Bemba / Ḥ. Barnes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barnes, Ḥ., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--Zambia.

Ethnology.

Northern Province (Zambia)--Economic conditions.

Northern Province (Zambia).

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

New Haven, Conn : Human Relations Area Files, 1996.

Summary:

The Bemba are the largest ethnic group in the Northern Province of Zambia. This file includes nine works. Five of these are by Audrey Richards, a British social anthropologist and major authority on the Bemba. Richards carried out her field work in a two-and-a-half-year period between 1930 and 1934. Her major ethnography is primarily a functional analysis of Bemba subsistence activities and diet as related to the kinship system, political organization, ceremonial life, and values. Her other works included here are an analytical study of the Bamucapi, or witch-finders movement; the origin and functions of ritual sib relationships among the Bemba and the closely allied Bisa; a good general description of the Bemba political system; and a description and interpretation of the chisungu [cisungu], or girl's initiation ceremony. A colonial administrator, William Brelsford, provides a study of the succession of Bemba chiefs. The missionary H. Barnes provides an early account and commentary on the Bemba belief in the soul and its relation to the naming system. Two later studies examine the impact of Christianity on Bemba society and culture.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.