ANTH326 Peoples and Cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa Meeting 4, October 1, 2007
ANTH326 Peoples and Cultures of Sub-Saharan AfricaMeeting 4, October 1, 2007
Assignments
•Deadlines•Marks•Grades
Past Factoids Stage
•Culture(s)•Mainstream cultural anthropology
▫Expose to approach▫From field research
•Will get more critical/analytical
Discussion
•Limited lecturing•Exchange ideas
▫Reassessing Africa▫Get on same page▫Shared understanding
•Debates ok▫Thoughtful disagreement▫Better discuss them online
Unpacking issues
•Not rehash/summarise•Try to understand content
▫Explain (in own words)▫Implications
•Picking themes
Active Reading(Discussion Prompts)•What struck you?•Critical perspective
▫Author’s approach▫Arguments
•Links with other texts
McCall
•African distinctiveness generalization vs. diversity
•Community (larger than kinship)▫Imagined Communities (Benedict
Anderson)•Individual/group
▫Acribed/achieved status•Group land ownership
Defining Cultural Groups
•“Ethnic groups” («Ethnies»)•“Ethnology” of bounded entities?
▫“Cultural traits”▫Internal logic▫Holism
•Fluid identity
Social Structure in General
•Sub-groups▫Subcultures?
•May be primary identity•Internal structure
▫Hierarchy (dominance)▫Stratification (social classes)▫Egalitarianism
Egalitarianism
•Non-State Societies•Small groups•Nomadic groups
▫Pastoralists (herders)▫Foragers (hunter-gatherers)
•Part of broader groups
Status
•Prestige•Authority•Power
▫Political▫Social▫Supernatural
•Wealth
Occupation
•Recognisable (like blue/white collar)•Specialisation•Hierarchy•Identity
Craftspeople
•Occupational▫Griots▫Blacksmiths▫Leatherworkers
•Ambiguous status•Power•Endogamy (marry within)
McCall 2
•Intro, ethnography, place•Civic projects•Assimilation vs. flexibility (cultural
change, acculturation, adaptation)•Efficiency/appropriateness
McCall 3
•Kinship/household/subsistence•Wealth/prestige•Gender and ownership•Matrilineality (sibblings…)•Importance of age
▫Coming of age
Gender
•More next week•Roles•Status•Identity•Power•Matrilineality•Polygyny
Age
•Gerontocracy•Ancestors•Age sets and age grades
▫Initiation societies▫Rites of passage▫“Oldboy”▫Separate genders
Secret societies
•Initiation societies•Muslim brotherhoods (sufism)
▫Tijaniyya•Freemasons
Voluntary Associations
•Social networks•Urban life•Local•"Ethnic“•Cosmopolitan networks•Political parties
Westernization
•Cultural Contacts•Cultural change
▫Coerced or voluntary•Western-like but typically African
▫Networks▫Manage change
•Other partners
Education
• School types (Koranic, Missionary, National)▫ Networks
• Formal education• “Western-style”• Obsession with literacy
▫ Power of orality• Gender• Generation gap
“Afrosphere”
•African-American bloggers▫Could apply same concept to Africa?
•Online representation•Separate realities
▫Segregation?▫Worldviews