essay

Minimal politics: the political organization of the Hadza of north Tanzania

Politics in leadership: a comparative perspectiveOxfordPublished In 1979 • Pages: 244-266

By: Woodburn, James.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The Hadza live in small nomadic bands characterized by frequent changes in the number and composition of members. This document identifies two of the most important conditions that enable this flexibility. First, the Hadza live in an area that is unsuitable for farming and herding, but rich in game and edible tubers and fruits. These resources are easy to acquire individually, with minimal assistance from others. Second, Hadza society lacks concepts of property rights, binding kinship ties, or other enduring mechanisms for enforcing mutual help and cooperation among individuals. As a consequence, individuals are weakly committed to other band members, if not to other members of a household.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Community structure
Settlement patterns
Kin relationships
Social relationships and groups
Annual cycle
Hunting and trapping
Collecting
Diet
Eating
Real property
Social relationships and groups
Community heads
Ingroup antagonisms
Social control
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Hadza
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2019
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
essay
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; 2018
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1958-1961, 1965-1967
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1900-1960
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
eastern and southern Lake Eyasi area, Tanzania
NotesAdditional notes
James Woodburn
Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-266)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
78041116
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Hatsa (African people)