Robert F. Gray - The Family Estate in Africa

THE FAMILY ESTATE
IN AFRICA

ANTHROPOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY

AFRICA

In 26 Volumes

First published in 1964

Reprinted in 2004 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Transferred to Digital Printing 2009

1964 Robert F Gray and P H Gulliver

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

The Family Estate in Africa

ISBN 0-415-32556-0 (set)

ISBN 0-415-32985-X

Miniset: Africa

Series: Routledge Library Editions Anthropology and Ethnography

THE FAMILY

ESTATE

IN AFRICA

Robert F. Gray and P. H. Gulliver

LONDON

ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL

CONTENTS

Robert F. Gray

E. V. Winans, Ph.D. (California)

Robert A. LeVine, Ph.D. (Harvard)

Igor Kopytoff, Ph.D. (Northwestern)

Alfred Harris, Ph.D. (Cantab) and Grace Harris Ph.D. (Cantab)

Eileen Jensen Krige, D.Litt. (Witwatersrand)

P. H. Gulliver, Ph.D. (London)

Robert F. Gray, Ph.D. (Chicago)

Robert F. Gray

T HE essays in this book deal with certain aspects of family life in seven societies of eastern and central Africa. In planning the symposium the writers came to an agreement to analyse and present their material from a viewpoint which would stress these two aspects of the family: (i) the attachment of the family to property and resources, and (2) the developmental aspect or the time dimension.

The study of these aspects is not new in anthropology, and we do not claim to be introducing original concepts or methods. On the contrary, we agreed to recognize as specific prototypes of our symposium two works previously published. The first is an analysis by P. H. Gulliver of two societies of East Africa, the Jie of Uganda and the Turkana of Kenya. The author traces in detail the social transactions concerning livestock, demonstrating clearly that domestic animals serve as foci of social rights and obligations, as indices of social relationships. This pioneer study provided us with a working hypothesis. These two societies are predominantly pastoral, the Turkana almost exclusively so, while the seven societies described in the present book are predominantly agricultural, though livestock are also quite important in some of them. The hypothesis is that in these societies other forms of property are foci of social rights and obligations just as livestock are for the Jie and Turkana. Our task, then, was to test this hypothesis and determine in each case the social role of different forms of property.

Gulliver in his book also analyses the process of family development, giving emphasis to the temporal aspect, which is our second special concern. He recognizes that social and