essay

The Suku of southwestern Congo

Peoples of AfricaNew YorkPublished In 1965 • Pages: 441-477

By: Kopytoff, Igor.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article discusses three salient features of Suku culture and society: 1) a kinship organization that combines matrilineal descent with patrilocal residence, 2) a political organization that combines centralized kingship with broadly autonomous segmentary lineage groups, and 3) periodic initiation rites of males and females of different ages and from different kin groups. The author argues that this crossing of sex and age lines might have contributed to the integration of Suku local communities.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Community structure
Kin relationships
Lineages
Territorial hierarchy
Form and rules of government
Chief executive
General character of religion
Organized ceremonial
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Suku
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
Central 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 ; 2014
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1958-1959
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1920-1965
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Kwango district, Bandundu, Democratic Republic of the Congo
NotesAdditional notes
Igor Kopytoff
Includes bibliographical references (p. 475-477)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
65010276
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Suku (African people)