Caste in Africa?

Abstract

Opening ParagraphEminent Indologists have stated that it is inappropriate to use the word ‘caste’ in non-Hindu contexts. Despite such warnings numerous Africanists have used the term, with varying degrees of imprecision. In this paper I first outline different emphases which have appeared in the literature concerning caste in India; then discuss several examples of hierarchical systems in Africa which have been described as ‘caste’. Finally, I focus upon my own fieldwork data concerning the Dime of South-West Ethiopia, amongst whom there operates a system which can, I believe, be unequivocally labelled caste.

An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Hafting and Stone Tool Diversity among the Gamo of Ethiopia

“…75-77, 158-162, 261-267;Orent, 1969, pp. 284-286;Straube, 1963, p. 376, 384;Todd, 1977Todd, , 1978aTodd, , 1978bYintso, 1995, pp. 104-109).…”

Comparing Craft and Culinary Practice in Africa: Themes and Perspectives

“…On the one hand, this challenges the use of "caste" to translate local terms for the diverse array of endogamous craft-producing groups found in many parts of East and West Africa (Tamari 1991;Todd 1977). On the other hand, caste continues to provide a useful frame for comparing the historical processes by which occupational specialists in some parts of the world became excluded from marriage, commensality, and even physical contact with other members of their societies (Smith 2012).…”

Are births just “women's business”? Gift exchange, value, and global volatility in Muslim Senegal

“…For a detailed analysis of the use of the term caste in the West African context, see A. Diop 1981, Irvine 1974, Tamari 1991, and Todd 1997. For more recent treatment of caste in relation to marriage, interpersonal relations, and self‐image, see Dial 2008 and Mbow 2000.…”