From tidal swamp to inland valley: on the social organization of wet rice cultivation among the Diola of Senegal

Africa ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 557-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga F. Linares
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
West African ◽  
Guinea Coast ◽  
Rice Agriculture ◽  
Extensive Area ◽  
Inland Valley ◽  
Tidal Swamp ◽  
The Social ◽  
Predominant Form

IntroductionStudents of West African rice agriculture (cf. Dresch 1949, Mohr 1969) often distinguish between the Upper Guinea coast, where wet rice has been grown for centuries in permanent swamp fields recovered from the mangrove, and a more extensive area further inland, where the predominant form has been dry or mountain rice grown by shifting agriculturalists (fig. 1). The Diola of Senegal (Pélissier 1966, Linares 1970), the Balanta of Guinea Bissau (Espírito Santo 1949), and the Baga of coastal Guinea (Paulme 1957), belong to the first category. They transplant rice in inundated fields that are desalinated, diked, ridged and irrigated. In contrast, the Mande-speaking peoples of Sierra Leone and Liberia are mostly ‘upland’ farmers. They broadcast rice on rain-fed fields that are rotated and fallowed.

IV. The Establishment of the Sierra Leone Protectorate and the Insurrection of 1898

1956 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Hargreaves
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
West African ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
Effective Administration ◽  
West African Coast ◽  
African Coast ◽  
Tribal Areas

The Colony of Sierra Leone originated in settlements of freed slaves on the West African coast carried out on the initiative of British philanthropists in the later eighteenth century. For over a century, British responsibility was as far as possible restricted to the small mountainous peninsula on which Freetown stands, and to certain nearby islands; but influence was inevitably obtained over nearby coast and hinterland, and during the nineteenth century some additional territories were incorporated in the Colony, though not always brought under effective administration. In 1896 the remaining regions not conceded to be under French or Liberian influence were proclaimed a British Protectorate; which also included, for administrative purposes, certain chiefdoms formerly part of the Colony. In this period, therefore, the term ‘Colony’ is applied to the peninsula and islands originally settled, with a few predominantly tribal areas around the river Sherbro; the term ‘Protectorate’ to territories the size of Ireland, which form the great bulk of the area marked ‘Sierra Leone’ on a modern map, and whose social organization was at this time exclusively tribal. At the beginning of 1898 British officials began to collect a House Tax which had been imposed on three of the five districts of the Protectorate. In February, resistance to the tax by certain Temne chiefs developed into open warfare in the north, and at the end of April a series of savage attacks took place on British and American subjects, mostly of African birth and descent, among the Mende and Sherbro people further south. These two outbreaks constitute the insurrection to be studied in this paper.

Dreams of power: social process in a West African religious movement

Africa ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard T. Curley
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Social Process ◽  
West African ◽  
Religious Movement ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Church Members ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Church

Opening ParagraphIn the present paper we shall describe the ways in which dreams are regarded by the members of a West African religious sect and explain how dreams figure in the social organization of the sect. Our point of departure will be largely sociological, and in this respect our study differs from most anthropological writings on dreams. The dream narrations which we are considering arise as much out of the social organization of the sect as from the psyche of the individuals. Furthermore, the narrations are public performances and are evaluated by members of the sect for the purpose of situating each other within the community of church members. The narrations are used by church members to demonstrate the depth of their religious commitment and to assist them in competing for key roles within the church. Thus dreams are important as indicators of a person's worth and as instruments of social mobility. Following Charsley's treatment of dreams in a Ugandan independent church we will not focus on the use of dreams as a ‘privileged channel of insight into the culture’ (1973: 244), although the themes and symbols which are described in the narratives can indeed reveal much about the beliefs of church members and suggest ways in which their beliefs might guide their behaviour. It is appropriate to discuss some of these themes and symbols en route to our objective, and in doing so it will be possible to shed some light on the teachings of the sect and on the mentality of many of its members. It is important to state, however, that the primary data of this study are not accounts of dreams such as those that might be told privately to an analyst or an ethnographer. Rather they are mostly accounts which people present in public at church services. They are sometimes retold, embellished and circulated throughout the community of church members. Thus the data are speech events which are often used instrumentally by the narrator, sometimes for the purpose of ennobling the self and sometimes for the purpose of praising the sect. This means that one would have to question the authenticity of the narratives if one were to use them as windows into the minds of church members. We are on safer ground if we view the narratives of dreams as public performances which are patterned in accordance with the expectations of the church community and which have an effect on social action within that community.

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.

Development and Operation of Ebola Diagnostic Laboratories Led By Public Health England in Sierra Leone during the West African Ebola Outbreak 2013-2015

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Bailey ◽  
Jane Shallcross ◽  
Christopher H. Logue ◽  
Simon A. Weller ◽  
Liz Evans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
West African ◽  
The West

Soldiers in Revolt

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
West African ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
Social Unrest ◽  
Military Studies ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Original Dataset

Soldiers in Revolt examines the understudied phenomenon of military mutinies in Africa. Through interviews with former mutineers in Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and The Gambia, the book provides a unique and intimate perspective on those who take the risky decision to revolt. This view from the lower ranks is key to comprehending the internal struggles that can threaten a military's ability to function effectively. Maggie Dwyer's detailed accounts of specific revolts are complemented by an original dataset of West African mutinies covering more than fifty years, allowing for the identification of trends. Her book shows the complex ways mutineers often formulate and interpret their grievances against a backdrop of domestic and global politics. Just as mutineers have been influenced by the political landscape, so too have they shaped it. Mutinies have challenged political and military leaders, spurred social unrest, led to civilian casualties, threatened peacekeeping efforts and, in extreme cases, resulted in international interventions. Soldiers in Revolt offers a better understanding of West African mutinies and mutinies in general, valuable not only for military studies but for anyone interested in the complex dynamics of African states.

Social ethology of the wolverine

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey P. Copeland ◽  
Arild Landa ◽  
Kimberly Heinemeyer ◽  
Keith B. Aubry ◽  
Jiska van Dijk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Social System ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Ecological Framework ◽  
The Social ◽  
Living Species

Social behaviour in solitary carnivores has long been an active area of investigation but for many species remains largely founded in conjecture compared to our understanding of sociality in group-living species. The social organization of the wolverine has, until now, received little attention beyond its portrayal as a typical mustelid social system. In this chapter the authors compile observations of social interactions from multiple wolverine field studies, which are integrated into an ecological framework. An ethological model for the wolverine is proposed that reveals an intricate social organization, which is driven by variable resource availability within extremely large territories and supports social behaviour that underpins offspring development.

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