Book
The role of ambilineal descent groups in Gojjam Amhara social organization
University Microfilms, Inc. • Ann Arbor, Michigan • Published In 1963 • Pages:
By: Hoben, Allan.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The ambilineal descent group in rural Amhara society serves an important role in allocating land rights within a feudal-like tenure system. Land grants originally given to military and religious personal have since been passed down to descendants. Each time the land is divided among descendants--not necessarily with each passing generation--a new land holding descent group is formed creating a nested hierarchy of ownership and use rights. Although one has rights to land held by the descent groups of one's father, mother, and wife, not all these possibilities are activated. How much land one lays claim to depends on one's household needs and the power of the household head which is usually a function of age. The usual pattern is to establish residence and activate land claims in an area outside of one's immediate descent group's territory in order to avoid conflict among close kin. The ambilineal descent group has little purpose beyond its function as a landholding unit.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Real property
- Status, role, and prestige
- Kindreds and ramages
- Towns
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Amhara
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1998
- 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
- 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
- Ian Skoggard ; 1996
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1961-62
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1850s-1960s
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Dega Damot District, Gojjam Province, Ethiopia
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Allan Hoben
- Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of California, Berkeley, 1963
- UM 64-2067
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Amhara (African people)