ANTH326 Peoples and Cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa

Meeting 4, Social StructureSeptember 29, 2010

Project

Related References

Grinker, Lubkemann, and Steiner How to Write about Africa

http://www.granta.com/Magazine/92/How-to-Write-About-Africa

Binyavanga Wainaina Ma famille

Ivoirian series Tou.tv until October 4 http://www.tou.tv/ma-famille

Africa as Mirror

Define Western by contrast Similar to Orientalism The go-to Other Nostalgia Stigmatization "Third World"

Impossible to generalize

Unusual cases Catalogue Contrasting cases within Africa Contrast with alleged reader's notions Particular to broader

McCall

Approach

Playing with narrative Start with striking Contextualize

What colonial administrators missed What colonial administrators created

Intro to Culture

Kinship/household Cultural relativism and polygyny Corporate ownership Gerontocracy Caste-like stratification

Infrastructure

Modes of production and reproduction Agrarian by default Market

Structure

Authority Joking relationships Solidarity Sodalities

Age sets/grades Cohorts Institutionalized

Gender

Southall

"Tribal"

Preconceptions Technical definition A posteriori definition

Defining Groups

Core part of social science Group construction Impact of outside definitions Allegiance Language (Herder) Negotiated boundaries

Barth

Constructed Groups

Widespread Even found in Europe

Divide and conquer United we stand Necessary in context Primary identity Causing wars Solution in ethnic groups?

Complexity

Layered identities Fluidity

Changes in identity Urban/rural Social networks

Modernity

Modern Africa Associated to colonialism Different from Westernization Nationalism Individualism

Contemporary Africa

Modern Young Diverse

States in Africa

Long history Kingdoms and Empires

Next to small-scale groups Embed small-scale groups Nation-states

Somali as textbook case