| Description |
1 online resource |
| Series |
Methodology and history in anthropology ; volume 35 |
|
Methodology and history in anthropology ; v. 35.
|
| Contents |
Part I: Divinatory societies -- The forest within -- Beyond Turner's watershed division -- Part II: Medicinal rule -- A Sukuma chief on medicine -- Endogenizing Vansina's equatorial tradition -- From cult to dynasty: Nilotic and Niger-Congo extensions -- Magic and the sole mode of production -- Tio shrines of the forest master -- Part III: The ceremonial state -- Kuba, Kongo and Buganda 'miracles': reversions in transition -- From divinatory to ceremonial state: narrative proof from Rwanda -- Conclusions: Reversible transitions |
| Summary |
As soon as Europeans set foot on African soil, they looked for the equivalents of their kings - and found them. The resulting misunderstandings last until this day. Based on ethnography-driven regional comparison and a critical re-examination of classic monographs on some forty cultural groups, this volume makes the arresting claim that across equatorial Africa the model of rule has been medicine - and not the colonizer's despotic administrator, the missionary's divine king, or Vansina's big man. In a wide area populated by speakers of Bantu and other languages of the Niger-Congo cluster, both cult and dynastic clan draw on the fertility shrine, rainmaking charm and drum they inherit |
| Analysis |
Kingship, Rulership, African History, East Africa, Central Africa |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 24, 2018) |
| Subject |
Chiefdoms -- Africa, Central
|
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Traditional medicine -- Africa, Central
|
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POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Cultural Policy.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural
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Chiefdoms
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Kings and rulers
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Politics and government
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Traditional medicine
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| SUBJECT |
Africa, Central -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85001587
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Africa, Central -- Kings and rulers
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| Subject |
Central Africa
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| LC no. |
2018023456 |
| ISBN |
9781785339851 |
|
1785339850 |
|
