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.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
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.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- External relations
- Administrative agencies
- Form and rules of government
- Status, role, and prestige
- Community councils
- Community heads
- Real property
- Clans
- Lineages
- Political movements
- Political intrigue
- Acculturation and culture contact
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Luguru
- 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
- article
- 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.
- 4: Excellent Secondary 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; 2020
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date given
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1925-1935
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro Region, Tanzania
- NotesAdditional notes
- Peter Pels
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 759-761)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 74644326
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Luguru (African people)