Journal of African Studies
Online ISSN : 1884-5533
Print ISSN : 0065-4140
ISSN-L : 0065-4140
Volume 2003, Issue 62
Displaying 1-10 of 10 articles from this issue
  • Keiko MORI
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 3-30
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In 1884, an illiterate fisherman who lived in a village near Dakar began to preach to his neighbors. The fisherman belonged to the Lebu ethnic group. Many Lebu people thought him a fool, but some followed him. His followers believed him to be a Mahdi and the reincarnation of Prophet Muhammad. After three months' imprisonment by the French administration, the preacher became an Islamic brotherhood's founder and people called him Limamou Laye. Issa Laye, Limamou Laye's son, succeeded to his father's mission, and followers believed him to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
    This article focussed on the reincarnations. There are two points of them. First, Muhammad and Jesus were reborn from the white race to the black race. Second, Muhammad came first as the father and Jesus second as the son. Why did the two white prophets recincarnate black successively?
    As for traditional religion, the Lebu have inherited cults of possession. These traditional beliefs have been fused with Islam these 150 years, with its general expansion. And after the French colonization of West Africa, most of the Lebu's land in the Cape Verde peninsula have been urbanized drastically by overwhelming European civilization which white christians introduced.
    The urgent problem the Lebu have to solve is, to establish their moral independency without converting to christianity and to accept European civilization.
    I proposed a hypothesis about the reincarnations as follows: the prophets' reincarnations mean the black integration of Islam and christianity, both of which came from the white race; the successive reincarnations mean the superiority of Islam over christianity, for the father-founder is superior to the son-successor to Lebu's traditional way of thinking. They respect their father and family ties.
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  • the Case of the Gold Coast Colony, British West Africa
    Yasuo MIZOBE
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 31-42
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper discusses the change in the relationship between African Elites and British colonial government at the turn of the century. It elucidates the role of Africans who served in the colonial government (African colonial civil servants) in British West Africa, especially in the Gold Coast Colony (now southern part of Ghana) from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century.
    There are many Africans who were employed by and played an important role in the colonial government until the end of the 19th century, and the British colonial government recognized the importance of these Africans in the administration. One of the reasons why a lot of Africans were employed during this period was the very severe conditions in which the Europeans found themselves, including sickness, money shortages, and a typical European lack of knowledge about local affairs etc. Considering this fact, we can assert that for a better understanding of the whole Partition of Africa period, it is necessary for us to pay attention not only to the African resistance to colonial powers but also to the roles of African colonial civil servants.
    In addition, the switch in British policy and its influences at the turn of the century made educated Africans, some of whom had become civil servants, foster a sense of solidarity beyond the idea of “tribe”. That subsequently lead to Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism, both of which are important subjects in the 20th century African history.
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  • Toward to the Ethnography of Death and the Regeneration of Life
    Shozo AKUTSU
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 43-55
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    As the proverb goes, Åeabusua do funÅf, meaning that the matri-lineage loves a corpse, the Asante is accused of showing more interest in dead persons than in living one. My view of the Asante funeral is that it is more political and economic than religious, more this-worldly than other-worldly. Grieving, mourning and bereavement are universal experiences shaped by cultural and historical determinants and expressed in specific ritual forms. To appreciate the significance of Asante mourning rituals it is important to understand something of the belief system with regard to death and status of the deceased.
    This paper describes and analyses the funeral rites of the Asante of Ghana, in partucular, the intention is to examine the political significance of Asante mourning rituals in the context of the present of ethnography and practice of the demise and enthronement of Asantehene. On the one hand, in the context of mourning practices, what ethnographer describes death, dying and funeral may begin the moment death is announced and extend to completion of burial rites as evident in the following rituals: ritual weeping and wailing, body washing, burial ground and rituals, head shaving, mortuary feast, and inheritance and succession rituals. On the other hand, in the context of ritual framework of accession and succession, Opoku Ware II (1970-1999) died on 25 February 1999 and Osei Tutu II was nominated as the new Asantehene on 29 March 1999, after necessary procedures were taken by the kingmakers. About ten days later, on ÇW April 1999, the 40th day celebration of Opoku Ware II was held. Then on 26 April 1999 which fell on [41] monodwo of the Akan calendar, Osei Tutu II was enthroned after undergoing a formal enthronement ceremony. It is significant to set up two ritual frameworks for discussing the meaning of funeral rites. The first ritual framework is that in which necessary procedures were taken by those responsible for selection of the king, that is, the Asantehemaa and councilors according to the mode of succession to throne. The second ritual framework is the one in which king was formally enthroned the former king's funeral and the attestation ceremony.
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  • un Sens du Pouvoir Symbolique
    Takuo IWATA
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 57-63
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Comment pouvait Eyadéma s'agripper à son pouvoir pendant 36 années au Togo, le régime qui a le plus longuement duré en Afrique Sub-Saharienne? Dans cet article, nous nous focalisons sur le pouvoir non-materiellement constitué qui complète et renforce le pouvoir materiellement constitué. Nous réfléchissons sur le mode de pouvoir non-materiel appelé “Eyadémaïsme” au Togo en nous référant au concept de “pouvoir symbolique” présenté par Pierre Bourdieu.
    Nous commençons par l'analyse des éléments principaux, comme la mystification, les surnoms, la religion et la re-traditionnalisation, qui composaient l'Eyadémaïsme; par la suite, nous abortions l'étude de sa formation pendant les années 1970. Nous considerons également la corruption graduelle de l'Eyadémaïsme depuis le debut des années 1980, et sa crise et resurrection durant le processus démocratique Bans les années 1990.
    Pour terminer, nous présenterons une compréhension du mode de pouvoir Eyadémaïste et également un aspect du pouvoir relatif à la domination dans la politique africaine.
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  • Slavery, Colonial Experience, Nationalist Movement and After
    Sayaka Funata
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 65-70
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Masato Sawada
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 71-73
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • [in Japanese]
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 85-86
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (371K)
  • [in Japanese]
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 86-88
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (612K)
  • [in Japanese]
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 89-91
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Download PDF (559K)
  • [in Japanese]
    2003 Volume 2003 Issue 62 Pages 91-96
    Published: March 31, 2003
    Released on J-STAGE: April 30, 2010
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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