Patriarchal Structures and Factional Politics. Toward an Understanding of the Dualist Society. - article ; n°50 ; vol.13, pg 326-355

Jean-Claude Willame

Description

Cahiers d'études africaines - Année 1973 - Volume 13 - Numéro 50 - Pages 326-355
J.-C. Willame — Structures patriarcales et factions politiques.~~ Politique moderne et chefferies traditionnelles chez les Yaka du Kwango (Zaïre). Historique de la période coloniale. Depuis l'indépendance les conflits politiques ont essentiellement opposé des membres de l'élite, le ~~kiamfu ~~(chef supérieur) restant en retrait~~. Case studies ~~de diverses personnalités.~~
30 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: CAHIERS_D-ETUDES_AFRICAINES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1973
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Monsieur Jean-CLaude Willame
Patriarchal Structures and Factional Politics. Toward an
Understanding of the Dualist Society.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines. Vol. 13 N°50. 1973. pp. 326-355.
Résumé
J.-C. Willame — Structures patriarcales et factions politiques. Politique moderne et chefferies traditionnelles chez les Yaka du
Kwango (Zaïre). Historique de la période coloniale. Depuis l'indépendance les conflits politiques ont essentiellement opposé des
membres de l'élite, le kiamfu (chef supérieur) restant en retrait. Case studies de diverses personnalités.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Willame Jean-CLaude. Patriarchal Structures and Factional Politics. Toward an Understanding of the Dualist Society. In:
Cahiers d'études africaines. Vol. 13 N°50. 1973. pp. 326-355.
doi : 10.3406/cea.1973.2714
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cea_0008-0055_1973_num_13_50_2714WILLAME JEAN-CLAUDE
Patriarchal Structures and Factional Politics
Toward an Understanding of the Dualist Society
In the literature on African politics the status and position of tra
ditional rulers in developing societies are conceived of as key issues in
the process of modernization.1 Paramount chiefs headmen and elanie
leaders are said to represent custom-bound populations and to provide
vital linkage between governmental authorities regarded as modern-
izers and the people They are thought to influence the success of
economic and social change by serving as translators interpreters and
mediators of Government goals In words
This form of leadership is basically syncretistic leadership pattern among
chiefs and headmen which is synthesis and reconciliation of the opposing forces of
traditionalism and modernism.2
If some balance between the demands of rural traditional constitu
encies and those of the modernizing bureaucratic groups administrators
politicians political party leaders is maintained tendency to neo-
traditionalism can be expected In many cases however chiefs fail to
serve as successful intermediaries They are caught in severe role
conflicts between the requirements of customs and modernizing goals
In this case it is alleged condition of mutual hostility develops between
themselves and modernizing authorities
The purpose of this article is to question two basic points which
underlie this kind of argument First of all the political elite does not
necessarily represent modernizing forces at least in the sense in which
this term is generally understood Neither do traditional authorities
represent intermediaries good or bad between backward people
APTER The Politics of Modernization Chicago 1965 81-122 BAI
LEY Tribe Caste and Nation Study of Political Change in Highland Orissa Man
chester 1960 BARNES Politics in Changing Society London 1954
BUSIA The Position of the Chief in the Political System of As hanti London
1951 FALLERS Bantu Bureaucracy Study of Integration and Conflict in the
Politics of an East African People Cambridge 1956 ID. The Men Leader
ship and Status in Buganda on the Eve of Independence London-New York Nairobi
1964
MILLER The Political Survival of Traditional Leadership Journal
of Modern African Studies VI 2) Aug 1968 183 PATRIARCHAL STRUCTURES AND FACTIONAL POLITICS 327
and enlightened politicians It will be argued that order to be fruit
ful any discussion on the role and the relationship between traditional
and modernist elites should be appraised in the context of historical
materialism and class structure rather than in the perspective of accultura
tion and the modernity-tradition continuum As Peel put it
The reactions of people to radical social change marked by the availability of
totally new cultural systems are not best approached by theories of acculturation
which aim to trace each item of behaviour to its cultural source to add them up
and to pronounce the reaction more or less accultured or traditional along single
continuum This concern with the cultural origin of behaviour only makes
sense if we wish to show the diffusion of ideas from particular source not if we
want to explain why men act in particular way The mechanical assignation of
cultural traits is no aid to understanding for it is purely external way of classifying
behaviour Most people simply ask of practice whether it is right or wrong
good or bad wise or foolish beneficial or harmful Their choices can only be
explained by situational analysis asking why men of particular kind interpret
their situation in particular way.1
Secondly traditional authorities are not necessarily in syncretistic
position but like the modernist elites might occupy separate and
autonomous social sphere possessing its own dynamics and interacting
with its environment at marginal level only In this respect meaning
ful parallel could be drawn between what is usually termed transitional
society and the Asian mode of production described by Marx However
it is necessary here to denne precisely the nature of Asian societies and
to assess the extent to which any comparison on this point is valid
According to Marx Wittfogel and others Asian societies of the past
included three interdependent characteristics planned and despotic
organization of social labor centered upon hydro-agricultural economy
possession by the State of surplus applied to gigantic works of magnifi
cence and utility and unchangeableness of the society organized in auton
omous communities an in striking contrast with the
constant dissolution and refounding of States and the never-ceasing
changes of dynasty.2 In this paper only the third feature will be dealt
with as will be shown it is at this stage only that any parallel between the
Asian mode of production and the contemporary relationships between
patriarchs and the urban political elites is valid
In both cases one may observe fundamental division between on
the one hand the political sphere which reproduces itself through con-
PEEL Syncretism and Religious Change Comparative Study in
History and Society 2) Jan 1968 140-141
MARX Capital quoted in BOTTOMORE Karl Marx Selected
Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy New York Toronto-London 1956
I06-II2 WITTFOGEL Oriental Despotism Comparative Study of Total Power
New Haven 1957 For critical discussion on the relevance of the concept to the
African setting see SURET-CANALE Les sociétés secrètes en Afrique tropicale
et le concept de mode de production asiatique La Pensée 177 Sept.-Oct 1964
22-42 CoQUERY-ViDROviTCH Recherche sur un mode de production africain
La Pensée 144 1969 61-78 328 JEAN-CLAUDE WILLAME
tinual power struggles and on the other tribal communities which form
self-sufficient entities dominated by gerontocratie clan of patriarchs
ruling without hindrance from the political sphere Very few contacts
occur between the two milieus They are only occasional and peripheral
They do not therefore produce the sort of contradictions and tensions
which would characterize system of syncretist relationships
In order to illustrate these two points have chosen the example of
the Bayaka of Kwango who like the Bashi of Kivu the Lunda of
Katanga the Azande üélé and the Bakuba of Kasai are said to have
kept alive their traditional social structures and political organizations
Not so long ago the Bayaka and their paramount chief the kiamfu of
Kasongo Lunda used to inspire fear and prestige among their neighbors
as well as in distant regions In 1928 an anti-European fetish named
Muyaka spread among the Bakuba of Kasai and in 1931 one of the
leaders of the Bapende revolters Kwilu district called himself Kasongo-
Lunda
THE YAGA AND BAYAKA-LuNDA
The Bayaka of Kwango were urst known under the name of Yaga
Yagga or Yages These terms are used to designate very old ethnic
group of hunters and warriors who coming most probably from Central
Africa succeeded in forming several small independent kingdoms near
the Atlantic coast and along the Kwango and Wamba rivers by the end
of the seventeenth century The Yaga seem to have been the arch-type
of conquerors living permanently on war footing in fortified camps
They are known for killing their own children at their birth while adopt
ing the young men from the areas they overran and incorporating them
as warriors gonso into their camps.1 The fortress in which the British
sailor Battei was living around 1601-1603 numbered about siwteen hundr
ed people but only twelve men and fifteen women were of Yaga descent
Their military superiority was to leave its mark on the history of the
coast for fifty years to come They were considered as invincible because
they attacked by surprise
They knew all sorts of tricks they practised better discipline than the local
armies and they were divided into bands which could be dispersed or concentrated
at will Finally they never attacked enemies whom they believed to be too strong
With strong enemy they would build fortified camp provoke him and battle
him from their stronghold.2
Around 1568 they invaded the powerful and well organized kingdom
of Kongo destroyed its capital San Salvador and looted the coun-
RA VENSTEIN Th