Destiny and the Unconscious in West Africa

Africa ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Horton
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Way

Opening ParagraphMany present-day social anthropologists may find Professor Fortes's most recent study the most significant of all his works on the Tallensi. Its main theme is the way in which these people use religious concepts to order and explain certain key aspects of the individual's passage through the social structure, and operate religious cults to facilitate this passage.

The Concept of ‘Bewitching’ in Lugbara

Africa ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Middleton
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

Opening ParagraphIn this paper I consider some Lugbara notions about witches, ghosts, and other agents who bring sickness to human beings. I do not discuss the relationship of these notions, and the behaviour associated with them, to the social structure. The two aspects, ideological and structural, are intimately connected, but it is possible to discuss them separately: on the one hand, to present the ideology as a system consistent within itself and, on the other, to show the way in which it is part of the total social system. Here I attempt only the former.

The Social Structure of Modern Bamako

Africa ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Meillassoux
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
The North ◽  
The Social ◽  
North Bank ◽  
Niger River ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
The Town

Opening ParagraphAccording to a partial census taken in 1960, Bamako city has about 130,000 inhabitants. Small by Western standards, it is still by far the largest city in Mali. At the time of the French conquest Bamako had only between 800 and 1,000 inhabitants; it was the capital of a Bambara chiefdom, grouping about thirty villages on the north bank of the Niger river, with a total of about 5,000 people. The ruling dynasty was that of the Niaré, who, according to their traditions, came from the Kingi eleven generations ago (between 1640 and 1700). For defence against the neighbours and armed slave-raiders fortifications were built around the town and a permanent army of so-fa (horsemen) was raised. Soon after its foundation Bamako attracted Moslem Moors from Twat who settled as marabouts and merchants under the protection of the Niaré's warriors. Among them, the Twati (later to be called Touré) and the Dravé became, alongside and sometimes in competition with the Niaré, the leading families.

Complexity, Science and the Public

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 113-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Suteanu
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Unexpected Result ◽  
Multiple Relationships ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Measurability Problem ◽  
Rule Out ◽  
The Way

This article addresses complexity by selecting some of its key aspects that share a common feature: the power to change. They seem to change not only the way the world is approached by scientists, but also the way this approach, the resulting perspectives and their multiple relationships, are interpreted. These main aspects are: (1) the challenge of measurability, with an unexpected result that escapes the gravitational field of the measurability problem; (2) the meaning of reproducibility and the redrawn boundaries of scientific inquiry, with implications for the social sciences; (3) the altered expectations concerning prediction, which seem to break with a glorious tradition of unquestioned technological success; and (4) the discovery of all-embracing patterns of events that unavoidably include large events, possibly perceived as ‘crises’, which one may hope to understand and confront, rather than rule out. The resulting geography, with its new landmarks, new relationships among its elements and new means of orientation, is expected to reach the public sooner or later, even if the effect – according to complexity theory itself – cannot be foreseen in detail. All these fibres of change are considered in the context of a fresh meaning of time and of a topology dominated by network concepts.

scholarly journals The Eastern European and Baltic scope of transformation processes

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-37
Author(s):  
Tadeusz Popławski ◽  
Tatiana A. Bogush
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Economic Model ◽  
Main Idea ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
The Social ◽  
Transformation Processes ◽  
The Way

This paper is a way to present the transformation processes, which have been taking place in Eastern Europe and Baltic states since the end of 20th century up to now. It is an attempt to describe the main difficulties, which appear on the way of changes and to find their origins. The main idea is that the process of transformation, which began the same way for all countries, developing and moving through time, acquires its own features and peculiarities, which leads to the formation of a different, dissimilar version of the social structure and economic model.

scholarly journals CREATIVE WORKS OF JOHN WILLIAM CHEEVER IN THE LITERARY-CRITICAL INTERPRETATION OF KORNEY CHUKOVSKY

2020 ◽  
pp. 164-170
Author(s):  
Svetlana N. Morozova ◽  
Dmitriy N. Zhatkin
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
American Writer ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Critical Interpretation ◽  
The Way

The article deals with the comprehension of the features of perception of works of American prose writer John William Cheever (1912-1982) by Korney Chukovsky. The appearance of the works of J. Cheever in Russian language was accompanied by the comments of Soviet researchers who considered him to be an active propagandist of socialist ideas. Literary critical works written by Korney Chukovsky provoked a more thoughtful reading of the works of the American writer by Russian readers. Korney Chukovsky is the author of the preface to the collection of short stories written by J. Cheever in translations of Tat’yana Litvinova entitled «Giant Radio» published in 1962. In the future, this introduction, with amendments and additions, was published as an article of «John Cheever». The American writer’s work perception by Korney Chukovsky of was not unique. He criticised the fi rst collection of short stories by J. Cheever «The Way Some People Live» (1943), for his student imitation of the recognisable style of predecessor writers. Korney Chukovsky believed that the best stories of J. Cheever were collected in the book «The Enormous Radio and other stories» (1953), the central themes of which were the imperfection of the social structure and the causes that caused it social inequality of people, their spiritual devastation. Analysing the stories of J. Cheever, Korney Chukovsky noted a signifi cant detail – despite the seeming impartial attitude towards his heroes in trouble, J. Cheever empathises them, wants to draw public attention to important problems of our time.

Strzelba Sienkiewicza. Wstęp do badań nad praktykami myśliwskimi autora Trylogii

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1 (460)) ◽  
pp. 181-192
Author(s):  
Wacław Forajter
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Way

In the article, Pierre Bourdieu’s “habitus” theory is employed to discuss Henryk Sienkiewicz’s hunting practices. Particular attention is devoted to the way the writer defines the concept of “masculinity” and its relationships with hunting skills. The author also points to the compensatory nature of this type of practices in the context of the nineteenth-century transformations of the social structure, the Polish political situation and the biography of the author of With Fire and Sword.

Intersubjektive Sinnkonstitution und Sozialstruktur Zur Kritik handlungstheoretischer Ansätze der Soziologie / The constitution of meaning by subjects and the social structure On the critique of action-concepts in sociology

1978 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Berger
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Concept Formation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Action Pattern ◽  
Basic Term ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
Mode Of Production ◽  
The Way

AbstractIn contrast to the usual attempts to attach the difference between an action-theoretical sociology and MARX’s theory on divergent themes and interests, this paper is searching for the decisive distinction of both approaches in the way of concept formation. Here the important question is if and where the perception of actors is entering the concepts of sociology. The diverse answer to this question leads to two concepts of social structure : to normatively supported action pattern on the one hand, to a mode of production on the other.Finally, the formation of a sociological basic term, orientated on the idea of modes of production, is shown by the example of the class concept.

The Social Organization of Credit in a West African Cattle Market

Africa ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abner Cohen
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
West African ◽  
The Other ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
African Cattle ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Cattle Market

Opening ParagraphCredit is a vital economic institution without which trade becomes very limited. In the industrial Western societies, where it is highly developed, it operates through formal, standardized arrangements and procedures by which the solvency of the debtor is closely assessed, securities against possible default are provided, and the conditions of the agreement are documented and endorsed by the parties concerned. Ultimately, these arrangements and procedures are upheld by legislated rules and sanctions administered by central, bureaucratized, fairly impartial, efficient, and effective courts and police. In West Africa, on the other hand, where long-distance trade has been fostered by varying ecological circumstances, such organization has not yet evolved, particularly for long-distance trade. Nevertheless extensive systems of credit have been developed.

The Significance of Cattle Exchanges in Lovedu Social Structure

Africa ◽  
1939 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 393-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Krige
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social System ◽  
Focus Attention ◽  
Real Place ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Social Arrangements ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Good Behaviour ◽  
Better Than

Opening ParagraphThe Louedu of the NE. Transvaal are patrilineal and marriage, which is patrilocal, involves (as it does among other S. Bantu tribes) the transfer of munywalo. This,institution has been variously interpreted as the legalization of the marriage, as a guarantee of a wife's status or good behaviour, and in terms of compensation, economic or ritual. But these interpretations are rather like parodies in which the emphasis on the features mentioned is not so much wrong as a caricature. We have, often complacently, projected our own values and motivations as universally valid. Much might be said in favour of such a caricature, if it is infused with the life of a character in Dickens, especially when the purpose has been to ennoble an institution which many regard as degrading. The kindly cartoon is better than the derogatory stereotype. It would, however, be better still if we could accommodate ourselves to a system in which the social arrangements are incommensurable with our own. More specifically, and that is the purpose of this article, we might try to discover the real place of munywalo in the social system. The manner in which we phrase the subject, that is, as the relation of the cattle exchanges to the social structure, is not meant to disguise our approach. It is intended to focus attention on the facts that cattle constitute the essence of munywalo, and that the exchanges of cattle involved are both the basis of important social arrangements and by far the most important use to which cattle are put in the society.

Further considerations of caste in West Africa: The Senufo

Africa ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolores Richter
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
Majority Group ◽  
The Social ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphThe term ‘caste’ has often been applied to Senufo artisan groups. However, an analysis of the social, political and economic relationships of these groups and the farmers amongst whom they live indicates that the characteristics commonly associated with caste systems are often manipulated by the allegedly lower status castes to their benefit, rather than by the majority group of farmers.

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