Initiating Change in Highland Ethiopia - Causes and Consequences of Cultural Transformation

Informationen zum Autor Dena Freeman is Research Fellow of Queens' College at the University of Cambridge. Klappentext In a rural community in Southern Ethiopia! there are two types of rituals performed by the same people. Historical evidence suggests that one has shown remarkable stability over the years! while the other has undergone massive transformations. External factors are the same! so how is this to be explained? Dena Freeman focuses on ethnographical and historical data from the Gamo Highlands of Southern Ethiopia to tackle the question of cultural change and transformation. She uses a comparative perspective and contrasts the continuity in sacrificial rituals with the rapid divergence and differentiation in initiations. Freeman argues that although external change drives internal cultural transformation! the way in which it does is greatly influenced by the structural organization of the cultural systems themselves. This insight leads to a re-thinking of the analytic tension between structure and agency that is at the heart of contemporary anthropological theory. Zusammenfassung Fascinating insight into cultural change and transformation in a rural community in Southern Ethiopia. Two types of ritual are performed by the same people: one has remained stable! while the other has been transformed. In this 2002 book! Dena Freeman focuses on ethnographical and historical data to analyse how this can occur. Inhaltsverzeichnis List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Select glossary; 1. Introduction: theorising change; 2. The recent history of the Gamo Highlands; 3. Production and reproduction; 4. The sacrificial system; 5. The initiatory system; 6. Experiencing change; 7. Assemblies and incremental cultural change; 8. Transformation versus devolution: the organisational dynamics of change; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Product details

• Authors: Freeman Dena, Dena Freeman, Dena (Queens'' College Freeman, Freeman Dena
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 19.07.2007
• EAN: 9780521037761
• ISBN: 978-0-521-03776-1
• No. of pages: 192
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Politics; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social and cultural anthropology, Ethiopia