CUSTOM & CONFLICT in AFRICA by MAX GLUCKMAN/SCARCE 1960 - $339 - (Harpers Ferry, WV)
CUSTOM AND CONFLICT IN AFRICA. BY MAX GLUCKMAN. Oxford, England : Basil Blackwell, 1960 [1956]. Scarce. A solid and attractive scarce book. Published more than 55 years ago, this edition is now long out of print and hard to find. From the dust jacket: "THESE six broadcast lectures deal with a frequent theme in modern anthropological analysis of AFrican societies, the way in which quarrels are handled and redressed so that an established pattern of social organization and morality is maintained. The central argument is that custom, morals, ritual and belief give men a series of conflicting allegiances which offset one another. Those who are enemies in one set of relationships, are made allies by other customs. Thus varied allegiances strike into the loyalty of separate groups and relationships. The result is that each quarrel arising from the divergent interests or the shortcomings of men lead to wide disturbances of social life, and other influences are brought o bear to reach settlement. Hence, it is suggested, the cohesion of society resides in the conflicting allegiances which its customs impose on its members. In Africa, these processes are exhibited in feuding rebellions against kings, witchcraft accusations, and ritual excesses; and they are also at work in the development of the new societies of Colonial Africa." According to Wikipedia: " (Herman) Max Gluckman (26 January 1911 – 13 April 1975) was a South African and British social anthropologist. He is best known as the founder of the Manchester School of anthropology ... He was widely known for his radio lectures on Custom and Conflict in Africa (later published in many editions at Oxford University Press), being a remarkable contribution to conflict theory. Gluckman was a political activist, openly and forcefully anti-colonial. He engaged directly with social conflicts and cultural contradictions of colonialism, with racism, urbanisation and labour migration. Gluckman combined the British school of st…
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