The dynamics of clanship among the Tallensi
Book 1945 Fortes, Meyer

TallensiAfrica > Western Africa
This source is devoted to a structural analysis of the clanship and lineage relationships among the Tallensi. It deals with the constitution and interrelations of the corporate groupings found in Tallensi society. He develops the idea that the tenden...

The web of kinship among the Tallensi
Book 1949 Fortes, Meyer

TallensiAfrica > Western Africa
This source is the second volume of a description and functional analysis of the social structure of the Tallensi, a large group living in the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast Colony (present-day Ghana). The emphasis here is upon the ramificati...

Social and psychological aspects of education in Taleland
Book 1938 Fortes, Meyer

TallensiAfrica > Western Africa
This source gives a summary description of the ways in which the norms of Tallensi culture are inculcated in the Tale child, and a brief portrayal of the fundamental learning processes involved. Also included are statements on attitudes toward educat...

Communal fishing and fishing magic in the northern territories of the Gold Coast
article 1937 Fortes, Meyer

TallensiAfrica > Western Africa
This source examines the social structure of communal fishing among the Tallensi and the extent of the ensuing relations beyond the fishing itself. Attention is paid to fishing methods, ownership of the fish pools, division of the catch, and propitia...

Ritual festivals and social cohesion in the Hinterland of the Gold Coast
article 1936 Fortes, Meyer

TallensiAfrica > Western Africa
This source contains a brief summary of the non-material culture of the Tallensi which serves as a background for the main part of the article, a description of the harvest festivals of the two main groups of the Tallensi. Also briefly noted is the G...

Names among the Tallensi of the Gold Coast
essay 1955 Fortes, Meyer

TallensiAfrica > Western Africa
This short article gives a description of names and name-giving among the Tallensi. Each person has a public and a private name, the latter not being secret. The private name refers generally to an ancestor who is the guardian spirit of the owner of ...

Towards the judicial process
article 1987 Fortes, Meyer

TallensiAfrica > Western Africa
This article discusses the judiciary roles of Tallensi clan heads as observed in extended ethnographic fieldwork in 1936. The focus is on cultural and political considerations affecting judiciary powers of clan heads whose legitimacy rested not only ...

Kinship and marriage among the Ashanti
essay 1950 Fortes, Meyer

AkanAfrica > Western Africa
In this article Fortes discusses what he considers to be the crucial problem for Ashanti men: the conflict between the requirements of marriage and fatherhood on the one hand and a man's obligation to his matrilineal kin on the other. Manifestations ...

Time and social structure
essay 1949 Fortes, Meyer

AkanAfrica > Western Africa
This study of domestic groupings in the two rural Ashanti townships of Asokore and Agogo is particularly important because it defines for the first time the extremely complex residence patterns which underlie Ashanti household organization. The data ...

Religion, morality, and the person
Book 1987 Fortes, Meyer & Goody, Jack

TallensiAfrica > Western Africa
This book is concerned with the roles of religion and ritual in shaping the moral life of individuals, domestic groups, lineages and clans among the Tallensi of northern Ghana. The focus is on the meanings and moral implications of Tallensi religious...

Food in the domestic economy of the Tallensi
article 1936 Fortes, Meyer & Fortes, Sonia L.

TallensiAfrica > Western Africa
This article discusses principally the growing, preparation and eating of food among the Tallensi, and its relation to the domestic economy. The annual agricultural and economic cycles are outlined. Some recipes are given in an Appendix, pp. 274-276....

Ashanti Survey, 1945-46
article 1947 Fortes, Meyer et al.

AkanAfrica > Western Africa
This survey of geographical, anthropological and economic aspects of life in Ashanti during the 1940s was undertaken as an experiment in method by Mr. Fortes, an anthropologist, Mr. Steel, a geographer, and Miss Ady, an economist, in 1945-46. The bul...

The dynamics of Fanti domestic organisation
Book 1972 Vercruijsse, Emile V. W. et al.

AkanAfrica > Western Africa
In this paper, Vercruijsse examines the impact of market penetration on Fanti domestic organization in six Central Region villages. He measured and compared the degree of marketing, wage employment, monetization, and education for all six villages. H...