I M Lewis
Biographic Data
| ID | 75878 |
|---|---|
| NAME | I M Lewis |
| GIVEN NAMES | I M |
| FAMILY NAME | Lewis |
| SIGNATURE | LEWIS I M |
| AFFILIATIONS | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 103 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 890 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 97 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1955 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Problems in the Comparative Study of Unilineal Descent
This paper seeks to examine some of the problems involved in comparing unilineal descent in different societies, problems which even if they cannot yet be fully resolved have to be considered if the study of unilineal descent is to proceed further. There is now, of course, an already considerable and indeed ever-increasing volume of writing, both regional and comparative, on segmentary lineage systems in particular and on unilineal descent in gen…
History and Social Anthropology
Islam in the Middle East
Trance, Possession, Shamanism and Sex
Altered States of Consciousness is an umbrella term applied in the study of psychological, sociological and religious phenomena that are regularly encountered experientially in the study of trance, possession, and shamanism, all of which have complex and problematic links with music. Beginning with trance, and stressing the pervasive sexual imagery invoked, this paper reviews the role ofASC in these three areas in the anthropology of religion
A Modern History of the Somali
Ecstatic Religion
Satan Steps out from the Shadows Religion and Politics in Africa
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Satan Steps Out from the Shadows Religion and Politics in Africa
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The Ethiopian Borderlands
Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Borderlands: essays in regional history, from ancient times to the end of the eighteenth century.Lawrenceville NJ: Red Sea Press, 1997, 489 pp., £12.99, ISBN 0 932415 19 9. - Volume 70 Issue 1
A Pastoral Democracy
Understanding Social Anthropology
The family marriage economic anthropology political organization and the birth of a nation belief and action witchcraft and sorcery we and they
Doing Violence to Ethnography
Popularising Anthropology
Embodying Colonial Memories
Religion in context
Shamanism, History and the State
Le Chamanisme
The Challenge of Anthropology
The Challenge of Anthropology is a companion volume to Robin Fox's highly successful Encounter with Anthropology. Fox illustrates how anthropology must constantly learn from the natural and behavioral sciences. The Challenge of Anthropology takes the author's own work as a barometer of the state of the discipline, and shows the range of possibilities anthropology offers. Fox covers a vast array of topics: the psychobiology of aggression; war and …
Shamanism and the Eighteenth Century
Women's Medicine, the Zar-Bori Cult in Africa and beyond
Despite the large-scale destruction of traditional practices throughout the world, the Zar-Bori spirit-healing cult continues to hold tremendous meaning for some women in West Africa, the Sudan and North Africa, and even in the more progressive countries such as Tunisia, Kuwait, Egypt and the Gulf States. This study uses historical, anthropological and psychiatric methods to explore the social history of this growing cult and its significance for…
Misunderstanding the Somali Crisis
Mohamed Omer Beshir, 1926-92
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Women's medicine
The Spider and the Pangolin
In the tarantism cult of southern Italy there are two types of actual tarantula spider with which the spirit spider might be identified, but only one is selected as spirit counterpart. In examining the basis of symbol selection here, reference is also made to Lele pangolin symbolism where there are again actually two species of local pangolin, only one of which is paid cult. Mary Douglas's classic analysis ofanimal 'anomalies' fails to address th…
Parental Terms of Reference
Ecstatic Religion
Islam Observed
History and Social Anthropology
Spirit Possession and Deprivation Cults
Religion in context
A Pastoral Democracy
Women's medicine
Social Anthropology in Perspective
Doing Violence to Ethnography
Somali Poetry
Force and Fission in Northern Somali Lineage Structure1
Social Anthropology in Perspective
This article offers a retrospective assessment of the relevance and contributions of social anthropology. Beattie and Lewis discuss the discipline's shift away from functionalist and structuralist paradigms towards more dynamic and process-oriented approaches. They examine the increasing focus on issues of power, inequality, and social change, and explore the growing engagement with other disciplines, such as history, political science, and econo…
Shamanism, History and the State
The Glorious Victories of 'Amda Seyon, King of Ethiopia
Modern Political Movements in Somaliland. II
Opening ParagraphIn a preceding article I discussed the organization and aims of modern Somali political movements in the light of the traditional political structure. Three types of political organization were distinguished: clan, regional (or tribal), and nationalist. These three types reflect traditional variations in the social structure and culture of different regions of Somaliland and also varying degrees of political evolution. I drew att…
The Ogaden and the Fragility of Somali Segmentary Nationalism
Journal Article THE OGADEN AND THE FRAGILITY OF SOMALI SEGMENTARY NATIONALISM Get access I. M. LEWIS I. M. LEWIS Professor Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar African Affairs, Volume 88, Issue 353, October 1989, Pages 573–579, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098217 Published: 01 October 1989
Resolving Conflict in Africa
Sufism In Somaliland
Although Somaliland has attracted the attention of a distinguished body of Italian scholars it has not yet been subjected to a specifically social anthropological study such as the present writer hopes to make. Excellent studies notably by Puccioni (1919-1937), Cerulli (1918-1943), and Colucci (1924,1943) have elucidated the sociology of the Somali and created a sound corpus of knowledge for future investigations. Colucci's Principi di diritto co…
Dualism in Somali Notions of Power
EXCEPT IN ITS POETRY, Islam in Somaliland is not rich in esoteric symbolism. Thus almost inevitably one is driven directly to examine the relationship between religious beliefs and cults, and between these and social structure. The purpose of this paper is to consider one wide issue here, that of the distinction which Somali draw between secular and non-secular power, and to examine how this is related to ecological and social factors and to the …
Modern Political Movements in Somaliland
Opening ParagraphIn this article I give a brief outline of Somali social organization and describe the constitution and aims of the main political parties as they existed in 1957. It is hoped in a second article to examine the activities of the parties in individual Somali territories in the light of particular events in these territories and in relation to recent constitutional changes already effected or proposed
Trance, Possession, Shamanism and Sex
Altered States of Consciousness is an umbrella term applied in the study of psychological, sociological and religious phenomena that are regularly encountered experientially in the study of trance, possession, and shamanism, all of which have complex and problematic links with music. Beginning with trance, and stressing the pervasive sexual imagery invoked, this paper reviews the role ofASC in these three areas in the anthropology of religion
A Modern History of Somalia
The So-Called 'Galla Graves' of Northern Somaliland
The Somali Conquest of the Horn of Africa
One of the most sustained and in its effects far-reaching movements of population in the recent history of North Eastern Africa is the expansion of the Hamitic Somali from the shores of the Gulf of Aden to the plains of Northern Kenya over the last ten centuries. Although written historical evidence is available for only a few periods, oral tradition is so abundant, and from a variety of sources both inside and outside Somaliland, so much in agre…
Clanship and Contract in Northern Somaliland
Opening ParagraphIn this article I analyse Somali political institutions in terms of clanship (tol) and contract (heer). By the latter term I mean the explicit contracts, or treaties of government, which are the foundation of all formal political units among the northern pastoral Somali. In conclusion, I examine the significance of Somali political structure in the light of Maine's celebrated dictum that the 'movement of the progressive societies…
Ourselves as Others See Us
Sufism In Somaliland
Although Somaliland has attracted the attention of a distinguished body of Italian scholars it has not yet been subjected to a specifically social anthropological study such as the present writer hopes to make. Excellent studies notably by Puccioni (1919-1937), Cerulli (1918-1943), and Colucci (1924,1943) have elucidated the sociology of the Somali and created a sound corpus of knowledge for future investigations. Colucci's Principi di diritto co…
Sufism in Someliland
In the first part of this study we followed the development of the Ṣūfī ṭarīqa organization in Somaliland after the introduction of Islam and examined the functions exercised by Ṣūfī communities in the social structure. We interpreted the closer social and genealogical assimilation of jamā'as among the nomadic tribes in terms of lack of arable land available for the foundation of independent settlements. It was argued that the genealogical idiom …
The Gadabuursi Somali Script
At the moment, both in the British Protectorate and in Somalia, the adoption of a standard orthography for the Somali language is fiercely debated. In discussion of the merits of the various scripts proposed, technical problems of orthography have to some extent been lost sight of. Nationalistic arguments have favoured 'Somali writing' ('Ismaaniya) while religious or Pan-Islamic arguments have supported an Arabic script. This article discusses an…
A Preliminary Investigation of the Blood Groups of the Sab Bondsmen of Northern Somaliland
The Godhardunneh Cave Decorations of North-Eastern Somaliland
Modern Political Movements in Somaliland
Opening ParagraphIn this article I give a brief outline of Somali social organization and describe the constitution and aims of the main political parties as they existed in 1957. It is hoped in a second article to examine the activities of the parties in individual Somali territories in the light of particular events in these territories and in relation to recent constitutional changes already effected or proposed
Modern Political Movements in Somaliland. II
Opening ParagraphIn a preceding article I discussed the organization and aims of modern Somali political movements in the light of the traditional political structure. Three types of political organization were distinguished: clan, regional (or tribal), and nationalist. These three types reflect traditional variations in the social structure and culture of different regions of Somaliland and also varying degrees of political evolution. I drew att…
Clanship and Contract in Northern Somaliland
Opening ParagraphIn this article I analyse Somali political institutions in terms of clanship (tol) and contract (heer). By the latter term I mean the explicit contracts, or treaties of government, which are the foundation of all formal political units among the northern pastoral Somali. In conclusion, I examine the significance of Somali political structure in the light of Maine's celebrated dictum that the 'movement of the progressive societies…
The Somali Conquest of the Horn of Africa
One of the most sustained and in its effects far-reaching movements of population in the recent history of North Eastern Africa is the expansion of the Hamitic Somali from the shores of the Gulf of Aden to the plains of Northern Kenya over the last ten centuries. Although written historical evidence is available for only a few periods, oral tradition is so abundant, and from a variety of sources both inside and outside Somaliland, so much in agre…
The Economics of Trusteeship in Somalia
Journal Article The Economics of Trusteeship in Somalia Get access The Economics of Trusteeship in Somalia. By Mark Karp. Boston University Press, 1960. Distributed by New York University Press. x+185 pp. Map endpapers. Charts. Tables. Index. (Boston University African Research Studies, No. 2.) $4.50. I.M. Lewis I.M. Lewis Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 37, Issue 3, July 1961…
The So-Called 'Galla Graves' of Northern Somaliland
Force and Fission in Northern Somali Lineage Structure1
The Somali Peninsula. A New Light on Imperial Motives
Journal Article The Somali Peninsula. A New Light on Imperial Motives Get access The Somali Peninsula. A New Light on Imperial Motives. By the Information Services of the Somali Government. Preface by Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, Prime Minister. Information Services of the Somali Government, 1962. xiii+137 pp. Map endpapers. Maps. Bibliog. Index. 20s. I. M. Lewis I. M. Lewis Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar In…
Historical Aspects of Genealogies in Northern Somali Social Structure
Few anthropologists, I think, would question that the use of oral tradition as a historical source in tribal studies requires a knowledge of the part tradition plays in the society in which it occurs. Most would agree that oral tradition does not have a universal validity-it is not equally 'true' or equally 'false' in all tribal societies. Rather its historical content, where unequivocal historical evidence is lacking, has to be evaluated in the …
Pan-Africanism and Pan-Somalism
Somali attitudes towards Pan-Africanism, and more particularly towards the federation of African states, have to be understood in relation to the very special conditions of the Horn of Africa. It will be necessary therefore to begin this survey with a few general remarks about the Somali Peninsula and the special characteristics of Somali nationalism
Dualism in Somali Notions of Power
EXCEPT IN ITS POETRY, Islam in Somaliland is not rich in esoteric symbolism. Thus almost inevitably one is driven directly to examine the relationship between religious beliefs and cults, and between these and social structure. The purpose of this paper is to consider one wide issue here, that of the distinction which Somali draw between secular and non-secular power, and to examine how this is related to ecological and social factors and to the …
The Problem of the Northern Frontier District of Kenya
New Nations
Journal Article New Nations Get access New Nations. By Lucy Mair. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1963. 235 pp. Index. (Nature of Human Society Series.) 25s. I. M. Lewis I. M. Lewis Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 40, Issue 3, July 1964, Pages 511–512, https://doi.org/10.2307/2610854 Published: 01 July 1964
Somali Nationalism
Notes et Études sur l'Islam en Afrique Noire. Par M. Chailley et al . (Centre de Hautes Ét. Admin, sur L'Afr. et L'Asie Modernes, Rech. et Docum., Sér. Afr. noire, 1). Paris
The Modern History of Somaliland
Histoire de la Réunion
Journal Article Histoire de la Réunion Get access Histoire de la Réunion. By André Scherer. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. 1965. 128 pp. Bibliog. (‘Que sais-je?’ Le Point des Connaissances Actuelles, No. 1164.) 2.50F. I. M. Lewis I. M. Lewis Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 42, Issue 4, October 1966, Page 747, https://doi.org/10.2307/2610225 Published: 01 October 1966
Somali Poetry
The Gurage
Sociology (48 works) · Political science (42 works) · History (41 works) · African history and culture analysis (40 works) · Philosophy (36 works) · History (29 works) · Geography (24 works) · Philosophy (24 works) · Law (22 works) · Archaeology (20 works)