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EBOOK Ebook PDF Politics An Introduction 3Rd Canadian Edition Download Full Chapter PDF Kindle
EBOOK Ebook PDF Politics An Introduction 3Rd Canadian Edition Download Full Chapter PDF Kindle
1 Studying Politics
Learning Objectives
Introduction
Power and Politics
Why Study Politics?
What Is Politics?
Approaches Used in the Study of Politics
Political Studies and Our Daily Lives
Division and Connection in a Changing World
Domestic and International Politics
Citizens and Canada
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
Learning Objectives
Introduction
Political Organization
Political Action
Values
Identity
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
3 Political Thought, Philosophy, and
Ideology
Learning Objectives
Introduction
What Is Political Philosophy?
The History of Political Thought
Ideology
The Left–Right Spectrum
Liberal Thought
Neo-Liberalism
Conservatism
Socialism
Nationalism
Other Systems of Thought
Feminism
Post-Colonialism
Environmentalism
Fascism
Anarchism
Political Islam
Confucian Political Thought
The Relevance of Ideas
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
Learning Objectives
Introduction
What Do Governments Do?
What Can Cause a Government to Fail?
Some Shared Objectives of Government
Some Activities of Government
Schools of Thought Regarding the Role of
Government
Objectives of Political Systems
Constitutions: The “Basic Law”
Liberal Democracy
Authoritarianism
Totalitarianism
Government and Canada
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
5 Branches of Government
Learning Objectives
Introduction
Institutions of Government
The Executive
The Legislature
Legislative Structures
Legislative Functions
The Judiciary
Constitutionality Ruling
Judicial Legal Interpretation
Judicial Dispute Adjudication
The Bureaucracy
Presidential and Parliamentary Systems
Government in Canada
Canadian Federalism
Canadian Courts and the Constitution
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms and
Individual Citizens
Canadian Law
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
6 Political Systems
Learning Objectives
Introduction
Distributing Power within the State: To Centralize or
Share?
Unitary Systems
Federal Systems
Canadian Federalism: An Evolving History
The Division of Powers
The Evolution of Canadian Federalism
Quebec and Canadian Federalism
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
Learning Objectives
Introduction
Comparative Politics
What Are Developed States?
Challenges Facing Developed States Today
A Brief Post-War History of the Developed World
Post-Industrialization and Political Authority
Case Studies
Canada
The United States
South Korea
The European Union
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
10 Politics in Developing States
Learning Objectives
Introduction
A Note about Terminology
Political and Social Development
Democracy and Political Development
The Role of the Military
Health Care
Economic Development
The Link between Political and Economic
Development
Population Growth
The Role of International Organizations
China: The Politics of an Emerging Global Power
China’s Political System
Chinese History: The Heritage of Imperialism and
Revolution
The Origins of Modern China
Chinese Economic Reform
Future Challenges for China
Mexico: The Challenges of Democratization
History
Mexico’s Political System
The Mexican Presidency
The Mexican Congress
A Brief History of Elections in Mexico
The Mexican Economy
Economic Liberalization and Openness
Organized Crime, Drugs, and Public Security
The Future of Mexico
India: Politics and Development in the World’s
Largest Democracy
History
India’s Political System
Indian Development
The Future of India
Afghanistan: The Legacies of Conflict in a
Developing State
The History of Modern Afghanistan
The People of Afghanistan
The Political System of Afghanistan
The Future of Afghanistan
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
Learning Objectives
Introduction
International Politics, International Relations, Foreign
Policy, and the State
The International System
Actors in World Politics
Globalization
Competing Approaches to International Politics
Power Politics: The Realist Approach
Process and Co-operation: The Liberal Approach
Rejecting Realism: The Marxist Approach
Perception and Politics
Diplomacy and Foreign Policy
Geography
Natural Resources
Population
Technological Development
Internal Political Structures and Processes
Canada and the World
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
12 International Security
Learning Objectives
Introduction
Security and Insecurity
War in International Relations
Terrorism
Humanitarian Intervention
Peacekeeping, Conflict Management, and Resolution
Canada in Afghanistan
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
Learning Objectives
Introduction
What Is IPE?
The Perspectives of IPE
Economic Interdependence
International Economic Co-operation
The World Trading System
The Growth of Trade since 1846
The GATT
The WTO
Present and Future Challenges for Trade
The International System of Money and Finance
What Is the International Monetary System?
What Is the International Financial System?
The Bretton Woods System
The Latin American Debt Crisis
International Finance and the Late 1990s Crisis
The Global Financial Crisis of 2008
Economic Regionalism
Oil and Oil Prices
Multinational Corporations
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
14 Conclusion
Learning Objectives
Introduction
What Have We Learned?
Where Do We Go from Here?
Conclusion
Self-Assessment Questions
Weblinks
Further Reading
Film and Video Clips
Notes
Glossary
Index
Boxes
1.1 Career Paths for Political Studies Graduates
1.2 Behaviouralism after World War II
1.3 Involvement: Apathy to Action
1.4 Citizenship Quiz
2.1 Institutions and Development
2.2 The Concept of Nation and Sovereignty in Canada
2.3 The Abuse of Power
2.4 The Cult of Personality
2.5 Charismatic Leadership
2.6 Rising Violent Crime and the Crisis of State Legitimacy in Central
America
2.7 Economic Justice and the Welfare State
2.8 Community and the Individual
3.1 Plato (427–347 BCE)
3.2 Aristotle (384–322 BCE)
3.3 Deductive and Inductive Methods
3.4 Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
3.5 Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
3.6 John Locke (1632–1704)
3.7 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78)
3.8 Adam Smith (1723–90)
3.9 John Stuart Mill (1806–73)
3.10 Karl Marx (1818–83)
3.11 Energy Efficiency
3.12 John Rawls (1921–2002)
4.1 The Problem with Sovereignty
4.2 Equalization in Canada
4.3 The Welfare State
4.4 Unwritten Constitutions
4.5 The Constitution Act, 1982
4.6 Democracy Topples Authoritarianism?
4.7 Are Governors General Just Ceremonial?
5.1 Gun Laws and Levels of Government
5.2 VP or Senator? Joe Lieberman and the 2000 US Election
5.3 Question Period or Shouting Match?
5.4 When Parties Must Co-operate: Coalition Governments
5.5 The Ultimate Power? The Right to Declare War
5.6 Constitutionality and Same-Sex Marriage
5.7 Can Government “Stop”? Lessons from the Clinton Era and Today
5.8 Does a Cabinet Minister Have to Be Elected?
5.9 The Charter: Individual or Collective Rights?
6.1 The European Union: A Modern Confederation
6.2 Scottish Independence
6.3 Switzerland
6.4 The United States
6.5 The United States of Mexico
6.6 India: Centralized Government in the World’s Largest Democracy
6.7 Why Ottawa?
6.8 Fiscal Federalism
6.9 Natural Resources
7.1 Who Gets to Vote?
7.2 Gerrymandering
7.3 Rock the Vote
7.4 The Suffragette Movement
7.5 Negative Campaigning
7.6 Campaign Finances and the 2016 US Presidential Campaign
8.1 The Symbols of Canada as a Form of Political Socialization
8.2 How to Remember Canada’s First Prime Minister?
8.3 Citizen Kane
8.4 Aló, Presidente: Hugo Chavez and the Control of Venezuelan
Television
8.5 Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation
8.6 Civil Society and Globalization
8.7 International Trade and Public Relations: The NAFTA Lobby
9.1 What Is “Development”?
9.2 Political Economy
9.3 One World?
9.4 Bretton Woods and Political Order
9.5 Slavery and the American Civil War
9.6 “Third” Parties in US Politics
9.7 Will Turkey Join the EU?
9.8 Why Brussels?
10.1 The Human Development Index
10.2 The Beijing Olympics and Internet Censorship
10.3 Colombia: The War on Drugs and the FARC
10.4 AIDS, Maternal Health, and the Developing World
10.5 Education, Gender, and the Oportunidades Program
10.6 The Brundtland Commission Report and Sustainable Development
10.7 The Politics of Population: Nigeria
10.8 The Tiananmen Square Massacre
10.9 Taiwan
10.10 Mexico’s Student Movement, Media Bias, and the 2012 Elections
10.11 Canada in Afghanistan
11.1 Domestic and International Politics: Building a Wall
11.2 The Twitter Effect: Elections in Iran
11.3 Cliché Alert! The “Global Village”
11.4 Patriotism or Nationalism?
11.5 NATO
11.6 Human Migration
11.7 The Occupy Movement
11.8 Cultural Sensitivity: Torres Strait Islanders and Australia
11.9 The End of the Soviet Union
11.10 Woodrow Wilson and the Failure of the League of Nations
11.11 Diplomacy Goes Awry: April Glaspie and Saddam Hussein
12.1 Human Security
12.2 “Anarchy in the UK”
12.3 Just Wars
12.4 “Video Game” War, 1991
12.5 The Debate on Terror in the United States
12.6 Intervention Failure: Rwanda
13.1 International Economic Organizations and Their Functions
13.2 The US–EU Banana Dispute
13.3 The Great Crash of 1929
13.4 The Euromarkets
13.5 Foreign Aid and Tied Aid
13.6 The G7 and Multilateral Leadership
13.7 The New NAFTA
13.8 Brazil and Renewable Energy
14.1 From “Me to We”: Marc and Craig Kielburger
14.2 The Politics of Climate Change
Preface
One of the most difficult tasks for a professor in introducing students to
the study of politics is choosing the right textbook. Every instructor has
his or her own preferences about the material, concepts, themes, and
pedagogy contained in a first-year political science text; therefore, no
book could possibly meet every requirement and partiality. Putting
together an introductory text, then, is a delicate endeavour. How might one
assemble a coherent volume that both addresses disparate views on what is
to be presented and poses some fresh and innovative ideas?
This book is an attempt to answer that question. Fundamentally, its
intent is to provide undergraduate students with a comprehensive and
thoughtful introduction to the study of politics. This text incorporates
some essential questions that define politics, such as: Who has power in
society, and why? How do individuals and groups participate in politics
and governance? How can we distinguish among so many types of
political systems? Why is conflict so prevalent in the world today? How is
wealth distributed, and why does such inequity exist? In our design of this
book, we considered a wide variety of theoretical, analytical, and
empirical ways to answer these questions. We decided that the best method
was to lead you through different approaches, topics, and examples. This
text presents you with a challenge: you may or may not already have views
on politics, but by the time you finish this book and course, you will likely
have more questions than before. You might also think differently and
more critically about what you assume you already know! If that’s the
case, this book will have done its job.
Organization
This book is organized to introduce you to the study of politics in a
comprehensive and constructive manner. Chapter 1 presents the
fundamental nature of politics and the field of political studies. We
explore some major approaches, concepts, and themes in the study of
politics in this chapter, as well as how politics affects so many aspects of
our daily lives. We also discuss the nature of citizenship and what it means
in the specific context of being Canadian. The substance of this chapter
lays the foundations for the rest of the text.
Chapters 2 and 3 examine some of the major terms and areas of political
thought in greater detail. Chapter 2 begins with an exploration of some
important political concepts, including power, government, the state,
legitimacy, equality and justice, and sovereignty. You will need a solid
understanding of these terms and ideas in order to articulate your own
ideas about politics and governance and to understand relationships
between political actors and institutions. The chapter also addresses
identity and how we connect with and relate to others in society. Chapter 3
follows with an overview of political philosophy and the major schools of
thought used in political science, such as liberalism, socialism and
communism, conservatism, environmentalism, feminism, post-colonial
thought, nationalism, and fascism. It looks at both traditional and critical
political ideologies and the ideas that have driven the study of politics.
The chapter identifies influential thinkers associated with each of these
schools of thought and attempts to plot each perspective on an ideological
spectrum. This chapter refers to ideologies and political philosophy in
Canada and provides an overview of other approaches, such as
Confucianism and political Islam.
Chapters 4, 5, and 6 focus on the importance of government and the
roles and responsibilities that governments have in our lives. These
chapters begin to unpack the complexity of government organizations and
their internal checks and balances, to give you a more concrete sense of
how government works (or doesn’t). In Chapter 4, we examine the main
forms of government throughout history and into the present day. The
chapter deals with systems of government, the nature of government,
objectives and activities of different governments, and points of view
regarding the fundamental role that government ought to play. In this
chapter, we explain the distinctions among liberal democracies,
authoritarian governments, and totalitarian systems. Government in
Canada is given special attention here. Chapter 5 covers primary structures
and roles of government agencies and institutions. It delves into the
important levels of government activity, including the executive,
legislative, judicial, and bureaucratic divisions. The two main types of
government systems in the world today, parliamentary and presidential,
are also compared and contrasted. Finally, Chapter 6 considers how
different political systems are organized in terms of their responsibilities
and decision-making systems. Unitary, federal, confederal, and devolved
political systems are all examined, with special attention to the history and
development of power-sharing in Canada.
Chapters 7 and 8 are concerned with the roles played by individuals and
groups in society. Chapter 7 considers decision-making and electoral
systems, campaign contributions, elections and referendums, and political
parties. Chapter 8 picks up the theme and looks at the social and political
process of participation. Education, opinion polls, socialization, advocacy
groups, media, and culture all have abundant effects on how our political
systems are run and the role we play in them. Together, these two chapters
trace the formulation of ideas and information that influence citizens and
the way in which these ideas are played out on the political stage.
The next section of the book is dedicated to country case studies. This
examination of politics is undertaken in a comparative context,
considering the multitude of paths to development in today’s world and the
struggles that countries confront along the way. We begin in Chapter 9
with a consideration of politics and economics in what are commonly
defined as “developed” countries, including Canada, the United States,
South Korea, and members of the European Union. These cases offer
distinct examples of how political and economic spheres influence
governance. Chapter 10 carries this discussion to what we often call the
“developing world,” contemplating some of the significant approaches and
perspectives regarding development and, in particular, how the
development process is as varied as the countries involved. By way of
example, the chapter surveys the development experiences in China,
Mexico, India, and Afghanistan, presenting a diverse stance on the myriad
issues facing countries in the developing world. As part of the analysis in
these chapters, we acknowledge the complexity in defining a country as
either “developed” or “developing” and assert that this dichotomy might
not be as useful as we once thought it was. A country might be considered
“developed” according to some criteria, but “developing” in others, which
suggests that a tendency towards blanket categorizations might obscure
the truth on the ground in any given country.
The final chapters take on the study of politics on the world stage, using
some of the primary concepts and themes discussed earlier in the book.
Chapter 11 examines the state and sovereignty in a modern world, as well
as the nature of and approaches to the international system. This chapter
scrutinizes some current themes and issues in global politics, including
globalization, foreign policy-making, geography and population,
diplomacy, nationalism, and different actors (e.g., states, non-state actors,
individuals, and multinational corporations). Chapter 12 is dedicated to
the complicated issue of global insecurity: war, terrorism, peacekeeping,
intervention, and conflict management. Here we also look at Canada’s
changing role in the world. Chapter 13 turns its attention to the important
dynamic of the international political economy and its impact on domestic
politics. This chapter illustrates the importance of international trade,
production, and finance, as well as current themes such as world debt,
leadership, and economic regionalism.
Finally, Chapter 14 provides some concluding thoughts by focusing on
an important question: Where do we go from here? Future studies, careers
in political studies, and the ways we can apply what we have learned are
all given some thought in this chapter.
Key Features
Pedagogical Features
Political studies, like any other academic discipline, has its own
vocabulary and terminology. Marginal definitions, provided in each
chapter, emphasize key terms and concepts, and a full glossary is included
at the end of the book. Every chapter contains self-assessment questions, a
list of further readings, and suggested websites. Throughout the chapters,
boxes provide specific examples of important themes, events, and actors.
Images, tables, graphs, and figures illustrate important points without
interfering with the text itself. Finally, an index of all important terms,
concepts, themes, events, and individuals is included at the end of the
book.
Theoretical Framework
Most introductory textbooks begin with a survey of significant concepts
(e.g., the state, power, government, legitimacy, etc.) and a review of the
philosophical tradition of political analysis (Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s
Politics, Hobbes’s Leviathan, and so on). Taking a comparative theoretical
approach (meaning that no specific theory is used as a core focus), this
text shows how the development of theory in political studies flavours the
manner in which we must consider a contemporary and changing political
climate, both domestic and international. The methodology of this text is
not intended to be heavy-handed or overly theoretical; theory is central to
the purpose of the book, but the book’s principal goal is to demonstrate the
sensitive and changing nature of philosophical thought in politics.
Acknowledgements
Like any book project, this text is the product of various contributions
from many people. In the very early stages, Oxford University Press sales
and editorial representative Alan Mulder and acquisitions editor Katherine
Skene were largely responsible for urging us to move ahead with a
prospectus for a new introductory textbook in political studies. We are
grateful to them for their vision and support.
A number of developmental editors were involved with the production
of this book and its three editions. Peter Chambers deserves recognition
for his good humour, professionalism, and encouragement, which made
work on the second edition a true pleasure. Leah-Ann Lymer and Richard
Tallman demonstrated endless patience and professionalism on the third
edition, and their comments and insights on all chapters are most highly
valued.
This book has also benefited from the many useful comments made by
several colleagues who took on the task of reviewing it in its many stages.
We are indebted to them for their time and suggestions, which have
contributed to this final work. We join the publisher in thanking the
following reviewers, along with those who wish to remain anonymous,
whose thoughtful remarks have helped to shape this text as well: Todd
Alway, McMaster University; Mona Brash, Camosun College; Terry L.
Chapman, Medicine Hat College; Noemi Gal-Or, Kwantlen Polytechnic
University; Logan Masilamani, Simon Fraser University; Marda
Schindeler, Lethbridge College; John Soroski, Grant MacEwan University;
Yasmine Shamsie, Wilfrid Laurier University; Manuel Balan, McGill
University; Saira Bano, Mount Royal University; Bruce Foster, Mount
Royal University; Donal Gill, Dawson College and Vanier College; Kevin
Ginnell, Douglas College and Simon Fraser University; Jason Morris,
University of Northern British Columbia; Ross Michael Pink, Kwantlen
Polytechnic University; David Pond, University of Toronto; Paul Prosperi,
Langara College; Claudia Schaler, St. Francis Xavier University; Bruce
Smardon, York University; Jeffrey Spring, St. Francis Xavier University;
and Andrew Wender, University of Victoria.
We would be remiss in not thanking our students, who have inspired us
to always question what we think we know and to be open to new
perspectives. The improvements in the second and third editions are in
many ways due to them and their aspirations for excellence.
Some of our associates and research assistants were fundamental in the
completion of parts of this book. We would like to thank Rashide Assad at
the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) for her extremely
important help on this project. We also thank the University of New
Brunswick, the University of Manitoba, ITAM, and the Asociacion
Mexicana de Cultura for their support during the writing of this book.
We have discovered that writing a book such as this one takes more than
simple authoring. It is the result of efforts both small and large by
numerous people, some close friends and associates, and some colleagues
we have not met. The final product is our own, however, and we alone take
responsibility for any errors it may contain.
Features
Thorough Analysis
The text presents a survey of political concepts and ideologies before
examining topics such as the importance of government; political systems,
participation, and culture; developed and developing countries; global
security; and the international political economy.
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.