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

Africa ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Kuper

IntroductionIn 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.

Author(s):  
Mary Helen McSweeney-Feld ◽  
Suzanne Discenza ◽  
George L. De Feis

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">A s<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">trategic alliance</span> (SA) is a mutually beneficial long-term formal relationship formed between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals or to meet a critical business need while remaining independent organizations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It is a synergistic arrangement whereby two or more organizations agree to cooperate in the carrying out of a business activity where each brings different strengths and capabilities to the arrangement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The social structure of alliances has been considered previously (Gulati 1995, et al.), so instead of discussing the social structure relative to alliance partners, this paper looks at the relationship between the dyad alliance entity and its customer(s).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This newer aspect is particularly important when there are differences in trust and culture to consider (Das &amp; Teng 1998) between alliance partners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Other considerations include authority, governance and structure, conflict, and the make-up of the strategic alliance, its partners, and the customer(s).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"></span></p>


Author(s):  
Molly Andrews

Political narratives examine the ways in which stories, or narratives, are used to investigate the political world. Historically, stories have not been regarded as legitimate sources of data for such explorations. In recent years, however, this has changed, as “the narrative turn” hit the social sciences; still, while disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology were more amenable to this alteration—representing, as it does, not only different methodologies, but also a different epistemological framework—many political scientists continue to resist the idea that political narratives can offer a very particular, and almost unique, perspective on how individuals and groups construct the political world and are constructed by it. One of the most dramatic uses of highly effective political narratives, which blurs the boundaries between the personal and public, is that of Barack Obama, which is used as a central case study in this article.


Africa ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Middleton

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.


Spatium ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Hamurcu Ulubaş ◽  
Fatih Terzi

This study aims to reveal the relationship between the social structure and urban pattern in a specified urban area by means of the socio-spatial dialectic. To understand the circumstances behind this dichotomy, analyses were conducted on two intertwined subjects - social structure and morphology - as part of a case study of the historical core of the Kad?k?y district in Istanbul, Turkey. Based on the findings, some inferences, depending on the predefined social and morphological components, are made about changing socio-spatialities in the given place by means of time-spacesociety relations. The results show that each socio-cultural group brought their own culture and adapted their physical environment according to their basic needs, and that culture has a restrictive and explanatory effect on the formation of space. In addition, population growth and the adaptive capacity of society to external forces demanding change in the urban space also turn out to unavoidably affect the development scheme of the morphological character of the area.


2020 ◽  
pp. 088541222096991
Author(s):  
Alejandro N. Garay-Huamán ◽  
Clara Irazábal-Zurita

This article critically reviews the literature on the relationship between global capitalist accumulation and placemaking and community building of Latinos in Kansas City. We use the social structure of accumulation (SSA) framework to analyze connections between these bodies of scholarship to provide a socio-spatial history of Latinos in Kansas City. We identify three SSAs: a monopolistic SSA (1870s–1930s), a Keynesian SSA (1940s–1970s), and a neoliberal SSA (1980s–present). Our findings show the impacts of each SSA on Latino communities in Kansas City. They also show the agency, flexibility, and resilience of these communities as they faced daunting challenges.


Author(s):  
Kristina Dietz

The article explores the political effects of popular consultations as a means of direct democracy in struggles over mining. Building on concepts from participatory and materialist democracy theory, it shows the transformative potentials of processes of direct democracy towards democratization and emancipation under, and beyond, capitalist and liberal democratic conditions. Empirically the analysis is based on a case study on the protests against the La Colosa gold mining project in Colombia. The analysis reveals that although processes of direct democracy in conflicts over mining cannot transform existing class inequalities and social power relations fundamentally, they can nevertheless alter elements thereof. These are for example the relationship between local and national governments, changes of the political agenda of mining and the opening of new spaces for political participation, where previously there were none. It is here where it’s emancipatory potential can be found.


Author(s):  
Aled Davies

This book is a study of the political economy of Britain’s chief financial centre, the City of London, in the two decades prior to the election of Margaret Thatcher’s first Conservative government in 1979. The primary purpose of the book is to evaluate the relationship between the financial sector based in the City, and the economic strategy of social democracy in post-war Britain. In particular, it focuses on how the financial system related to the social democratic pursuit of national industrial development and modernization, and on how the norms of social democratic economic policy were challenged by a variety of fundamental changes to the City that took place during the period....


2021 ◽  
pp. 136754942199423
Author(s):  
Anne M Cronin ◽  
Lee Edwards

Drawing on a case study of public relations in the UK charity sector, this article argues that cultural intermediary research urgently requires a more sustained focus on politics and the political understood as power relations, party politics and political projects such as marketization and neoliberalism. While wide-ranging research has analysed how cultural intermediaries mediate the relationship between culture and economy, this has been at the expense of an in-depth analysis of the political. Using our case study as a prompt, we highlight the diversity of ways that the political impacts cultural intermediary work and that cultural intermediary work may impact the political. We reveal the tensions that underpin practice as a result of the interactions between culture, the economy and politics, and show that the tighter the engagement of cultural intermediation with the political sphere, the more tensions must be negotiated and the more compromised practitioners may feel.


2020 ◽  
pp. 125-140
Author(s):  
Christina A.D. Semeniuk

In feeding marine wildlife, tourists can impact animals in ways that are not immediately apparent (i.e. morbidity vs. mortality/reproductive failure). Inventorying the health status of wildlife with physiological indicators can provide crucial information on the immediate status of organisms and long-term consequences. However, because tourists are attempting to maximize their own satisfaction, encouraging the willingness to accept management regulations also requires careful consideration of the human dimensions of the system. Without such socio-ecological measures, the wildlife-tourism system may fall into a trap—a lose–lose situation where the pressure imposed by the social system (tourist expectations) has costs for the ecological system (maladaptive behaviours, health), which in turn feed back into the social system (shift in tourist typography, loss of revenue, decreased satisfaction), resulting in the demise of both systems (exhaustion). Effective selection and communication of physiological metrics of wildlife health is key to minimizing problem-causing and problem-enhancing feedbacks in social-ecological systems. This guiding principle is highlighted in the case study presented here on the socio-ecological research and management success of feeding southern stingrays (Hypanus americanus) as a marine tourism attraction at Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 197-225
Author(s):  
Hernán Maltz

I propose a close reading on two critical interventions about crime fiction in Argentina: “Estado policial y novela negra argentina” (1991) by José Pablo Feinmann and “Para una reformulación del género policial argentino” (2006) by Carlos Gamerro. Beyond the time difference between the two, I observe aspects in common. Both texts elaborate a corpus of writers and fictions; propose an interpretative guide between the literary and the political-social series; maintain a specific interest in the relationship between crime fiction and police; and elaborate figures of enunciators who serve both as theorists of the genre and as writers of fiction. Among these four dimensions, the one that particularly interests me here is the third, since it allows me to investigate the link that is assumed between “detective fiction” and “police institution”. My conclusion is twofold: on the one hand, in both essays predominates a reductionist vision of the genre, since a kind of necessity is emphasized in the representation of the social order; on the other, its main objective seems to lie in intervening directly on the definitions of the detective fiction in Argentina (and, on this point, both texts acquire an undoubtedly prescriptive nuance).


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