Right and Left Hand among the Kaguru: A Note on Symbolic Classification

T. O. Beidelman

doi:10.2307/1157264

journal article Jul 01, 1961

Right and Left Hand among the Kaguru: A Note on Symbolic Classification

T. O. Beidelman

Africa Vol. 31 No. 3 pp. 250-257 · Cambridge University Press (CUP)

View at Publisher Save 10.2307/1157264

Abstract

Opening ParagraphThis paper presents the general features of dualistic symbolic classification among the Kaguru, a Bantu people of east-central Tanganyika, East Africa.It has been written as a result of my reading Needham's stimulating article, ‘The Left Hand of the Mugwe’, which recently appeared in Africa. Using Bernardi's ethnographic data on the Meru, Needham isolates a dualistic symbolic classification of those people. The result is a very striking illustration of the order and understanding gained by the social anthropologist once this important feature of Meru ideology is shown. Needham then goes on to indicate some of the relations which such a symbolic classification may have to certain structural divisions of a society.

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References

Details

Published: Jul 01, 1961
Vol/Issue: 31(3)
Pages: 250-257
License: View

Authors

T

T. O. Beidelman

Cite This Article

T. O. Beidelman (1961). Right and Left Hand among the Kaguru: A Note on Symbolic Classification. Africa, 31(3), 250-257. https://doi.org/10.2307/1157264

Right and Left Hand among the Kaguru: A Note on Symbolic Classification

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