article
The pidginization of Luguru politics: administrative ethnography and the paradoxes of indirect rule
American ethnologist • 23 (4) • Published In 1996 • Pages: 738-761
By: Pels, Peter.
Abstract
This study discusses what became of the traditional Luguru system of political organization and governance as a consequence of the policy of Indirect Rule pursued early on by British colonial authorities. The analysis rebuts studies that attributed a hegemonic role to the colonial administration. In the case of the Luguru, local agents of the colonial bureaucracy exercised comparable powers by redefining the culturally-expected roles of traditional authorities—most notably lineage heads, clan elders and rainmaker magicians—as government functionaries. The author likens the net effects of such agency to the emergence of a pidginized language.
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Eastern Africa
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Teferi Abate Adem; 2020
- Field Date
- no date given
- Coverage Date
- 1925-1935
- Coverage Place
- Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro Region, Tanzania
- Notes
- Peter Pels
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 759-761)
- LCCN
- 74644326
- LCSH
- Luguru (African people)