book chapter
Tribes of the Rif
Peabody Museum of Harvard University • 9 • Published In 1931 • Pages: xviii, 417 , 67 plates
By: Coon, Carleton S. (Carleton Stevens).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source covers the Berber tribes of the Rif, an area along the northern coast of Spanish Morocco. It deals in particular with three adjoining sub-areas: Rif, Ghomara, and Northern Senhaja. The book covers first the geography, traditional history, and recorded history of the area. There follows a thorough treatment of material culture, social organization, government and warfare, markets, public buildings and instruction, officers, life crises, religion, magic, and an analysis of the distribution of cultural traits. The many distribution maps are particularly useful. The author undertook the fieldwork on which this book is based when he was a graduate student in anthropology at Harvard University. Mr. David M. Hart, a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, and recently returned from two years fieldwork in the Rif, supplied the following information which supplements Coon's observations: 'A dual organization does exist among the Rif......each tribe in the Rif is split in half politically, and each of these halves not only fights the other one, but brings in, in most cases, other whole tribes or segments of tribes to help it out. This...is called liff; the only liff that Coon mentions is the smaller type within each tribal segment. These small lifuf (pl. of liff) constantly change; the big ones do not. Aith Wariyaghar, for example, is divided into five primary segments; two of these are in one liff, two in the other, and the fifth is split in half, part of it on one side and part on the other. In Aith 'Ammarth there are four segments, and a two-way split. In Igzannayen, with five segments, it is three and two. In Asht Tuzin (as I recall) each of the five segments is split in half' (p. 91). 'While the village council may be composed of boys in Igzinnayen, this is not the case in Aith Wariyaghar or any of the other tribes. In these groups, adult men form the village council' ( p. 96). 'In his chapter on markets, Coon discusses women's markets, but fails to point out their distribution. They are located only in the lowlands and median slopes of Aith Wariyaghar; there are none elsewhere and none in the high mountains of that tribe. Although most of the other tribes have traditions of having had women's markets in the past, none have them now' (p. 110).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Traditional history
- History
- Tillage
- Pastoral activities
- Fishing
- Hunting and trapping
- Food preparation
- Dwellings
- Normal garb
- Community councils
- Judicial authority
- Property offenses
- Instigation of war
- Aftermath of combat
- Congregations
- Nuptials
- Burial practices and funerals
- Organized ceremonial
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Berbers of Morocco
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Northern Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- book chapter
- 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
- James R. Leary ; 1958
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1926-1927
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1900-1931
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Rif, Morocco
- NotesAdditional notes
- Carleton Stevens Coon
- pt. 1. Culture.--pt. 2. Race
- The material has been marked only for the MX3 Rif file. Pages 175-405, dealing with the comparative physical anthropology of the Rif, have been omited; pages 406-418, containing the author's conclusions as to Berber origins, and a general bibliography, have been included in the file.
- Includes bibliographical records (p. [413]-417)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 31033415
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Berbers
- Anthropometry--Morocco
- Ethnology--Morocco
- Rif Mountains (Morocco)
- Morocco--Social life and customs