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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Western Bantu Tradition and the Notion of Tradition
Author:Vansina, JanISNI
Year:1989
Periodical:Paideuma
Volume:35
Pages:289-300
Language:English
Geographic term:Subsaharan Africa
Subjects:Blacks
traditions
oral history
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Anthropology and Archaeology
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/40733040
Abstract:The notion of 'tradition' is crucial to anthropology. Specific 'traditions' can be concretely described. There is a measure of integration in each social system and within each culture and this integration is part of tradition, despite the fact that different customs, opinions, practices have been acquired at different times albeit never in a haphazard way. Moreover, some conceptions and activities are the result of momentous choices between alternatives which affect all parts of society and culture and give it its 'style'. Once made, such choices last for periods measured in millennia rather than in centuries. They set the parameters for future development within the tradition. This argument is illustrated by the example of the Western Bantu tradition in Central Africa, whose spread can be dated, at this time, between perhaps 1800 BC and AD 1. On the basis of linguistic and archaeological evidence, a description is given of the Westen Bantu tradition, paying attention to food acquisition, social and political institutions, and worldview. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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