Book
The material culture of the peoples of the Gwembe Valley
Praeger • 3 • Published In 1968 • Pages: xiv, 262 , 16 plates
By: Reynolds, Barrie, Kariba studies (National Museums of Zambia).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The purpose of this work was to describe the material culture of the Gwembe (Valley) Tonga before the building of the Kariba Dam forced them to leave their homes and resettle further up the side of the Gwembe Valley and away from the Zambezi River. The fieldwork was carried out mostly on the north side of the valley with only two weeks spent in the southern part. Because only six months were available to complete this fieldwork, rapid, intensive studies of villages and neighborhoods were made; these studies were then compared, giving a picture of the culture of the Tonga. Emphasis is placed on technological data with some information given on subsistence activities and magical and medical practices. Reynolds has included many good text figures and photographs to illustrate the work. The appendices include: a detailed list of medicinal plants and their uses; a list of edible plants; information on buildings and building materials used; and, some population statistics. The author concludes that subsistence activities will be much different after resettlement on the edge of Lake Kariba than they were in the valley. Because the area of resettlement is near the Plateau Tonga, it appeared probable that the resettled Valley Tonga would imitate the culture of the Plateau Tonga.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Food quest
- Tillage
- Normal garb
- Ornament
- Processing of basic materials
- Dwellings
- Outbuildings
- Furniture
- Building interiors and arrangement
- General tools
- Boats
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Tonga
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2014
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southern 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.
- Ethnologist
- 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
- Heather Fellows ; John Beierle ; 1976
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1956-1957
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1956-1957
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- eastern Southern province, Zambia
- NotesAdditional notes
- Barrie Reynolds
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-246)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 67029926
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Tonga (Zambezi people)--Material culture