Gurage Social Classification

Formal Notes on an Unusual System

Bibliographic Data

ID7551215
AuthorsRodney Needham (corresponding author)
Year1969
Volume39
Issue2
Pages153-166
Publication date1969-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1157847
OpenAlexW2146726878
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited10

Opening Paragraph The Gurage of south-western Ethiopia possess a form of civilization which is of quite remarkable interest. Their social institutions and modes of livelihood have been well described by Dr. William A. Shack in his work The Gurage (1966). This admirable monograph has received in The Times Literary Supplement a long analytical review (Anon., 1966) couched for the most part in highly laudatory terms with which I readily identify myself. The review concentrates on the principles of Gurage mystical ideology, which is a source of great fascination and the discovery of which stands to Dr. Shack's enduring credit, but it also expresses incidentally certain reservations concerning the ethnographer's analysis of the relationship terminology. The purpose of the present notes is to take up these critical points and to isolate in the terms of social classification a formal feature which makes the Gurage of exceptional sociological interest as well

Archaeology · Epistemology · Ideology · Linguistics · Livelihood · Paragraph · Political science · Sociology · Terminology · African history and culture analysis · Attention Economy in Education and Business · History · Law · Philosophy