Journal of African Studies
Online ISSN : 1884-5533
Print ISSN : 0065-4140
ISSN-L : 0065-4140
Volume 1982, Issue 21
Displaying 1-8 of 8 articles from this issue
  • Yuji ANKEI
    1982 Volume 1982 Issue 21 Pages 1-56
    Published: March 30, 1982
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    A field survey in collaboration with the Institut de Recherche Scientifique was carried out near Kindu and Baraka, Région du Kivu, République du Zaïre (Sep. 1979-Feb. 1980).
    Folk-knowledge of the fish is described in detail for the two areas. The author identified 99 species from the Zaïre River and 97 species from Lake Tanganyika.
    Songola fishermen (Enya group) along the Zaïre River had 108 vernacular names and 12 inclusive folk categories of the fish, consisting of six levels of categorization. There existed 18 series of fishes, in which one fish has two to four different vernacular names according to its life-cycle stages (L. S. fish). All L. S. fishes of the Enya group were large-sized fishes and their names changed by growth size. This fact was probably in accordance with the mesh sizes of traditional fishnets.
    Bwari fishermen of northern Tanganyika had 79 vernacuar names and 4 inclusive folk categories, consisting of three levels. There existed 8 L. S. fishes. They were diverse in body size and a small clupeid NDAGAA, one of the most abundant and important fishes for the Lake Tanganyika fishermen, had as many as four life-cycle stages according to its market price.
    Thus, Lake Tanganyika fishermen had a simpler system of folk-taxonomy of the fish than the Zaïre River fishermen. This differrence might be understood by the difference in the composition of the fish fauna of the two areas; in Lake Tanganyika while small-sized cichlid species (called inclusively as LENDA by the Bwari) are dominant, NDAGAA prevails in the catch.
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  • Kazuyo ISEKI
    1982 Volume 1982 Issue 21 Pages 57-74
    Published: March 30, 1982
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    There are, at present, in Togo and Ghana, numerous textile workshops where long, narrow strip cloth of a width of approximately ten centimeters, are woven. These long strips are sewn together to produce one large piece of cloth which is then used as wearing apparel. Kente cloth, the representative type from this region, was in the past used only as clothing by the court of the Asante kingdom. In recent times, Kente cloth began to be worn by the general population and now it is produced by both the Ewe as well as the Asante. As the finished cloth was quite similar, it was not clear, however, whether or not these two different peoples employed exactly the same techniques during the weaving process. In order to determine where such points of similarity or difference in method might exist, this author spent the three months from December 1980 to March 1981 at the workshop of Mr. Adjakpley Kafu Mawu, located in Asshoun in the village of Tsévié, which is located in the coastal region of the Republic of Togo. The results of the investigation, described below, indicate that there are, in fact, striking differences between the respective techniques used in the preparation, that is, the looming of the warp threads.
    The production of Kente cloth begins by counting out the desired number of threads and cutting them to the length of what will be the finished material. Each tribe uses both different numbers of warpbeams and spaces them differently, and the methods by which the warp threads are wound are completely different. In order to loom the threads, by passing them through the heddles and reeds, the Ewe let them hang from the loom where as the Asante spread them on the ground. In addition to such technical differences, the looms themselves are not identical. Although both peoples use standing looms, the Ewe use crossbeams around which the finished cloth is wound as well as backbeams which form part of the posts of the loom, and are therefore fixed in position. The Asante, on the other hand, arrange these two features so that they can be adjusted to the seated height of the weaver. In addition, the Ewe use stone blocks or string to fix the crossbeams into position, while the Asante employ the backbeams for this purpose. Nevertheless, when the Kente cloth is finally removed from the loom, it is impossible to tell from the finished product alone whether the weaver was an Ewe or an Asante.
    If only the production techniques form the basis of comparison, it may be said that those of the Asante are superior. In defense, however, it must be noted that the Ewe have only recently begun to weave this type of cloth. The traditional techniques which the Ewe have preserved over the years are manifested in their production of this type of cloth as well as in the traditional cloth which they have always produced, known as Lokpo cloth, and it is only in the final designs that are woven into the finished cloth that the Asante features can be seen.
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  • Masaoki MIYAMOTO
    1982 Volume 1982 Issue 21 Pages 75-89
    Published: March 30, 1982
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Shigenori DOI
    1982 Volume 1982 Issue 21 Pages 90-96
    Published: March 30, 1982
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • 1982 Volume 1982 Issue 21 Pages 97-103
    Published: March 30, 1982
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
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  • Shuhei SHIMADA
    1982 Volume 1982 Issue 21 Pages 104-106
    Published: March 30, 1982
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Shigeki KAJI
    1982 Volume 1982 Issue 21 Pages 106-110
    Published: March 30, 1982
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Paul K. EGUCHI
    1982 Volume 1982 Issue 21 Pages 111
    Published: March 30, 1982
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
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