de l’éthnie), par des groupements endogames organisés selon des spécialisations socio-économiques, par des systèmes rituels divers, et par une autonomie forte au niveau du village. Plutôt que par une organisation socio-politique et hiérarchique, ces communautés hétéroclites se distinguent par le communalisme et une organisation horizontale complexe. Cette étude dessine le trajectoire de dévéloppement d’une communauté précurseur d’une ‘société villageoise’ moderne, en explorant les stratégies politiques des maisons pluri-familiales du site archéologique de Kirikongo, un site de l’ Âge de Fer situé au Burkina Faso (100–1700 ap. J.-C). L’expansion du pouvoir de la maison fondatrice de Kirikingo au cours du premier millénaire menait progressivement vers des inégalités croissantes et la subversion de la lignée commune. Alors, au deuxième millénaire on rejeta ces dévéloppements en une révolution égalitaire qui transforma l’identité de la maison, ainsi révalorisant la communauté du village et les institutions civiques. En plus des stratégies de la monopolisation du pouvoir, j’insiste sur le rôle dynamique des comportements égalitaires qui conditionnent la forme du pouvoir et de la gouvernance, en particulier aux cas où ce pouvoir se base sur l’action collective de la communauté.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 77 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 3 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2012

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