African Political Systems Revisited

Aleksandar Bošković is Senior Research Scientist at the Institute of Archaeology in Belgrade and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Belgrade. His books include William Robertson Smith (Berghahn Books, 2021), Mesoamerican Religions and Archaeology (Archaeopress, 2017) and Other People’s Anthropologies (Berghahn Books, 2008, editor).Günther Schlee is one of the Founding Directors of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany. Prior to this appointment he was until 1999 Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bielefeld. His main publications include Identities on the Move: Clanship and Pastoralism in Northern Kenya (Manchester University Press, 1989) and How Enemies Are Made: Towards a Theory of Ethnic and Religious Conflict (Berghahn Books, 2008).

• List of IllustrationsForewordAdam KuperChapter 1. The Right Book at the Right Time DebatesAleksandar BoškovićChapter 2. African Political Systems and Political AnthropologyHerbert LewisChapter 3. Complementary Segmentary OppositionSimon SimonseChapter 4. The Shilluk rethSimon SimonseChapter 5. From African Political Systems towards a New ApproachPetr SkalníkChapter 6. Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment in AnkoleGünther SchleeChapter 7. Beyond African Political Systems?Markus V. HoehneChapter 8. Some Notes on the Tuareg (Kinin) of Northern DarfurMunzoul AssalChapter 9. The Nkandla Controversy: Insights from African Political SystemsRobin PalmerChapter 10. Tswana kingship and its incorporation in modern state formationØrnulf GulbrandsenAfterwordBilinda StraightInde

“The book is a high quality discussion by a group of established and upcoming anthropologists of the impact and value of a classical and foundational text in social anthropology … The result is a strong contribution to social anthropology with new theoretical and comparative insights.” C.S. van der Waal, Stellenbosch University