ANTH326mtg4

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