Book Cover
E-book
Author Freeman, Dena

Title Initiating change in highland Ethiopia : the causes and consequences of cultural transformation / Dena Freeman
Published Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2002

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Description 1 online resource (x, 180 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents Introduction : theorising change -- The recent history of the Gamo Highlands -- Production and reproduction -- The sacrificial system -- The Initiatory system -- Experiencing change -- Assemblies and incremental cultural change -- Transformation versus devolution : the organisational dynamics of change
Summary "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 new 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 organisation of the cultural systems themselves. This insight leads to a rethinking of the analytic tension between structure and agency that is at the heart of contemporary anthropological theory."--Jacket
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-178) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Gamo (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies
Social change -- Case studies
Gamo (African people) -- Social conditions
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
Social change
Sozialer Wandel
Soziale Situation
Ritual
Gamo
Genre/Form Case studies
Case studies.
Études de cas.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 0511177844
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