Book
La sociéte wolof: tradition et changement : les systèmes d'inégalité et de domination
Karthala • Paris • Published In 1981 • Pages: 355
By: Diop, Abdoulaye Bara.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this study, Diop examines the structure and history of Wolof society. Wolof society is organized by a dual system of caste and class. The superior caste is the group of landowning cultivators and the inferior castes include artisans, singers, musicians, courtisans, and jesters. The lower castes provide necessary goods and services, and most importantly, as Diop sees it, respect in exchange for foodstuffs. According to Diop the Wolof caste system is primarily based on the principles of reciprocity rather than on an ideology of pollution and purity as Dumont argues for India, although such ideas are also present in the Wolof system. The class system is rooted in the Wolof monarchy and conquest state, which served the slave trade. Its order essentially rested on violence in which a warrior class dominated and royal slaves could obtain high rank. The spread of Islam brotherhoods in the colonial period mobilized an exploited peasantry, however, the French successfully backed the Wolof nobility in their wars against the Moslim sects. The brotherhood leaders eventually capitulated to become another buttress of the colonial order.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Castes
- Classes
- Slavery
- Chief executive
- Revolution
- Priesthood
- Congregations
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Wolof
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1999
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western 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.
- Sociologist
- 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
- Ian Skoggard ; 1998
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- not specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1200-1970
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Senegal
- NotesAdditional notes
- Abdoulaye-Bara Diop
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 349-355)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 81199335
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Wolof (African people)