Showing papers in "Africa in 1975"

On the rationality of conversion (Part I)

Abstract: In the first part of this paper I began by dealing with those of Fisher's objections to the Intellectualist Theory which seemed to me to require short, sharp, and destructive answers. I then went on to consider an objection which seemed to require a longer and more constructive answer. This was the objection that the Theory did not account adequately for variation in the concept and cult of the supreme being in settings uninfluenced by Islam and Christianity. I suggested that, although the evidence was probably insufficient for a decisive verdict, the Theory appeared to give a rather good account of religious dynamics in such settings. A demonstration of its plausibility in this context was, as I pointed out, an important preliminary to my main argument. For it was crucial to the credibility of the thesis that Islam and Christianity were more than anything else catalysts for changes that were ‘in the air’ anyway.

On the rationality of conversion1 (Part I)

Abstract: In a recent article in this journal I sketched the outline of a theory which I suggested might help us to make sense of a large but puzzling accumulation of data relating to the ‘conversion’ of African peoples to Islam and Christianity. The theory evoked a vigorous critical response, also in this journal, from the Islamist Humphrey Fisher. In the present paper I shall reply to Fisher's criticism. In the process, I hope to show that the theory can be used to make sense of a range of data not carefully considered in my previous article.

The Waswahili : The social history of an ethnic group

Abstract: Definitional questions, such as ‘Who are the Waswahili’, posed by Eastman (1971) in this journal, appear to have been of little interest in the past, as many social anthropologists either ignored the problem or assumed that the answers were self-evident. However, those who have confronted this task have shown that simplicity and self-evidence is rarely a characteristic feature of the inquiry. Even classic ethnographic cases of supposed culturally homogeneous and distinct tribal groups are at present being re-examined in light of the renewed interest in this topic (cf. Helm, 1968). Whether or not the Nuer are the Dinka, or vice versa, it has been minimally established that such questions are legitimate and even fruitful in sharpening our analytical approach to subject populations.

The social structure of the Sotho-speaking peoples of Southern Africa

Abstract: In this paper I draw together modern reports on various Sotho-speaking peoples and attempt to indicate the relationship between the political arrangements within each ‘tribe’ and certain aspects of its social system—in particular, patterns of marriage preference and residential alignment.The richest data and some of the most penetrating analysis is to be found in Schapera's writings on the Tswana, and his Tswana material provides my central case-study. The Kgalagari and the Southern Sotho (Basuto) systems are obviously similar in many ways, although I shall point out some interesting variations. In the second part of the paper I attempt to show that the variables abstracted in the first part are related in only slightly different ways in the superficially divergent systems of the Pedi and the Lovedu, and even in some groups whose organization has been fundamentally disrupted by colonial or settler intervention.The Sotho-speaking peoples have intrigued many anthropologists particularly because of their preference for marriage with close kin, usually including all cousins, and sometimes even closer relatives. It was with this in mind that Radcliffe-Brown (1950: 69) remarked that the Tswana ‘are decidedly exceptional in Africa, and might almost be regarded as an anomaly’. This is a problem which is central to my analysis, and in order to clear the ground something must be said about marriage strategies in general. Broadly speaking, there are three options, which I will now outline.

Becoming Hausa: Ethnic Identity Change and Its Implications For the Study of Ethnic Pluralism and Stratification

Abstract: AN interesting problem emerging from recent studies in complex societies is that 1 of the relationship between ethnic identity and the interaction between various ethnic groups in a pluralistic society. In much of the sociological and anthropological literature, writers have treated ethnic groups as isolates and 'givens'. Such categorization dismisses the potential investigation of factors responsible for permanence and change in ethnic groups. This paper will focus on a specific example of ethnic identity change, that of the Gungawa of Yauri Emirate, North-Western State, Nigeria, who have long had a pattern of 'becoming' Hausa. The paper will suggest some ways in which the possibility and mechanism for ethnic identity change functions to structure interethnic relationships and ease tensions resulting from such contact.

Capital formation and management among the muslim hausa traders of kano, nigeria'

Abstract: Despite increasing impact of Western commercial techniques, certain traditional savings strategies, credit relations, and socio-economic networks continue to play a significant role in the day-to-day activities of a Hausa trader; his behaviour is still very much influenced by socio-cultural relationships which stimulate him to an everincreasing desire for economic gain and accumulation of wealth. For the continued growth of his commercial undertaking, a respectable trader frequently seeks the advice and prayers of a malam or Muslim scholar-mystic. In addition, he is expected to be generous towards his kinsmen and others with whom he interacts. Thus, while he is always expected to make a profit and accumulate wealth through his commercial enterprise, he is at the same time socially obliged to dissipate considerable investments and returns in essentially social endeavours. Thus spending too much or too little can very easily ruin him. How then does he work his way out of this dilemma? This is an important question to which my data provide only a preliminary answer. THE SETTING The walled city of Kano with its peripheral townships lies in the heart of a densely populated and intensively cultivated zone of the African tropical savanna. With an estimated population of more than one-quarter million in I962,2 metropolitan Kano is one of Africa's most rapidly expanding rural-urban complexes (McDonnell, 1964). Agriculture, particularly groundnut culture, constitutes the mainstay of the economy I A large part of the material in this essay is drawn from the author's personal experience and observations, as a commercial firm's sales representative and sales manager, participation in the i962 and I964 Census, and travels among Hausa communities in south-western Nigeria, and southern Dahomey, Togo, and Ghana.

Rampedi revisited: another look at the Kgatla ward

Abstract: Opening Paragraph Observation of the way in which local groups develop in a given society must ideally take place over a longer period than most researchers remain active in the field, particularly if changes over time are to be charted adequately. But longer-term studies remain relatively scarce and there are obvious difficulties in the way of them: younger anthropologists are often reluctant to look again at a society that has already been carefully studied, especially if the scholar who carried out the earlier field-work still survives; and changing theoretical perspectives and field-work techniques make it hard to match data from different periods. Bearing in mind the need to overcome these difficulties, we combine in this paper field data collected in the course of expeditions spanning more than forty years in an effort to trace the development of an important Kgatla grouping, the ward. Résumé RETOUR À RAMPEDI, UN NOUVEL APERÇU SUR UN ‘WARD’ KGATLA Cette étude concerne la nature d'un important groupement dans la société Kgatla, le ‘ward’, et son évolution dans le temps. Les observations s'appuient sur un recensement et une enquête généalogique portant sur un seul et unique ward Kgatla, réalisés une première fois par Schapera en 1934 et répétés par Roberts en 1973. D'après le modèle indigène, le ward groupe les foyers des membres mâles d'un ou plusieurs segments patrilinéaires. L'enquête de Schapera en 1934 a confirmé son caractère fondamentalement agnatique, en montrant que 75 % des foyers de ce ward avaient à leur tête les membres d'un seul segment patrilinéaire. L'étude a également révélé des traits inattendus en ce sens que des femmes sont à la tête de certains foyers et que certains segments minoritaires ont été recrutés d'une manière non prévue dans les comptes rendus idéalisés donnés par les informateurs. L'étude de 1973 montre qu'après 40 ans le ward a gardé son caractère agnatique, 78% des foyers ayant à leur tête des membres du segment majoritaire. La stabilité du groupe est illustrée par l'adhésion générale aux pratiques traditionnelles du mariage, par l'habitude largement répandue des nouveaux foyers à venir s'installer aussi près que possible du site original du ward et par la persistance d'anciennes coûtumes relatives à la transmission par héritage des habitations. Comme changement, on note une augmentation considérable de la proportion d'enfants nés de femmes non mariées du ward. L'étude montre toutefois que ces enfants continuent à être incorporés dans les groupements résidentiels traditionnels sous la garde d'un agnat mâle.

Seasonal hunger among the Ngoni and Ntumba of Central Malawi.

Abstract: The cultural significance of regular hunger periods in tropical Africa however much it may be disputed by anthropologists has for a long time been apparent to less objective observers. It is generally accepted by those concerned in the engagement of migrant labour that at certain regular times of the year the supply is greater than at others: and it is believed that the number of men presenting for engagement is related to the quantity of food available in the villages. This view as will be shown below is an over-simplification. Ogbu (1973) though he relates seasonal hunger among the Poka to labour migration sees the latter as a cause rather than a result of the former. He apparently considers that migration reduces the number of agricultural workers to below an unstipulated critical level above which it might still be possible to produce a sufficiency of food at all seasons provided that animal pests could be controlled and agricultural and agricultural techniques made more efficient. Seasonal hunger among the Ibo of Onicha he blames on shortage of farmland low yield and high storage loss of foodstuffs. At first sight it might appear that the cultural concomitants of the hunger period contrast rather strikingly between the two populations; and yet the recurrent hunger period is recognized by the FAO and other authorities (though Miracle (1961) questions its existence) as being a phenomenon widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and one which might in consequence be expected to result from similar or related causes in most of the situations in which it occurs. (excerpt)

De la forme culturelle au vecu des troubles psychiques en Afrique

Abstract: Une des caracteristiques fondamentales de la vaste remise en cause que connaissent les valeurs de la culture occidentale est sans contredit le fait qu'elle a depasse une reflexion sur elle-meme et qu'elle va puiser ses elements de renouvellement dans les autres cultures. C'est dans ce cadre que la medecine occidentale, confrontee a d'autres traditions medicales, s'interroge sur ses postulats fondamentaux et sur leur valeur universelle. Cette interrogation est particulierement aigue dans le domaine de la psychiatrie: contestee violemment par ceux-la meme qui la pratiquent, elle est a la recherche de nouvelles coordonnees et de nouveaux modes de therapie qui lui donnent prise sur un objet qu'elle a de plus en plus de peine a definir. Au sein de ces tâtonnements naissent une serie de tentatives nouvelles de traitement dont certains pensent trouver un correspondant dans d'autres formes de psychiatrie, deja enracinees dans toute une tradition. Ainsi, differents cliniciens sentent actuellement la necessite de se laisser interpeler par la facon dont les societes africaines apprehendent et organisent le domaine des maladies mentales et de leur traitement.

Le système des forces nkisi chez les Kongo d'après le troisième volume de K. Laman1

Abstract: Le troisieme volume des notes de K. Laman edite par S. Lagercrantz en 1962 etudie la vie religieuse chez les Kongo. Une grande partie des 258 pages traite des nkisi, ces forces non humaines capturees par les hommes qui les incorporent a un support materiel pour les mettre a leur service. Souvent aussi, prenant l'initiative du contact, les nkisi offrent leurs pouvoirs a certaines personnes de leur choix. A partir des 119 nkisi mentionnes ou decrits par K. Laman est-il possible de construire un systeme explicatif dans lequel ils obeissent a une certaine logique, sont actifs dans un domaine particulier, sont justifies par des correspondances avec certaines categories du monde, bref, sont relies a un systeme de pensee coherent et capable de legitimer leur action? Laman lui-meme nous y invite puisqu'il declare ‘minkisi belong to three classes: land, water and sky minkisi, according as their nkisi-fotraing medicines derive from these respective spheres’ (p. 71).

Song and spirit: the use of songs in the management of ritual contexts

Abstract: The Apostolic Church of John Maranke (Vapostori or Bapostolo), an indigenous Christian church founded in Umtali, Rhodesia, now has congregations across Central Africa. For the Church's central ritual event, the Sabbath kerek, and other occasions of worship, singing constitutes the core of ritual practice and is used to invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit. These songs combine traditional Bantu rhythmic patterns with a unique Apostolic form. Often drawn from biblical themes, the songs are composed by members as spiritually inspired pieces.

Ambiguous animals: two theriomorphic metaphors in kaguru folklore

Abstract: HIS paper deals with certain metaphorical uses of animals in the folklore of the Kaguru, a Bantu language speaking people of east-central Tanzania, East Africa. I have published elsewhere on Kaguru social structure (Beidelman, I97ib) and discuss this here only as it bears directly on the problems at hand. I have published many Kaguru folk-tales as well as various legends, riddles, and other texts (cf. bibliographies, Beidelman, I967a, 1969, 1974c); it is difficult to publish textual material so that much of my data is still unavailable. In this paper I use published and unpublished texts. During field-work with both the Kaguru and the neighbouring Ngulu I was told that the dung of hyenas and hares was used as medicine to stanch the flow of blood from wounds, especially at male circumcision. When I sought an explanation, I was told that hyenas and hares had traits in common. My informants suggested that both had certain characteristics of cleverness or trickiness, although informants were quick to add that unlike hares, hyenas were foolish. At that time I saw no further significance in this line of questioning so I made no more inquiries. In this paper I return to the problem which I now recognize as one of some importance in Kaguru thought. I am here not directly concerned with the medicinal manipulation of the attributes of these two liminal animals; rather, I am concerned with insights about values and social relations which may be gained by examining attributes metaphorically assigned to these animals as they figure in Kaguru folklore. Folk texts of all kinds are invaluable aids for gaining insights into subtle nuances of a people's collective ideation about the world and its society; however, I do not believe that such texts, in and of themselves, provide any initial bases for understanding the norms and ideological models of a society. Such texts provide the kind of detailed examples from which we can see new dimensions or implications in already generally understood rules or forms. We cannot deduce broad rules or forms from texts but only from social action and the responses from questioned informants; but knowing such principles and forms we can consider how these work in varied situations. A folk-tale exists on a different level of reality from actual social behaviour or the analytical models constructed by social anthropologists in order to understand that behaviour. None the less, we may ask informants why they react as they do to certain tales, and we may note that certain themes or problems recur again and again in the folklore of a particular people. Some folk-tales seem to pose extreme, hypothetical situations which elucidate those problems toward which the people themselves feel concern. This paper is organized in the following manner: I present the complete text of the main tale discussed and brief resumes of several others; then, referring to these and other texts I discuss what appear to be the significances of the metaphorical uses of animal characters and actions, suggesting how these relate to some of the basic

The outsider and the insider in Tigania Meru

Abstract: The point of departure for this paper is Rodney Needham's article, ‘The left Hand of the Mugwe: an analytical Note on the Structure of Meru-symbolism’ (Needham, 1960: 20–33). I will not try here to give further evidence for the system of dual classification which he presents in that article in order to prove or disprove it, but will dwell on his suggestion that it might be possible to draw conclusions about the origin of the Meru of Kenya by examining their symbolic structure (ibid: 27). My argument will lead not so much to conclusions about the origin of the Meru, but to conclusions concerning the ‘making’ of a society, particularly that of Tigania, a subtribe of the Meru people. My conclusions are based on a discussion of the theoretical and historical implications of the allocation of distinctive rights and duties to different divisions within Tigania.

What Shall We Do with the Drunken King

Abstract: VWVESTERN scientific culture finds itself in a singular position with respect to the magico-religious system embodied in medieval culture from which, after strenuous resistence from the contemporary ecclesiastical authorities, it originally broke free. That is to say, it has still not succeeded in forming a theory concerning that very class of phenomena with which it was sometimes obliged violently to struggle in order to constitute itself as an autonomous discipline. And we, despite the proliferation of ethnographic and historical studies of extremely high quality, are hardly more advanced than in I902, when Marcel Mauss and Henri Hubert (I950: 138) wrote: 'Until now the history of religions has relied on a rag-bag of vague ideas ... the science of religions does not yet possess a scientific nomenclature'. Half a century later, Levi-Strauss was indeed to note the progressive disaffection of anthropology with the systematic study of religious phenomena. It is true that in England Frazer's great breakthrough gave impetus to the study of comparative mythology, but that trend was abruptly to be interrupted by the triumph of Functionalist doctrine. Now, however, there does at last seem to be a revival of interest both in France and in England. The reawakening concern with religious anthropology is evidenced in Great Britain by the publication of a number of important studies which attach due importance to symbolic systems, even if all attempt, more or less successfully, to preserve a link with the social order. There seems to me here imperceptibly to be a return to the position of the great master of British anthropology Evans-Pritchard, to whose memory I here pay homage. In the declaration with which he prefaced Nuer Religion (1950: viii) this author maintained that religion was a phenomenon sui generis, whatever relation it might sustain with other aspects of the total culture. No doubt in opposition to Evans-Pritchard, however, I would maintain that this phenomenon has no transcendental privilege: it is simply a particular language, a system of communication with a phantom universe, the imaginary. My intention here is to try to demonstrate how myth and ritual, the two poles of this symbolic system, are linked in the form of an autonomous dialectic, something much more than a simple concern to document or validate the social order. I should like to refer to my work Le Roi ivre (I972), whose central theme is the cycle of myths concerning the founding of the State in Central Africa. I think that ethno-historians, particularly Jan Vansina, have too readily believed themselves able to interpret the legendary chronicle of the Luba kingdom as a historical text, portraying the arrival of an invading people endowed with what is presented in the legend as a superior civilization. The function of this crucial text is thus said simply to be the legitimation of the sacred power of a new dynasty. It is a curious fact that no field-worker, not even Father Tempels, even though he claimed (albeit dubiously) to have constructed a Bantu philosophy from Luba belief, has noted that all the mythical thought of the Luba is condensed in this one narrative. We will therefore outline some of its implications.

New Coalitions and Traditional Chieftainship in Northern Zambia: The Politics of Local Government in Uyombe

Abstract: The imposition of British colonial rule brought rural societies in Zambia to the crossroads of traditional and bureaucratic administration Indigenous forms of government mediated central government institutions and regulated administrative changes The majority of rural Africans were governed by composite structures They were under a bureaucratic system but not part of it The colonial form of local government, the Native Administration, was not a bureaucracy, though it may be considered a formal organization, in that ‘collective efforts were explicitly organized for specific ends’ (Blau and Scott, 1962: 223) Under colonial rule the principal ends were to maintain law and order and to collect taxes from the African majority The indigenous political systems were left largely intact, and thus, politics was an intimate part of local government This paper looks at one of these local systems of government and deals with its development and transformation through a number of phases, focusing primarily on the transitional period at the end of colonial rule (the late 1950s and the early 1960s) and the beginning of Zambian independence and on the persistence of traditional chieftainship as the basis of local government through the process of political change

Interethnic contacts in Nigerian cities

Abstract: Nigeria is widely known as the African state where interethnic conflicts led to civil war. A great deal has been written to explain the ‘crisis’, as Nigerians prefer to call it, but there has been little study of the less newsworthy peace—the fact that large numbers of Nigerians in mixed communities get on fairly well together and have done so over a long period of time. In the Nigerian situation, a case can be made that intercommunal conflicts are really about economic and political power; ethnicity is only used to categorize people met in impersonal situations, or not met at all. Since the real game is power, it can also be shown that conflict is stronger at the top than at the bottom of the social system; the elites have more to gain than the masses by forwarding their ethnic group in relation to others. Of course, the elites have, on occasion, convinced the masses that benefits would be shared by all. Ethnic violence would not have been so well supported if this were not the case. The ordinary people have participated in riots, supported a civil war (on both sides), and most can be shown to harbour some prejudice toward members of other groups. But large numbers of them who migrate to the towns live peacefully with members of other groups, often find friends among them and, sometimes, wives or husbands.

History of Education in Nigeria. By A. Babs Fafunwa. London: Allen & Unwin, 1974 Pp. 264. £1.80.

Abstract: Those familiar with Van den Berghe's previous work will not be surprised to hear that he once again emphasizes the relevance of conflict theory for understanding structure and process in the (University) community under analysis. Ilosho University is 'held together by criss-crossing lines of cleavage . . . conflict divides, to be sure, but it also unites, and if the alignments keep shifting depending on a variety of circumstances . . . the integrity of the whole is not threatened'. Shifting lines of cleavage prevent polarization, and moreover the vast majority of those involved in the University have a strong common interest in its survival. As a sociologist with an interest in the study of higher educational institutions, this reviewer would have liked to see Van den Berghe pay some attention to previous studies of universities and the general theoretical literature in this area. True, he refers to Ashby's important work but he ignores almost all others. Those with a concern for comparison, even within the African continent, are therefore left to do a great deal for themselves. None the less this is an interesting study in its own right. R. G. JOBLING

The Religious Significance of Women's Scarification among the Tiv

Abstract: An elaborate and exceedingly beautiful pattern of scarification is found on the stomachs of Tiv women (see Figs. 1–8). These scars are applied around the time of puberty, and the same basic pattern is placed on the stomach of each girl. Occasionally these scars are referred to as ‘the circumcision of women’, but for the most part they are said to be meaningless, having only an aesthetic significance. Such statements need not necessarily be accepted at face value, though, as deeper meanings may be forgotten, deliberately concealed, or so commonly known as to be thought unworthy of mention. It is the purpose of this paper, written by a historian of religions, rather than an anthropologist or Africanist, to explore the possibility that these patterns carry some greater importance than is commonly recognized.

Migration in Central Sierra Leone: The Temne Chiefdom of Kolifa Mayoso

Abstract: In this study I shall utilize data from one Temne chiefdom Kolifa Mayoso to illustrate patterns of migration in central Sierra Leone. Of primary concern are the extent of migration in terms of in-migrants and out-migrants and for the latter the relative importance of various destinations both rural and urban the reasons for migration with special emphasis on patterns of out- marriage and finally the importance of migration in terms of the adjustments made by in-migrants and by residents who encounter new objects attitudes and ideas while incorporating strangers into village life. The emphasis is on rural- rural migration but this is not the exclusive concern. (excerpt)

The case of Jason Gor and fourteen others: a luo succession dispute in historical perspective

Abstract: In June 1931, Daniel Odindo, chief of Asembo, resigned after seventeen years in office. Asembo was one of over twenty locations or chiefdoms through which the Luo were ruled by the colonial administration of Kenya; its population was no more than 20,000; it was over thirty miles from the Central Nyanza district headquarters at Kisumu; there was no mission station in the location. It possessed several bush schools, some small trading centres, a few acres of cotton, and a fishing harbour on Lake Victoria. Asembo was a backwater. But there were many parties to the dispute over the succession to Odindo. One of these was Archdeacon Owen, the local head of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) who lived at Maseno, thirty-five miles away in the Maragoli Hills which overlook Kisumu. Owen was a churchman who saw his vocation in bringing political and social as much as spiritual welfare, and was deeply conscious of the missionary's dependence upon the confidence of his African flock. His white supporters in his many political campaigns were more often to be found in England than in Kenya. One of these was Norman Leys, now retired from the Colonial medical service, the first well-informed critic of the Kenya situation and with access to the Labour Party. Leys thought that the Asembo case—then being pursued through the Colony's courts—might ‘prove to be the turning point in Kenya history and [might] become one of the famous trials of the world’. It was ‘perfectly terrific’. He believed he ‘could make a damned good book out of it’ but was thankful that Owen did not want him to take up the issue in England. ‘As well might an unknown medical practitioner in some French village have tried to get his country to undo the wrong done Dreyfus.’ But there was perhaps some hope that the Home Committee of the CMS might come to Owen's aid, for ‘the wizard-chief [Odindo's appointed successor] is obviously out to persecute the church’.

Power and privilege at an African University. By Pierre L. Van den Berghe. London: Routledge, 1973. Pp. x+278, bibl. (Int. Lib. Anthrop.) £4.50.

Abstract: Morocco, and as such of very great value and interest, all the more so as this is a very inadequately explored aspect of Moroccan life. Of outstanding value for instance is the account of the organizational differences between the villages around the rural shrines, the lodges of the old town of Meknes, and the shanty-town teams of professional dancerstherapists, and the relationship between these various groups. This is the very stuff of Moroccan folk life, and this study is certainly an important contribution to our knowledge of it. ERNEST GELLNER

Government and Politics in the Akuapem State 1730–1850 . By K. A. Kwamena-Poh. London: Longman, 1973 (Legon History Series). Pp. xiii+177, bibl., maps. £3.

Abstract: THIS is a first-rate contribution to the study of an area that has already been richly documented; full details are given in the reviewer's Akrvapim Handbook. It is another worthy example of what is now a well-established phenomenon of contemporary Ghanaian scholars producing excellent accounts of their own people. The Akuapem State today comprises some 70,000 people, one-quarter of whom are descendants of the original Guan settlers. Akuapem has since the seventeenth century been important because of its location (in Southern Ghana, on an important trade route) and because of its wealth from palm-oil (c. 1830) and cocoa (c. 1890). The author's aim is 'to look at . . . the political system . . . and how this was influenced by internal and external forces' (p. ix). He combines a thorough examination of documentary sources (both contemporary records, including Danish archives, and recent publications) with oral traditions, many of which he collected himself: in using the latter, he is aware of the distorting influence of nineteenth-century historiography, as first pointed out by Ivor Wilks. After a solid introduction on \"The Land and its People', the author deals chronologically with Akuapem history, starting with the period of Akwamu rule, from the mid seventeenth century to 1730. Akwamu severity—they even sold their subjects as slaves—led eventually to the uniting of Guan and dissident Akyem settlers in the successful revolt of 1730, and the formation of an Akuapem state. This was not, however, independent, as for nearly a century it was subject to the 'burdensome and exacting demands' (p. 90) of Asante officials: prototypical district commissioners were stationed at key points to collect tolls, recruit levies, and keep revolt down. Meanwhile the influence of the European powers was increasing, especially after the Asante defeat by the British in 1826. The Danish claimed a vague control until 1850 when the British bought the Danish 'Possessions', including Akuapem, for £10,000. The final chapter is a good account, drawing heavily on the standard work of Noel Smith, of the missionary factor. Throughout its history, Akuapem has been a state divided by ethnicity and language, by descent rules (the Guan are patrilineal) and rituals: yet the strong fissionary tendencies have always been contained, and it is this balance that makes the detailed history so interesting, as various factions successfully manipulate their rulers. Inevitably the author presents new interpretations. Examples include his contention that Akan type stools existed long before 1730 and were of Kamana rather than Akyem origin (p. 41, and revised stool list pp. 156-8); also he insists that the Akuapem people systematically denied trade access to the Asante (pp. 79-80) despite the attendant dangers. He summarizes opposing views, and succinctly outlines his reasons (and sources) for disagreement; for example, at times he uses Ivor Wilks's materials and methods in presenting new views, while fully acknowledging his debt to him. The author followed his stated aims, in emphasizing the political system, and writing comparatively little on social and economic institutions. One appendix (pp. 130-6) offers some tantalizing glimpses, but the documentary sources have by no means been exhausted: the Basel Mission records are virtually untouched—and obviously the materials exist for a full study of this area. Perhaps another Ghanaian scholar will attempt this much-needed social history of Akuapem to supplement the work of Mr. Kwamena-Poh and others.