This article puts forward a resolution to a curious circumstance, namely, why the left, and not the right, appears to be pre-eminent among the Himba. Himba arrange gendered, domestic and ritual space, their own bodies in ritual contexts and, to an extent, time strongly in favour of the left. The fact that in their language ‘left’ connotes weakness while ‘right’ connotes strength adds to the puzzle. It is argued that, to understand this apparent contradiction of the near-universal classificatory ascendancy of right over left, one must assess the Himba dual symbolic system while drawing upon the principle of symbolic parallax which allows a single referent, in this case the sacred ancestral fire, to be viewed from differing spatial perspectives. By following this procedure the puzzle is resolved, as the human direction from which the primary referent is viewed is merely the mirror image of a transcendant view.

Basé sur des faits observés chez les Luba du Shaba (Zaïre) et leurs voisins, cet article analyse le rapport entre le roi sacré et les esprits. Le lien puissant qui les unit apparaît comme une source importante de l'efficacité symbolique de la royauté, trop souvent réduite au seul thème de la monstruosité ou de l'ambivalence du souverain. L'épopée du royaume sert de fil conducteur, car elle évoque de façon subtile trois institutions au coeur de cette problématique : le culte des ancêtres royaux, l'épreuve d'intronisation qui marque l'accord des esprits pour un candidat, l'emploi de reliques pour transmettre un principe spirituel. Ces rites royaux apparaissent en situation de continuité avec les rites du commun dont ils constituent des formes complexes. La spécificité du roi apparaît plus nettement dans l'usage des reliques qui font de lui le prolongement vivant de ses prédécesseurs.

This article focuses on the symbolic qualities of sorghum beer and milk among the Iraqw of northern Tanzania. The author illustrates how the villagers in a southern Mbulu village handle and make use of these two products, and seeks to illuminate the manner in which they both become associated with qualities that are perceived as positive and desirable. With the spread of the market economy, and of money as a medium of exchange, the symbolic content of sorghum beer and milk has come under considerable pressure. As products in demand, they may today circulate in impersonal relations which lack the social and religious qualities that they traditionally communicated. The monetisation of sorghum beer and milk has not, however, caused a breakdown in established practices, or in the structures of meaning in which such practices are embedded. The article illuminates some of the processes which seem to be of importance in explaining this remarkable cultural continuity in the face of fairly radical social change. The examples of sorghum beer and milk seem to reflect and highlight more general dynamics of change and continuity among the Iraqw, and it is suggested that they may help to shed light on certain seemingly paradoxical ways in which the Iraqw have been conceived by outsiders and by members of neighbouring ethnic groups.

Ironsmiths occupy an important yet ambiguous position in many African societies. They are both revered and feared, because they wield social power which arises from their access to occult knowledge, not only of metallurgy but of healing, divination, circumcision and peacemaking. In some societies smiths enjoy high status and are the wealthiest people. In others they are feared, covertly maligned, and blamed for societal misfortunes. In still others the smiths' position is often marginal except when they are needed to intercede on their society's behalf to solve natural or cultural predicaments. The forge or smithy plays a central role in the community as tool-making centre, a place of refuge from violence, of purification, and for healing. This article examines the social context of iron forging among the ironsmiths of the Kenya coast, focusing on the role of iron forging in the coastal economy, the forge, the smiths' life cycle, the institution of apprenticeship, the ritual and technical power of smiths, the role of women in the smiths' community, and the future of iron forging on the coast. It is argued that, while coastal smiths are marginal and despised, they hold important ritual and spiritual powers in coastal society. The article concludes that a detailed understanding of the traditional crafts historically practised on the coast can do much to illuminate the complex history of coastal society.

Within demography, high fertility in sub-Saharan Africa was considered until recently to reflect a demand for children firmly rooted in indigenous social institutions, which were resistant to external forces of change. On the basis of findings from recent Demographic and Health Surveys, Caldwell et al. (1992) suggest that many of the institutional supports for high fertility in sub-Saharan Africa—such as lineage-based descent systems, polygyny, bridewealth, extended kinship structures, child fostering, and communal land tenure—are being eroded. This article considers changes in the value of children among the Kikuyu of Central Province, Kenya, and the extent to which the social institutions which have traditionally supported high fertility have persisted. Fieldwork undertaken in two ethnically homogenous communities, one rural and one peri-urban, reveals significant variation in the fertility motives and value of children in the two communities. In the rural community many of the indigenous social supports for high fertility, although modified, cohere. In the context of economic insecurity and lack of access to land (especially for women without sons), manipulation of customary kinship and marriage practices (supported by the persistence of many indigenous religious beliefs and ideologies about fertility) has become strategically important for realising fertility desires. There is, however, unmet demand for modern contraception, due largely to lack of access to and the poor quality of family planning services. In contrast, in the peri-urban community, where access to family planning services is relatively good, there has been effective legitimation of fertility regulation and the use of modern contraception is widespread. There is markedly less economic insecurity: wage labour opportunities are available, and some women have successfully challenged male control over land. Consequently, there is reduced demand for children, although a number of the indigenous cultural supports for high : fertility retain residual importance.

This article examines the nature of agrarian change in the Kusasi area of north-east Ghana. In focusing upon the dynamic of population growth the study has relevance to the recently rejoined discussion concerning the relationship between population growth and agricultural change. The context in which population growth is proceeding in Kusasi is presented as significantly different from that of other parts of tropical Africa where population growth has been recognised as the dynamic bringing about more productive and sustainable systems. In Kusasi's peripheral and subsistence-oriented economy population growth has led to increased pressure on the biological resources of the region. The permanent compound farming system of the area is now increasingly unable to provide sufficient subsistence for household needs, and, although expansion of farmland into areas recently freed from onchocerciasis is taking place, this is interpreted as merely a temporary respite in the interrelated processes of continuing environmental degradation and declining productivity under the prevailing agricultural system. The article raises the question of how, in the absence of progressive change brought about by population growth, development for regions like Kusasi is to be envisaged. Current programmes of agricultural development are considered in the context of past initiatives.