The Kingdom of Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641-1718 by J. K.

Thornton
Review by: J. Vansina
Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 19, No. 3
(1985), pp. 680-681
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Canadian Association of African Studies
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dans un grand nombre de soci6t6sd'AfriqueNoire, n'ont pas seulementune fonction
6tiologique,psychologiqueet philosophique.L'activitefun6raireconcernenon pas tant
le vide provoqu6 par le mort, mais bien plut6t la restructurationdes groupes des
survivants,restructurationorient6een fonction de l'etiologiede la mort et du systeme
familialchaque fois particulier.
Renaat DEVISCH
l Leuven
Universitq de
Beigique

J.K. THORNTON, The Kingdomnl!Kongo: Civil War and Transition, 1641-

1718. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983, xxi + 193p., maps.

From time to time a trulyoutstandingbook reachesa desk groaningundermeritorious

but lesserworks.This is one of these works of intellectualbeauty,a lovelycrafteditem.
And do not be misled by the dates. The book deals with the essence of the kingdom of
Kongo. The title says it more than the subtitle. Why is this a joy'?It offers a powerful
singlethesis basedon a mass of sourcesplayedupon likethe way Bachmasterssound to
make it into fugue. It renewsthe subject.
The main question concerns why Kongo collapsed so dramaticallyafter 1665 and
went into a chrysalisstage to reemergein anothershape'?The answerThorntongives is
that Kongo was divided into two societies;the sector of the rulingclass whose careers
centered around Mbanza Kongo, the capital, and to a lesser extent around another
town;and the ruralsector.The religion,ideology, kinshipsystemand economy of each
sector radicallydifferedfrom that of the other. But the towns were more fragileeven if
they weretwo hundredfiftyyearsold. A struggleforsuccessionin 1665turnedinto a civil
war, and the capital was destroyed in 1678.The nobility lost its navel and that sector
disintegrated.With it the kingdom collapsed. Internecinestrugglesat all levels of the
nobility,who werecompetingfor the creationof a new nicheand the commandof a new
territory,howeversmall, led to its downfall. But why in the firstplace was this struggle
unable in 1665to resolvethe issueof succession'?The reasonis that in 1636and again in
1641,the actual ruleswerealtered.The kingshipwas no longerelective,but went to the
strongest,and a new house kept power from 1641to 1665. Divisionsamong the great
nobles began to outweigh centripetal forces. This I (and Thornton'?)believe is the
outcome of demographicgrowth in the population. Rules for restrictingaccess to the
nobility were not enacted after 1543. So the Portugueseattack of 1665 was but an
"event."It triggeredoff thetransformationof the Kongo kingdom,but was not its cause.
The thesis convinces one that Thornton's approach is that of the Annialesbut it
remains firmly rooted in time: mid and late seventeenthcentury. Thus we have five
chaptersabout the setting, both naturaland social (both dynamic),about production
and economy, and about the mentalworld.These leadto the threechapterscoveringthe
period, 1641-1718,and, even here, events are firmlyset in a frameworkof trendsand
generalizations.To be valid, such an approach must be very careful of evidence, and
Thornton is. His footnotes remindone of the miles of cellars in Champagne.He uses
more sources, more consistentlyand more respectfully,than any previousauthor. No
wonder that his wine is heady.

680

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 On the whole Thornton'sthesis stands, but it is overdrawn.The differencesbetween
the two sectors are exaggeratedin the realm of religion and perhapselsewhere.The
articulation between the two sectors remains vague, e.g., in the field of kinship or
localizedsocial structures.This is an effect of the sources.Theyare unequal.They focus
on the nobility, and we can only build a sketchyview of village life, sketchythat is, in
comparisonto the wealthof detailavailablefor the capital.So the villageis but a foil for
the city. Nevertheless,as it stands,this book is social historyat its best. Everystudentof
the Kongo kingdom should begin with it. It raises questions about the history of all
pre-colonial kingdoms. And its balance of evidence, interpretationand theory can
profitablybe examined by all of us.
J. VANSINA
of Wiisconsin
Universiti"
Madison

Michel VERDON, The Ahutia Ewe olf West Afiica: A Chiedofill That Nev'er
Was. Berlin, New York and Amsterdam: Mouton, 1983, xx + 316p.

In spite of its title, Verdon'smonographis neithera global descriptionof Abutia Ewe

societynora studyof politicalprocess,but ratheran accountof the structuralfeaturesof
Abutia social organization:political organization(in particular,descent structure),
residence and marriage. At first sight, the subject matter seems conventional for
anthropologists,except that Abutia society is of an extraordinarycomplexity which
defies conventionalapproaches.Accordingto classicaldescenttheory,argues Verdon,
one would expect descent,residenceand marriageto be closely interdependent;instead,
in Abutia they are loosely, if at all, interrelated.Agnatic descent groups include
significantnumbersof matrifiliants.There is an astoundingvarietyin the numberand
types of relativeswho may (or may not) be livingtogether underone roof. Traditional
marriageceremonialhas entirelylapsed,and it is by no means obvious who is in fact
marriedto whom, or even what effectivelyconstitutesa marriage.

Contemporary features of Abutia social organization represent a considerable

departure from the pre-colonial patterns that Verdon painstakingly attempts to
reconstructfrom conflictingoral testimonies.Those transformationsare responsesto
such factors as the integration of formerly sovereign villages into the colonial and
post-colonial polity, widespread labour migration, schooling, prostitution, etc.
responseswhich are neverthelessconditioned by the preexistingsystem. Certainlythe
most intriguingexample is the moderndevelopmentof complex residentialgroupsas a
result of the introductionof cement housing. Houses have become items of value par
excelle, e, obliging individualsto acquirerightsin houses through inheritanceand/ or
construction.Given the fragilityof marriages,wives usuallypreferto residewith their
agnatic relativesor on their own. Indeed, the group of people sleeping underone roof
does not usuallycooperatefor any otherpurpose,and hardlyconstitutesa "household"
or "'domesticgroup"in any normal sense.
This very complexity has led the author to challengeestablishedapproachesand to
develop his own, whichhe labels"operationalism." Classicaltheory,he argues,has failed
to make the distinction between two analyticallyseparate domains: the structureof
groups on the one hand and the content of role relationshipson the other.

681

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