article
The status of craftsmen among the Konso of south-west Ethiopia
Africa • 38 (3) • Published In 1968 • Pages: 258-269
By: Hallpike, C. R. (Christopher Robert).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article discusses the social status in traditional Konso society of a class of artisans, consisting of blacksmiths, weavers, potters, and tanners. It is proposed that the low status of these occupational groups has to do with longstanding and irreconcilable contradictions between craft-making and commodity exchange (believed to be foreign induced) and the value systems of a predominantly agricultural indigenous people. Artisans produce crafts individually and sell them at a price they want, while dominant Konso values demanded that one farms cooperatively and exchanges products among friends and family without assigning values. This has led to the marginalization of artisans into an endogamous, caste-like and landless group, subordinated to the dominant agriculturalist class.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Community structure
- Occupational specialization
- Ceramic technology
- Smiths and their crafts
- Work in skins
- Clothing manufacture
- Tillage
- Real property
- Social personality
- Ethos
- Avoidance and taboo
- Community councils
- Organized ceremonial
- Social control
- Ethics
- Etiquette
- Acculturation and culture contact
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Konso
- 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
- 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.
- 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 ; 2015
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1965-1967
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1965-1967
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Konso Special Woreda, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, Ethiopia
- NotesAdditional notes
- C. R. Hallpike
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 29010790
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Konso (African people)