Book
Social facts and fabrications: 'customary' law on Kilimanjaro, 1880-1980
Cambridge University Press • Cambridge [cambridgeshire] • Published In 1986 • Pages: xvi, 397
By: Moore, Sally Falk.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This book discusses the transformation of the way of life of the Chagga peoples of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Combining information from ethnographic fieldwork and court files, the book illuminates changes that have occurred in Chagga “customary laws” relating to land tenure, family life and social organization since the advent of colonial powers in the last decade of the nineteenth century. The discussion is framed with a conceptualization of “pre-colonial Chagga legal system as having two dimensions.” One includes all that came under the immediate direction of government and administration, the other the residual part left to the Chagga to administer. While the later provided for what became known as “customary law”, it did not represent the entire Chagga legal system. Furthermore, changes in the broad political order and related non-legal aspects of Chagga life had far reaching consequences for what was recognized as “customary law.” The book discusses the many consequences of these changes especially at the family and lineage levels. When many Chagga men began earning cash income from coffee selling and employment opportunities, for example, they used the money in ways that transformed previously functioning customs. These included strategically 'fabricating' customs associated with the buying and selling of cattle and land, bride wealth payment, inheritance, court fees, religious dues, etc.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Legal norms
- Judicial authority
- Litigation
- Initiation of judicial proceedings
- Legal and judicial personnel
- Real property
- External relations
- Community structure
- Lineages
- Community heads
- Status, role, and prestige
- Cultural identity and pride
- Missions
- Avoidance and taboo
- Revelation and divination
- Ingroup antagonisms
- Family relationships
- Territorial hierarchy
- Districts
- Buying and selling
- Gender status
- Cult of the dead
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Chagga
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Eastern 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; 2010
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1968-1984
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1886-1984
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Chagga country, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- NotesAdditional notes
- Sally Falk Moore
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 376-384) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 85007897
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Law, Chaga
- Customary law--Tanzania--Kilimanjaro
- Chaga (African people)--Social life and customs