I Schapera

Biographic Data

ID77068
NAMEI Schapera
GIVEN NAMESI
FAMILY NAMESchapera
SIGNATURESCHAPERA I
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Cape Town
VERIFIEDNo
TOTAL WORKS115
TOTAL CITATIONS482
AUTHOR COUNT115
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1927
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2021
H-INDEX13

  • Origin of the Tribe

    I SchaperaCHAPTEREthnic Composition of Tswana Tribes2021

  • Family Law

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    The family among the Tswana is founded upon marriage. A discussion of family law is therefore best introduced by an analysis of the conditions and forms of marriage. Apart from various rules governing the selection of a wife, the main essentials of the marriage contract among the Tswana are: mutual agreement between the two families concerned, as reflected in the formalities of betrothal; and the transfer of certain livestock, generally cattle, t…

  • The Tribal Constitution

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    The administrative system of the Tswana is founded upon the principle of delegated responsibility. At the head of the whole tribe is the Chief. He is assisted in the execution of his duties by various forms of council. In effect the government of the tribe is ultimately concentrated in the hands of the Chief; but the existing social and territorial organization is used to delegate matters of more purely local concern to subordinate authorities. T…

  • Law of Property

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    All villages in the tribal territory must be settled at sites selected or approved of by the Chief. When a village, e.g. the tribal headquarters, moves from one place to another, the Chief first goes with some of his advisers to survey the country for a suitable site. If owing to congestion no land at ail is available within the ward holding, the headman must obtain from the Chief a new holding for the use of his people. A homestead once built re…

  • The Tribal Constitution (contd.)

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    A part from the central Government composed of the Chief and the councils, there exists in every tribe a system of local government. The territory occupied by the tribe is divided into local units varying in size and importance, each of which comes under the jurisdiction of a recognized authority. In every tribe the Chief may settle disputes as to succession, or at the request of the ward members depose an unsatisfactory headman. The ward headmen…

  • Family LAW (contd.)

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    Marriage, like any other social relationship, establishes special rights and duties among the people concerned. As between husband and wife, it involves community of daily life and economic interests, exclusiveness of sexual relations, and mutual services of various other kinds. Since the reciprocal obligations of relatives-in-law provide the general background for the more intimate relationship of husband and wife, it will be more convenient to …

  • The Tribal Constitution (contd.)

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    A very prominent part is played in the public life of every Tswana tribe by the system of age-regiments. The regimental organization serves as an effective means of binding together people on a tribal rather than a local basis. Formerly the formation of a men&s;s regiment was in all the tribes preceded by an elaborate series of rites, collectively known as bogwera or go rupa . These rites were among the most important ceremonial occasions in the …

  • The Nature and Sources of Tswana Law

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    The behaviour of the Tswana in relation to one another and to the material resources of their environment is controlled in many ways. The Tswana themselves employ a variety of terms to denote all or certain of their rules of conduct. The Tswana employ various mechanisms to ensure that all members of a tribe conform to its recognized norms of conduct. The Tswana themselves speak of their laws as having always existed, from the time that man himsel…

  • Family LAW (contd.)

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    Children of the same family must observe towards one another various special obligations, the nature of which depends upon their respective age and sex. The eldest brother has an honoured place and the principal say in family affairs after his father, and when the latter is away takes his place and must be treated with the respect due to the head of the family. The obligations between brothers and sisters are extended, as the children grow older …

  • Law of Property (contd.)

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    Inheritance among the Tswana is governed by various traditional rules coming into force after the death of a person. Property thus donated does not form part of the estate to be dealt with afterwards by the customary rules of inheritance, but belongs absolutely to the child to whom it has been donated. The house property and personal effects inherited by women are divided among themselves in the homestead, the eldest daughter and the senior femal…

  • Law of Property (contd.)

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    Before the coming of the Europeans, the Tswana kept cattle, sheep, goats, fowls, and dogs. Cattle served as pack-animals, the only means of transport apart from human porterage. The mere possession of cattle was in itself a source of status, for a man&s;s wealth was estimated by the size of his herds, and a wealthy man was generally respected and able to exercise much influence in tribal affairs. The laws governing the use and control of cattle a…

  • The Social Structure of the Tswana Tribes

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    The total Native population of Bechuanaland Protectorate, according to the 1936 census, is approximately 260,000. Most of these Natives belong to what ethnologists and linguists term the Tswana cluster of the Sotho group of Bantu-speaking peoples. All communities of non-Tswana origin speak different languages from that of their rulers, with whom, however, they generally communicate in Tswana. The concentration of the population in such large sett…

  • The Tribal Constitution (contd.)

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    A distinction is made in every tribe between its own members and visitors or other aliens. Membership of a tribe, as previously noted, is defined, not in terms of birth, but of allegiance to the Chief. It is possible for people not born into a tribe to become subjects of its Chief, either by conquest or by placing themselves voluntarily under his rule. If the man&s;s application is favourably received, he may sometimes be tested for about a year …

  • Procedure

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    The Ngwato system, like the general social organization of the tribe, is somewhat more complicated than those of other tribes. In Serowe itself there are three official grades of court: the ward court; the sectional court, presided over by the headman of the senior ward in the section; and the Chief&s;s court. The new features are the sectional courts and the courts of the Chief&s;s representatives. The tribal-community courts found among the Ngw…

  • Family Law (contd.)

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    In the olden days an unmarried girl who became pregnant was the object of universal scorn and suffered numerous public humiliations. Her child was often enough killed at birth, or if allowed to live always laboured under a pronounced social stigma. The child of an unmarried woman belongs to her own family. Sometimes the lover wishes to take the child without marrying its mother. This is generally the case when he is a married man whose wife is ba…

  • Law of Contract

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    Contracts of various kinds are known in Tswana law. Women and children, as already indicated, are normally incapable of entering into contracts without the consent of their guardian. He has the power to nullify any independent contract they may make; but can be held liable for their breach of any contract of which he had approved. The presence of witnesses is merely a necessary precaution in case of breach, and instead of going to the kgotla the …

  • Legal Wrongs

    I SchaperaCHAPTERHandbook of Tswana Law and Custom2019

    A part from breaches of contract, the principal legal wrongs dealt with in Tswana courts may be roughly grouped into the following categories: wrongs against the person; wrongs against family rights; wrongs against property; offences against tribal authorities; and sorcery and other &s;unnatural&s; offences. Under old tribal rule, any subject who schemed against the Chief, either with others in the same tribe or with some foreign Chief, was held …

  • The Tswana

    Pauline E Peters, I Schapera et al.ARTICLEThe International Journal of…1994

  • The appointment of Radcliffe Brown to the chair of social anthropology at the university of Cape Town

    I SchaperaARTICLEAfrican Studies1990Cited by: 4References: 4

  • A. R. Brown to Radcliffe-Brown

    I SchaperaARTICLEAnthropology Today1989Cited by: 1

  • Early European Influences on Tswana Law

    Open AccessI SchaperaARTICLEJournal of African Law1987

    In the closing paragraph of his inaugural lecture Law and Language , Professor Allott referred to what he termed “a daunting obstacle” to the intensive study of African legal systems. That obstacle is the rapid disappearance, before our very eyes, of the traditional systems that we have proposed to study. A generation ago there would not have been that difficulty; but today the traditional tribunals have vanished in many African countries where t…

  • Tswana Concepts of Custom and Law

    Open AccessI SchaperaARTICLEJournal of African Law1983

    When discussing rules or modes of conduct, Tswana generally referred to them collectively as mekgwa lemelao (plural forms respectively of mokgwa and molao; le - is a conjunctive formative). In the standard Tswana dictionary, mokgwa is defined as “a custom, a habit, a peculiarity”, and molao as “a law”; and when used together in a single phrase they were usually translated “custom(s) and law(s)” or, since the word order was flexible, “Law(s) and c…

  • Notes on some Herero genealogies

    I SchaperaARTICLEAfrican Studies1979Cited by: 11

    The material published in this paper may be regarded as a factual contribution to the study of Herero history and social organization. Except for the genealogies themselves, which are mainly of historical value, it does not add much that is new to our knowledge of the people, but it does provide some concrete data in the light of which we can examine various current assumptions or differences of opinion about social groupings and marriage regulat…

  • Kgatla notions of ritual impurity

    I SchaperaARTICLEAfrican Studies1979Cited by: 9References: 2

  • Some Notes on Tswana Bogadi

    Open AccessI SchaperaARTICLEJournal of African Law1978Cited by: 4

    In a general survey of Tswana culture, written for the International African Institute twenty-five years ago, I summarized as follows the main features of the bogadi (bridewealth) system