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International African Institute Le Séparatisme religieux en Afrique noire: l'exemple de la Côte d'Ivoire by B. Holas Review by: A. J. F. Köbben Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Apr., 1966), pp. 207-209 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1158207 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 03:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Cambridge University Press and International African Institute are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.2.32.89 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 03:28:45 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Le Séparatisme religieux en Afrique noire: l'exemple de la Côte d'Ivoireby B. Holas

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International African Institute

Le Séparatisme religieux en Afrique noire: l'exemple de la Côte d'Ivoire by B. HolasReview by: A. J. F. KöbbenAfrica: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Apr., 1966), pp. 207-209Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1158207 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 03:28

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Cambridge University Press and International African Institute are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to Africa: Journal of the International African Institute.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.89 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 03:28:45 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Le Séparatisme religieux en Afrique noire: l'exemple de la Côte d'Ivoireby B. Holas

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 207 functions is, of course, not new, but Dr. Spencer does go a step further in specifying a mechanism in this case, and this seems to be a useful area for future collaboration between psychologists and anthropologists.

R. G. ABRAHAMS

The Material Culture of the Ambo of Northern Rhodesia. By BRONISLAW STEFANISZYN. The Occasional Papers of the Rhodes-Livingstone Museum, No. i6, I964. Pp. 94. 6s.

THIS is a lively account of many aspects of Ambo behaviour, written by a Jesuit missionary whose main study, Social and Ritual Life of the Ambo, has already been published by the International African Institute (I964). It includes details that are often missing from accounts by social anthropologists. But there are many tantalizing allusions to what one

suspects are important organizational phenomena and to important aspects of technological processes. As this is an occasional paper on material culture it is perhaps the latter which are more important. In many cases sufficient detail is not included to make the accounts really valuable either for understanding the technological processes involved or for any useful ' time and motion' analysis. Some detailed information is included on the building of huts but illustrations and dimensions are sadly lacking. Some of the missing details could have been given in a sentence or two-e.g. the length of time that old fields are left fallow; whether gourds are' trained ' or used as they come; how much time is spent on, and which

particular Ambo are concerned with, the protection of crops. The detailed account of the food preferences among the Ambo (and the comparison

between the Ambo and the Bemba) is extremely interesting as is also Stefaniszyn's descrip- tion of the sexual division of labour in many of the technological activities. Within each

technological subdivision, however, much more detail is needed. Pottery provides a good example: no details are given about the experimental firing; what are the Ambo criteria for ' stiffening ' clay ? why is a cumbersome technique employed where the top and the bottom of a vessel have to be made separately? what equipment is used in firing the vessels?

why is it not worth the while of the majority of women learning to make pottery vessels? It is encouraging to find in this account of the Ambo clear detail of hunting and trapping

equipment, but in what way does hunting constitute the most ' useful' Ambo economic

activity? The social implications of fishing techniques are not dealt with; for example, virtually nothing is said about the organization of the communal weirs. In short, if this occasional paper had been extended to double its present length, contained twice as much detailed exposition and illustrations, it would have been an outstanding account of the material equipment and technology of a Northern Rhodesian tribe. As it is, it provides a welcome and vivacious account of the way of life of the Ambo.

PETER UCKO

Le Separatisme religieux en Afrique noire: I'exemple de la Cdte d'Ivoire. Par B. HOLAS. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, I965. Pp. 410, ill., carte. 18 F.

IN this book the author presents a panorama of the new religious movements that have occurred in Ivory Coast. He succeeds very well in giving the reader an impression of their extreme multiplicity and diversity, while at the same time managing to bring order into this chaos by distinguishing types of movements. These are: (a) more orless syncretistic movements

-strongly influenced by Christianity-among the coastal-belt tribes; (b) movements among the Baule, inspired by traditional religious ideas rather than by Christianity; (c) movements in the savannahs of the north (among the Senufo and their neighbours) which are to be

regarded as elaborations of autochtonous religions. The author does not forget to indicate

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 207 functions is, of course, not new, but Dr. Spencer does go a step further in specifying a mechanism in this case, and this seems to be a useful area for future collaboration between psychologists and anthropologists.

R. G. ABRAHAMS

The Material Culture of the Ambo of Northern Rhodesia. By BRONISLAW STEFANISZYN. The Occasional Papers of the Rhodes-Livingstone Museum, No. i6, I964. Pp. 94. 6s.

THIS is a lively account of many aspects of Ambo behaviour, written by a Jesuit missionary whose main study, Social and Ritual Life of the Ambo, has already been published by the International African Institute (I964). It includes details that are often missing from accounts by social anthropologists. But there are many tantalizing allusions to what one

suspects are important organizational phenomena and to important aspects of technological processes. As this is an occasional paper on material culture it is perhaps the latter which are more important. In many cases sufficient detail is not included to make the accounts really valuable either for understanding the technological processes involved or for any useful ' time and motion' analysis. Some detailed information is included on the building of huts but illustrations and dimensions are sadly lacking. Some of the missing details could have been given in a sentence or two-e.g. the length of time that old fields are left fallow; whether gourds are' trained ' or used as they come; how much time is spent on, and which

particular Ambo are concerned with, the protection of crops. The detailed account of the food preferences among the Ambo (and the comparison

between the Ambo and the Bemba) is extremely interesting as is also Stefaniszyn's descrip- tion of the sexual division of labour in many of the technological activities. Within each

technological subdivision, however, much more detail is needed. Pottery provides a good example: no details are given about the experimental firing; what are the Ambo criteria for ' stiffening ' clay ? why is a cumbersome technique employed where the top and the bottom of a vessel have to be made separately? what equipment is used in firing the vessels?

why is it not worth the while of the majority of women learning to make pottery vessels? It is encouraging to find in this account of the Ambo clear detail of hunting and trapping

equipment, but in what way does hunting constitute the most ' useful' Ambo economic

activity? The social implications of fishing techniques are not dealt with; for example, virtually nothing is said about the organization of the communal weirs. In short, if this occasional paper had been extended to double its present length, contained twice as much detailed exposition and illustrations, it would have been an outstanding account of the material equipment and technology of a Northern Rhodesian tribe. As it is, it provides a welcome and vivacious account of the way of life of the Ambo.

PETER UCKO

Le Separatisme religieux en Afrique noire: I'exemple de la Cdte d'Ivoire. Par B. HOLAS. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, I965. Pp. 410, ill., carte. 18 F.

IN this book the author presents a panorama of the new religious movements that have occurred in Ivory Coast. He succeeds very well in giving the reader an impression of their extreme multiplicity and diversity, while at the same time managing to bring order into this chaos by distinguishing types of movements. These are: (a) more orless syncretistic movements

-strongly influenced by Christianity-among the coastal-belt tribes; (b) movements among the Baule, inspired by traditional religious ideas rather than by Christianity; (c) movements in the savannahs of the north (among the Senufo and their neighbours) which are to be

regarded as elaborations of autochtonous religions. The author does not forget to indicate

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 207 functions is, of course, not new, but Dr. Spencer does go a step further in specifying a mechanism in this case, and this seems to be a useful area for future collaboration between psychologists and anthropologists.

R. G. ABRAHAMS

The Material Culture of the Ambo of Northern Rhodesia. By BRONISLAW STEFANISZYN. The Occasional Papers of the Rhodes-Livingstone Museum, No. i6, I964. Pp. 94. 6s.

THIS is a lively account of many aspects of Ambo behaviour, written by a Jesuit missionary whose main study, Social and Ritual Life of the Ambo, has already been published by the International African Institute (I964). It includes details that are often missing from accounts by social anthropologists. But there are many tantalizing allusions to what one

suspects are important organizational phenomena and to important aspects of technological processes. As this is an occasional paper on material culture it is perhaps the latter which are more important. In many cases sufficient detail is not included to make the accounts really valuable either for understanding the technological processes involved or for any useful ' time and motion' analysis. Some detailed information is included on the building of huts but illustrations and dimensions are sadly lacking. Some of the missing details could have been given in a sentence or two-e.g. the length of time that old fields are left fallow; whether gourds are' trained ' or used as they come; how much time is spent on, and which

particular Ambo are concerned with, the protection of crops. The detailed account of the food preferences among the Ambo (and the comparison

between the Ambo and the Bemba) is extremely interesting as is also Stefaniszyn's descrip- tion of the sexual division of labour in many of the technological activities. Within each

technological subdivision, however, much more detail is needed. Pottery provides a good example: no details are given about the experimental firing; what are the Ambo criteria for ' stiffening ' clay ? why is a cumbersome technique employed where the top and the bottom of a vessel have to be made separately? what equipment is used in firing the vessels?

why is it not worth the while of the majority of women learning to make pottery vessels? It is encouraging to find in this account of the Ambo clear detail of hunting and trapping

equipment, but in what way does hunting constitute the most ' useful' Ambo economic

activity? The social implications of fishing techniques are not dealt with; for example, virtually nothing is said about the organization of the communal weirs. In short, if this occasional paper had been extended to double its present length, contained twice as much detailed exposition and illustrations, it would have been an outstanding account of the material equipment and technology of a Northern Rhodesian tribe. As it is, it provides a welcome and vivacious account of the way of life of the Ambo.

PETER UCKO

Le Separatisme religieux en Afrique noire: I'exemple de la Cdte d'Ivoire. Par B. HOLAS. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, I965. Pp. 410, ill., carte. 18 F.

IN this book the author presents a panorama of the new religious movements that have occurred in Ivory Coast. He succeeds very well in giving the reader an impression of their extreme multiplicity and diversity, while at the same time managing to bring order into this chaos by distinguishing types of movements. These are: (a) more orless syncretistic movements

-strongly influenced by Christianity-among the coastal-belt tribes; (b) movements among the Baule, inspired by traditional religious ideas rather than by Christianity; (c) movements in the savannahs of the north (among the Senufo and their neighbours) which are to be

regarded as elaborations of autochtonous religions. The author does not forget to indicate

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.89 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 03:28:45 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 3: Le Séparatisme religieux en Afrique noire: l'exemple de la Côte d'Ivoireby B. Holas

where such movements do not occur, or are only weakly developed: they are absent among the strongly catholicized Agni in the south-eastern part of the republic-a remarkable fact which would have merited ampler discussion-and, also among Islamic groups in the north, as well as among the tribes in the extreme western part of the country, where acculturative influences are weakest.

Notwithstanding important differences between them, all the movements have in common that they are primarily directed against sorcery and witchcraft, that is, against the anti-social forces people feel to be present in their own society. Movements directed against external influences (foreign domination), such as Kimbanguism in the former Belgian Congo or Mau Mau in Kenya, have not occurred in Ivory Coast, although this element is present in some cases as a secondary motive.

M. Holas's book is to be commended for the sharply delineated picture he gives of some of these movements. An example is that of the prophet Boto Adai, hardly a spectacular movement, but for this very reason probably more representative than those which get most of the attention in the literature. The author gives us not only its structure at one particular moment, but also something which we find much more rarely in the literature on religious cults: its history. Most of the movements discussed are rather short-lived. Here the author rightly points out that they are very much dependent on the person of their founder; when he becomes less active because of old age, the movement is bound to decay since there is no real organization, in other words the cults do not become real churches (pp. 90, 194, 363; part ii, ch. 15). Competition, moreover, is strong: every now and again new prophets present themselves. As an additional explanation it may be pointed out that these movements are to be seen as a reaction against the tensions present in society: they are a way of overcoming the fear of sorcery. Since the tensions themselves do not disappear, this self-created defence- mechanism is all too soon felt to be deficient.

More sobriety in the descriptions would have benefited the book. On some pages the author writes not so much history as petite histoire: minor data having hardly any sociological relevance. Again, it might have been better had a number of less important cults, which the author himself knew only indirectly and superficially, been omitted (e.g. pp. 232, 240, 298, 364). The repeated enumeration of villages where such and such a prophet has followers seems superfluous. The author stresses the fact that the Deima-cult has been founded and led by a woman (the prophetess Marie Lalu). He thinks this to be a logical situation, 'because the tribe in question has an archaic social system including matrilineal descent, which resembles closely . . . the matriarchy of some social theorists ' (p. 305). This is quite an amazing statement, given the fact that the Godie, Dida, and Bete, among whom the Deiana- cult originated and where the cult has most of its followers, are as patrilineal as one might wish.

While the descriptive parts of M. Holas's book, are quite valuable, this reviewer must confess to feeling less happy with its general introduction (pp. I-62). Here the apparatus of footnotes is lengthier than the text itself, so that the reader is sorely tried when attempting to follow the writer's argument, which is not presented as a continuous discussion, but rather in a sequence of fairly disparate facts and ideas (e.g. pp. 24-28, 43-45). As to its content, a theme that comes repeatedly to the fore is the origin of the cults. The writer suggests as their main cause the rapid-he says too rapid-process of political emancipation, which is not followed by equally rapid social and material progress. Thus disappointed in his expectations, ' the African has easy recourse to imaginary substitutions thanks to his natural inclination to mysticism' (p. 2, vide also pp. I4-15, 230-I, 237). Apart from the dubious generalization in this sentence, one is bound to remark that the explanation is hardly applicable to the move- ments in question for the simple fact that their origin lies before I960, the year of in- dependence, and for most of them even before the so-called loi cadre of I956. It is not

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 208

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.89 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 03:28:45 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 4: Le Séparatisme religieux en Afrique noire: l'exemple de la Côte d'Ivoireby B. Holas

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 209

impossible that the combination of factors referred to will generate 'prophetic' move- ments, but that is a thing of the future. As against this point of view it may be said that the colonial situation in itself, as so many reports have demonstrated, has been at the root of quite a number of prophetic movements.

The author's remarks on some other general matters are also questionable, for instance those about 'the' mentality of 'the' African, which is alleged to be 'pratiquement immuable ' (p. 363, vide also pp. 12, 113, 363). What does the author mean by saying that ' nature opposes to all human efforts at " Gleichschaltung " its imperative law of categories based on qualitative distinctions, in other words the principle of objective hierarchies'? (p. I4). On p. 59, we meet with a kind of anthropo-geographical reasoning, which this re- viewer would have thought had become extinct, viz. the suggestion that living in the tropical forest has an 'influence opprimante' upon man, which would be particularly liable to generate religious sentiments. A. J. F. K6BBEN

Sectarianism in Southern Nyasaland. By R. L. WISHLADE. London: Oxford University Press, for the International African Institute, I965. Pp. 62. 3 2. 6d.

DURING the last decade there has been a steady output ofworks describing independent church movements in Africa, but Dr. Wishlade appears to be one of the first anthropologists to make sectarianism the primary focus of his field-work. His research was carried out in I 958/9 in the Mlanje District of what was then Nyasaland (now Malawi),where he found twenty-eight different religious organizations. Of these, seventeen could be regarded as ' African sects' because they were entirely under African leadership and control. He also spent some time in Chikwawa District where there were two missions operating but no African sects. Both areas were heterogeneous in tribal composition and largely similar in social organization.

In his discussion of the reasons for the growth of African sects in Mlanje, Wishlade is able to test out some of his ideas in Chikwawa area where sectarianism was absent. For example, one strand of his argument goes as follows. All but one of the African sects are of the 'simple secessionist type ', that is, they have not been formed 'as a result of protest against the doctrines or ritual of the parent body ' (p. 4). Moreover few have instituted any major organizational changes: most are modelled on the same pattern of ecclesiastical authority as the group from which they seceded and employ similar techniques of prosely- tization. Thus the establishment of a new sect must be seen primarily in terms of the competition for power and status taking place within a particular religious body but which can no longer be contained within it. Yet why should there be such a proliferation of sects in Mlanje and none in Chikwawa?

One part of Wishlade's answer is framed in terms of the lack of opportunites in the present politico-administrative system.' The traditional political system depended upon a relatively low population density and the possibility of expansion into empty or relatively unoccupied areas' (p. 89). But today in Mlanje, where the population density is about 138 persons per square mile, there is little land available for the setting up of new settlements and it is no longer possible under present administrative arrangements for new areas to be colonized and new chiefdoms formed. Hence 'The traditional avenue to power and prestige is now blocked except for those succeeding, on the basis of descent, to an already existing office' (p. 91). In Chikwawa District, however, the population density is about thirty-one persons per square mile and new settlements were being established when Wishlade was there in I9 5 9. He suggests therefore that whereas in Mlanje 'the ecclesiastical organization provides the means of acquiring followers for those unable to do so in other spheres ', in Chikwawa this can still be achieved within a traditional political context (p. 84).

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 209

impossible that the combination of factors referred to will generate 'prophetic' move- ments, but that is a thing of the future. As against this point of view it may be said that the colonial situation in itself, as so many reports have demonstrated, has been at the root of quite a number of prophetic movements.

The author's remarks on some other general matters are also questionable, for instance those about 'the' mentality of 'the' African, which is alleged to be 'pratiquement immuable ' (p. 363, vide also pp. 12, 113, 363). What does the author mean by saying that ' nature opposes to all human efforts at " Gleichschaltung " its imperative law of categories based on qualitative distinctions, in other words the principle of objective hierarchies'? (p. I4). On p. 59, we meet with a kind of anthropo-geographical reasoning, which this re- viewer would have thought had become extinct, viz. the suggestion that living in the tropical forest has an 'influence opprimante' upon man, which would be particularly liable to generate religious sentiments. A. J. F. K6BBEN

Sectarianism in Southern Nyasaland. By R. L. WISHLADE. London: Oxford University Press, for the International African Institute, I965. Pp. 62. 3 2. 6d.

DURING the last decade there has been a steady output ofworks describing independent church movements in Africa, but Dr. Wishlade appears to be one of the first anthropologists to make sectarianism the primary focus of his field-work. His research was carried out in I 958/9 in the Mlanje District of what was then Nyasaland (now Malawi),where he found twenty-eight different religious organizations. Of these, seventeen could be regarded as ' African sects' because they were entirely under African leadership and control. He also spent some time in Chikwawa District where there were two missions operating but no African sects. Both areas were heterogeneous in tribal composition and largely similar in social organization.

In his discussion of the reasons for the growth of African sects in Mlanje, Wishlade is able to test out some of his ideas in Chikwawa area where sectarianism was absent. For example, one strand of his argument goes as follows. All but one of the African sects are of the 'simple secessionist type ', that is, they have not been formed 'as a result of protest against the doctrines or ritual of the parent body ' (p. 4). Moreover few have instituted any major organizational changes: most are modelled on the same pattern of ecclesiastical authority as the group from which they seceded and employ similar techniques of prosely- tization. Thus the establishment of a new sect must be seen primarily in terms of the competition for power and status taking place within a particular religious body but which can no longer be contained within it. Yet why should there be such a proliferation of sects in Mlanje and none in Chikwawa?

One part of Wishlade's answer is framed in terms of the lack of opportunites in the present politico-administrative system.' The traditional political system depended upon a relatively low population density and the possibility of expansion into empty or relatively unoccupied areas' (p. 89). But today in Mlanje, where the population density is about 138 persons per square mile, there is little land available for the setting up of new settlements and it is no longer possible under present administrative arrangements for new areas to be colonized and new chiefdoms formed. Hence 'The traditional avenue to power and prestige is now blocked except for those succeeding, on the basis of descent, to an already existing office' (p. 91). In Chikwawa District, however, the population density is about thirty-one persons per square mile and new settlements were being established when Wishlade was there in I9 5 9. He suggests therefore that whereas in Mlanje 'the ecclesiastical organization provides the means of acquiring followers for those unable to do so in other spheres ', in Chikwawa this can still be achieved within a traditional political context (p. 84).

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.89 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 03:28:45 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions