Strategies and Norms in a Changing Matrilineal Society
Descent, Succession and Inheritance among the Toka of Zambia

An analysis of changes in the kinship patterns of the Toka of South Zambia.

Ladislav Holy (Author)

9780521303002, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 April 1986

248 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.54 kg

The theme of this book is the analysis of the changes that have occurred in the kinship patterns of the Toka of South Zambia as a result of a shift in their form of production from hoe agriculture to ox-drawn ploughing. Dr Holy uses the rich, detailed ethnography that he provides about these changes to confront several theoretical issues of current anthropological interest, as well as to examine the basic methodological problems of anthropological enquiry. Emphasizing the distinction between the conceptual and cognitive world of the actors, and the transactions and events in which they engage, he argues that anthropological explanation has to account not only for structure, but also for the purposeful interaction between actors that generates that structure.

List of maps and diagrams
List of tanles
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Descent categories and local ties in traditional Toka society
2. Technological development and the restructuring of the relations of production
3. Changing norms of inheritance
4. The structure of local groups
5. The changing concept of the basimukowa
6. Mukowa and ritual
7. The role of the mukowa in succession
8. The role of the mukowa in inheritance
9. Mukowa: representational and operational models
10. Norms as a strategic resource
Appendices
Notes
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]