Book

Dahomey, an ancient West African kingdom: volume 2

Northwestern University PressEvanston [ill.]Published In 1967 • Pages:

By: Herskovits, Melville J. (Melville Jean).

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
A sequel to the author’s description of salient features of Dahomey culture and polity, this book focuses on the complex links between Dahomean concepts the world and religiosity with the inner workings of the political systems. Herskovits discusses these links with detailed data on the organization of administrative, judicial, and royal institutions and control on one hand, and the determining powers of Dahomean concepts of god and religiosity on the other. Other aspects of cultures covered in this volume include visual arts (mostly limited to religious graphic arts and magical objects), folklore, music and dances.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Form and rules of government
Chief executive
Community structure
General character of religion
Spirits and gods
Animism
Cosmology
Mythology
Cult of the dead
Visual arts
Verbal arts
Prayers and sacrifices
Music
Musical instruments
Dance
Organized ceremonial
Revelation and divination
Magic
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Fon
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2016
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Africa
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Western Africa
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Anthropologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Teferi Abate Adem ; 2014
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1931
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1845-1931
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Benin (Dahomey)
NotesAdditional notes
[by] Melville J. Herskovits
Reprint of the 1938 ed.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 373-376)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
67031811
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Fon (African people)
Ethnology--Benin
Benin