Documents
eHRAF is comprised of thousands of ethnographic sources including monographs, journal articles, dissertations and manuscripts. Use this page to find relevant documents by searching or filtering. Each document in eHRAF also contains a Publication Information page with added metadata including brief abstracts written by HRAF analysts who have subject-indexed the file.
Peoples of the Horn of Africabook chapter 1955 • Lewis, I. M.
Somali • Africa > Eastern Africa
This is an important work on the Somali. Sections are included on demography, physical environment, economics, socio-political organization, the life-cycle, material culture, religion, etc. There is an exhaustive bibliography. Lewis, a British social...Modern political movements in Somaliland, I & IIarticle 1958 • Lewis, I. M.
Somali • Africa > Eastern Africa
Lewis discusses the background, aims, and activities of political movements among the Somali peoples including those residing in Ethiopia and Kenya. There is also information on Somali political parties and elections. The influence of traditional soc...The names of God in northern Somaliarticle 1959 • Lewis, I. M.
Somali • Africa > Eastern Africa
This is a compilation of twenty-two Somali names for ALLAAH. The author also discusses the survival of the term WAAG, the pre-Islamic name for God, in Somali usages....Sufism in Somalilandarticle 1956 • Lewis, I. M.
Somali • Africa > Eastern Africa
This is a scholarly study of the Islamization of the Cushitic religion which facilitated the spread of Islam in Somaliland, and the mechanism through which the sedentary Sufi communities were assimilated into the nomadic social organization. Somali r...Clanship and contract in northern Somalilandarticle 1959 • Lewis, I. M.
Somali • Africa > Eastern Africa
In this article, the author analyzes the political or judicial functions of the Somali lineage system, particularly the institution of HEER which is a contractual obligation binding two lineage groups together....The Somali lineage system and the total genealogybook chapter 1957 • Lewis, I. M.
Somali • Africa > Eastern Africa
This is a report for administrative officials in the Somali country. It is concerned with the Somali political institutions which Lewis shows to be based on the lineage system. In the sections included here, Lewis discusses kinship, lineage alliances...A pastoral democracyBook 1961 • Lewis, I. M.
Somali • Africa > Eastern Africa
This book is a descriptive analysis of the socio-political structure of the Somali. The bulk of the material is drawn from the former British Protectorate of Somaliland. There pastoralism is of greater importance than to the south where grain cultiva...Dualism in Somali notions of powerarticle 1963 • Lewis, I. M.
Somali • Africa > Eastern Africa
Somali distinguish sharply between secular and religious power. Feuds between lineages and DIA-paying groups are decided through physical fighting. The victory of a group is never attributed to supernatural power but plainly to superior strength in n...Marriage and the family in northern SomalilandBook 1962 • Lewis, I. M.
Somali • Africa > Eastern Africa
This source presents a study of Somali marriage and family patterns based on the author's field experience in northern Somaliland (then the British Somaliland Protectorate) between September 1955 and June 1957....