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    Custom and Conflict in Africa by Gluckman

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    Sam Shmü-lick Shuman

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    CUSTOM AND CONFLICT IN AFRICA 1 THE PEAGE IN THE FEUD /HENEVER an anthropological study is made ‘of a whole society or of some smaller social ‘qoup, it emphasizes the great complesity which develops inthe relations between human’ beings, Some of this complesity arses ffom human nature itself with its varied onginic and personality needs Bat the customs of each society exaggerate and com Dilferences of age, sex, 0 on, have to be handled Somehow.” ‘Bac customary forms for developing relations of kinship, for establishing friendships, for fompeling. the observance through ritual of right relations with the universe, and. so forth—these customary forms first divide and thea reunite men. ‘One might expect that small community, of just lover a thousand souls, could reside together on an feolated Pacige island with a fairy simple social fonganization. In fact, sich @ community i always claborately vided and erose-divided by customary allegiances; and the elaboration ie aggravated by what is mot specifically a production of man in society: i religion and his vital. In his Nite txoerds a Dion + eustoat AND CONFLICT aN AFRICA of Clr, Mr.T. 8. Eliot sw the inportance of thee Aiviions He wrote: “Ts ayggest that both case nd region, by dividing the ubabitants of @ couney into two deren kinds of groups, lend to a cont fevourabie to reativenes a progres. And thee fr only two of an Indefinite number of conics and Jestouits "whieh should’ be profitable to. soe Thee, te mae the beer: s0 that everyone shoud ‘eran ally of everyone ein mn repel and an pponent in several ote, and no one confit, envy ‘or fear wil predominate. “T nay pat the hea of the importance of cont within a tation more posively, he gos on, by ‘on the iuporiance of various and sometimes dng ljaien" This the cena theme of my lectares how men quarrel in terms of certain of thet csstomary allegiances, but are restrained rom violence trough ether conicdng allegiances which are also tnjined on them by ontor. There i that conflict in'one wt of tladonsips, over a wider range of seciety oF though a longer period of dime, lead to the evatablsment of socal cohesion. Confcts are part of socal fe and custom appears to exacerbate to custom also restaine it this process through the working of the feud, of hoatlty to authority, of estrangements within the elementary family, of witcherat accu tions “and itwaly and even in the colour-bar, as anthropologists have studied these problems in Atica. ‘All over the world there are societies which have no governmental inaitations. That is they ack officer: With established powers to judge on quarrels and to ‘mE PEACE IN THE FEUD 5 enforce ches decsions, wo legate and take administra Gee action to mect emergencies and to lead wary of dffevee and defence. Yet there societies have such wellesablshed and vell-nown codes of morale and law, of convention and ritual, thae even though they have no witten histories, we may sensonably asume that they have persisted for many generations. They early do not lve in unceasing fear of bresking up in lavlesinese” We knove that seme of them have evi ‘over long periods with some Kind of internal law and fonder, and have succesflly defended. themacives againtt attackt by others. “Indeed, they include lurbulent warriors who Taided and even terrorized their neighbours. Therefore when anthropologists ‘eame to study these sodetics, they were immediately ‘eonftonted with the problem of where social order and cohesion lay ' myself have not had the good forte to sty in etal such a society, in which private vengeance and Self-help are the main overt sanctions against injury Dy others, and where this exoreite of sellheip is ikely 10 lead to the waging of feuds. Both my own main fede of researeh. have Inia in powerful Afsean Kingdoms, where the procaoes of political control are akin to those patently observable in our own nation, But this lack of personal experience ofa feuding society oes enable me, without vanity, 10. bring to your autention what T consider to be ane of the most ign ficant contributions which social” anthropologial earch hat made to our understanding. of socal relations. Anthropologists have studied the threatened outbreak of feuds say “threatened outbreak’, because nowadays the presence of Eucopean govern” 4 @USTOSE AND CONeLICT 1 ARRICA ‘mens usually prevents open fighting. But these anthro pologits have been able to sce the situations which five the to intemecine fight and, mare importantly, to examine the mechanisms which lead to setdements, ‘The critical result of their analsisis to show that these societies are 80 organized inio a series of groupe and felatonships, that people who are fiends on one basis are ‘epemies ‘on “another. Herein ioe social foheson, footed in the eonficts between men's Aifereat’allegianees. T"believe that it would be profitable to apply these analyses to those long-dstant periods of European History when the feud wae rll ‘Spparently the main instrument for rere ofinjry. ‘ut the analysis of feuding societies does not exhaust its interest when we see feud working se a specific ingtution where there no government. As I have said, T myself have dane teseaeh in African Kingdoms and'I found ie greatly illuminated my analyses of these Kingdoms, when T sought in them the process ‘which my colleagues had disentangled fom feuding Undemesth the patent framework of governmental control thich organized the state, T found feud and the setdement of feud at work, Permanent states of hostlty, like feuds, existed between sections of the nation. ‘Thete hostilities were redreseed by mechan Similar w those which prevent feuds om breaking out in perpetual open fighting. ‘The same proceses go on around us within oar own nationstate, and in intere ‘ational relations. Tam going in tht Bint lecture to Took at hove feuding arses and i restrained in Alcan Societies which have no governmental institutions, shall also indicate this evening, what value this analysis has in helping ws to understand our own ‘THE PRAGE IN THE FEUD 5 society, Tn my other five lectures I shall develop the lessons I Set out in examining “the peace’ which i ‘contained in the Fond. ‘The working ofthe cheat of private vengeance and the feud has tbe exhibited in a detaled analysis of single society. Our fis dy ofthis tation in Africa was made by Profewor EvanePrtchard aoa the Nur a pastoral people of the Upper Nile region, He himself did not organize his atalysis primarily «© present the argument in swhich Iam interested how, fo. am going to describe the Nuer with a alightly Aliferen emphasis from his ove. "The Nuer dwell in the vast plain which les around the main rivers in te southern Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. ‘This plan floods in the monsoon rains until itis = great lake, which compe the Nuer to retreat oi their cattle ‘on to patches of higher ground where they build cher permanent villages and cultivate @ hazardous crop of mallet After the rains, the flood falls, aod young people spread widely with the herds fon the expored revived pastures, since watering the beasts i easy. Tut the waters drain away rapidly, and the plain then becomes a dry, scorched waste, ‘The Nuet and thee catle in thee most arid months have to congregate again at those lowelying spots ‘here water is retained, either in pools arin the died Upbeds of iver. ‘Thus groups of Noer move in rotation beoween werseason and dry-season. homes. Group hich are separated by miles of lod in one month, ome time later may be exmping together ata single waterhole; and to seach this they may lave bad drive ther catle through the teritores of yet other soups. It‘ is therefore essential for these various 6 cusToat AND eoNFLicr AN AFRICA sroupe to be on sone sort offiendly terms with one Another, if they are to maintain their cattle and themselves, alive. ‘These ecological neccasties force people to co-operate; and this helps to explain how the Nuer ean be organized in tibes of 6,00 people and more, without any kind of instituted authority ‘The Nier have avery simple technology. "Theie lacks ton and stone, and has few tres to wood for “manufactures. "They "not. only they make important goods from esteskins, horns, and bones, Since rinderpest reduced their herd, they live at bese just above aubsintence. “It is wistlly related in one of ther storie’, wites Evans-Pritchard, “how once upon a time man’s stomach fed aa indepen: dent life in the bush an lived om small insets roasted Dy the firing ofthe grass, for (Nuer say) “Man was not created with a stomach. Tt wag crested apart from him.” One day Man was walking in the bush tnd came across Stomach there and put tin its present place that it might feed there. Although when it live by itself twas sated with tiny mors of food, iis now always hungry. No matter how snucl teats it is soon eraving fer more” This tale must eufice to show how near the Nuer lve t9 starvation, Food supplies are always shor. Particular households and ven small areas may rifer severe thortage because of cattle disease of lass of crops. They have to tur ‘o others for help. Again, estom requires that when a ‘man marries he gives forty cate to his bride's relative; thus his own family may become short of eatUe, He has to tuen 0 others for help. "The narrow mangin of fubsstence, and natural and social viitudes which ‘Due PRAcE Ine FEUD 7 cause crops 0 actuate in quantity and cate in numbers, drive Nuer to asociate with others 4 they fre to live. But let you picture n depresed and dove trodden people I must add that the Nuet were fiercely independent warsiors, who resisted the advance of the Derviaher and whom the Brith in the end Subdued hy bombing their eatle from the air, while the Nuer” were themselves steadily. invading the (errtrie of other tibes and raiding these for eat. They areas bellcose among themselves, ‘The narrow limit of Nuer economy tvs force thea to-asociate i firly populous groupe forthe production and distribution of food. Th these groupe they form hamlets and villages, residing in districts” whose inhabitants must for most of the time be in some tore of peace with one another. Between some disticts there must also be sufficient ties of friendship for thee members 10 cross cach other's areas in ther moves Derween flood-eason and dry-season homes, ‘The ccological needs for this rendahip and peace lesen 38 the distance grows greater, until, between distice atthe extreme ends of a tbe, ithardly exist. Between the diferent tribes big river or wide wretches of tne inhabitable country farm natural obaacls and polten! boundaries. Evan-Pritchard bringr out strongly the close relation between the politcal organization of the Nuer and the lie of their land andthe way in ‘which they exploit chat land. ‘There are no chief in Nuerland, but in each tribe there i an agnatic clan of arstncras, a lage number fof men related to one another by genealogical descent throagh males from a common founding. ancestor, Not all tke members ofa lan dwell in the tribe where © qustom. ax coxmuicr 3 araucn they are aristocrat, ad each be contains members of ‘many dans. The various dires of tbe are held to be linked together by their place on the clan fenealogy. It works this way. ‘Two neighbouring Slntrict are atociated through vo long-desd brother, tile “anoiber thee neighbouing dati ae sociated though another st of thee bros, whee father was brother to the father ofthe fe set Tn this tway, the various dei nf Nur tbe Hn wp in larger and larger sections by being grouped wih more dintam ancestor ofthe wie’ arbtoctate am. UF ove dstiet i involved in fighting, those related to fin Brotherhood unite wit i agent ts enemy who wl be joined by thir baocer iti. Buti one of thom i involved in fighting with = more divat fection all thee dicts may Join up with one another ‘While they are thus lid eds srg themselves fl tinder tre. These lage dts are thereto come pnd af eons which may at ince be hale to one nother, but unite aginst a snore eta enemy. Una a Nerul reunited against oer ‘wen foreigners are not involved, they spit into eng Primary secon, wih may, when not fighting each Sher, split into amaller hose econ, ad tom, ‘The proces ir not diwilar hows the groupings of tone which in Eusopesn histny have alied git fem, and hen split apart alter sity Ta this proces of what Evans-Pritchand calls faim of section aga larger gro, a forint eons when not involved against thow larger groups, the uct reogtize cerain change inthe res af war. Men of the ram vile fight each eter with clubs tot spears, Men of diferent ilges Right each other {UE PEACE IN THE FEUD, * with the spear. There it no rang within the tribe for cattle, and i is recognized that a man ought to pay cattle as compensation for Kling + fellowes, though this i rarely done, Nuer wibes raid one nother for eatele, but not for women and children who must not be killed; nor must granariea bedetroyed. When raiing foreign people, women end children and even men ean be captured, women and ebiléren (me illed) and granatee an he deste "This is all T'am going to say about the large-scale politcal atem of the Nace. Here Sighting eam go a2 Bnd injuries ned oe ye recompensed, because the sroups lve fr apart. The feud can be waged. Peace ‘snot necessary to preserve life. But in more Timited areas, because of the crosing of catle-drives and so forth, men have to be fend if they are to rursive, Yet we know only to wel fom our own experience, that the necesity of friendship of itself is not enough ‘oachieve friendship. Men quarrel over many things — cattle, land, women, prestige, indeed over accidents. {ve deen oo Zula fock in armed combat because one bumped into another in the excitement of aware dances) Orifmen don'e quarrel, they have differences of opison about the rights and wrongs of contract tnd these diferences have 19 be settled by tome rule ‘ther dhan that of brute fore, if social relations are Co endure. Often, dificlties in dispute a¥ise not over what is the appropriate legal or moral rule, but over how the rule sppliesin particular circumstances, This true even of most disputes in our highly developed legal system. Tn effect, both parties may claim to be in the eight, and agreement has to be reached on which it in the right and how far he i nthe right. ‘Nucr te CUSTOM AND CONFLICT IN AFRICA hhave an established! code of Taw which sets out, for example, what a man should pay in eatle to get bride from her fader, and what he should pay to ceuckold, or to the kin of a man whom he has sain, fo for other offences, They have rules controlling the division of inberitances and of cattle received from the husbands of their kinswomen. ‘That is they have a ode of lay, sm sake of conventional rules about what is right action, and. what is wrougful action. Dut they haven't any legal procedures or oficial, in the senae that there are no authorities changed with Summoning disptants Hstening to their cases, and teforeing the rufes of law against wrongdocrs. And 33 most men tend to fel that they are in the right when the dispute is obscure, and plenty of men are ready to tvade tei proper obligations if they ean, we may well Sk how flemiship ie maintained despite quarrels, Tis here that cnstomary tes are important, and the enforcement of thote ties by beliefs in ritual punish= sents, Certain customary Ges Tink a mumber of men nee into a group. Dut ether tes divide them by Finking some of them vith diferent people who may be enemies to the fst group. For the Nuee, like all peoples do not exploit thei land in haphazard lots EF assodates, but in organized. groups which are Broken by relationships which ros-link thei members in other eationsbips. ‘The most important tie among the Nuet is that of aghatic Kinship--inship by lood. through males, ave described how the larger districts are asocated together by the ea of this bond of brotherhood find fatherhood. In much smaller groups, the men dlescended through males fom a nearby ancestor form ‘THE PHAGE IN THE FEUD 1 cory nit corporate unit; They own and herd dncireatde logstnee, Tey iabest fom one another [Nid abowe all fone of thei member is ill they thas exact vengeance for im agaist the ills or Due ofthe kilers vengeaice groups oF they mnt Sinaia Bloed-atle in compentton for the death fom Ge vengeance group. This the theory. Bat in procices ie seams that among the Nuet ths group of Pree avenger dows not always reside together Wei oc a eal community. Tn fat, the vengeance He Beta wel be widely sastered-Nuer move about Beaty foe may rescone, "They may quarrel wit {hobs at homes and so go ebewhere, petbape (o's maternal uncle” Or they may jst go to sich ‘Batemalancles A man's mater may goin widw= fd to bea concabine to some mantin 2 diane “ite and dere her sons grow Up, though al of deme TURES tte dead hasbend, even ithe id not beget TREE And the like. ‘This sctterog of some vengeance (Mu mean tata confit sea betwee he tyaty see encaante, the tie whieh above all demande Shida Ste es whch Hk a man with his local Ginny which he must alo suppor by cettom Sos Bom interest. For chough vengeance should Beaker bythe agnaie group, the flbwreidente ahi group obey ¢ bale tid "Now the etgeznee group. is settered iC may tea, dalla the smaller dist thatthe demand for Sense anidarity requires that 3 man mobilize Sea the chemies of hi agate, And jn the opposite eases Si a emigrant member ofthe group which He'iited tay be lining among the avenger, and be Tek to have rengennce exeuted upon hin. suggest (because Bvane- Prichard does sot mention this poi) that his exporre to killing exert sone presen hit Lin wo uy to compromite the afin’ In addon, whether he remain were he ior scape ote, be Tkely to urge hs kin to offer compensition,sace he han many interes inthe place whore he reides. Contec, fa mat of the group demanding vengeance fede armng the lle, be bara inteet a seca that hin Kin accept compensstion instead of isting ‘on blood for blood. Dispersal of the vengeanos eroup tay Tead to confit between local and. agate loyal, and divide each group agains ile iviions of purpose inthe vengeance group are created above al by martiage ren Praca every Society in the worl iss that tere should be mo ‘ating within the family of parents ehldeen. 1 think the only exceptions are certain royal fais, Many soit extend the bans on mariage outside the family sual, to mare dstast Kn This i the ale Antlopolgits cal ‘exogeny —msiiageout Among the Nur, the rules forbid, under penalty of dese cident, and death, & tanto mary any woman of i ‘dan or any wonman to whorn rlaonaip can be ace Inamyline up tose generous, Theft rele, banning tmarnage in the cla, comes the men of each agnate fengeane group tseck hn other agate soups for their owe wives, aod for husband for their ster ‘Th me banning mariage to other ort of kin compel the members of each group to spread their mariages wy troy one an pacaly ety aerate {roup inthe lal commanity. To mary thas requires fst of all some Kind of ends with thre other troup "Some Affican peoples sty of groups other than the one t which they belong, “They are our enemies; we marry them’; but afer mariage there is a sor of fiendchip, though it difers fom the main blood-te. More chan this, when a man has got & wife From another group, he haa an ingeret in being fiends with that group which his fllow-agnates do not have, hough they to regard his in-laws as relatives. Their ‘wives make them iendly with other groups, [es nat jst sentiment. A. woman remains atached to her wn Kin, and if her husband quarrels with them she can ake ie pretty uupleasant for inn But her ancetors fre also able to alfect her and her children, and hence ther husband's well-being, A. man’s brother-in-law is ‘maternal uncle to his children, and by custom is equired to asst them io many critical snations, He can bles is nephew, and Bis curse ‘i believed to be among the worst, f not the worst, a Nuer can receive for, unlike the father, a maternal uncle may ‘curse @ youth's cate, ag well at his crops and fishing and hunting, if he is dibedient or refuses a request for in ome other way offends hia, ‘The cure tay tlio prevent the nephew from bogetting male children So for the welfare of his femily, and the prosperity ‘of bit children, each man is led ‘by his interests, and compelled by custom, to seek to be on good terms ‘vith hin wifes kin, And he has, asthe hid of @ ‘woman ffom yet another group, ax interest in being fn good terms with his ow mother’s Kin. Again, this interest is eupported by customary rights to get help, tnd by the danger of auffering mystial retribution if the does not conform with these customs, ‘The fact that men of 4 single group of agnates have mothess from different other groups, and marry wives Eom ail i i | | 14 USTOM AND CONFLICT IN AFRICA other groups, sikes into the unity of each vengeance “The loyalty of agnates to one another, 50 Strongly enforced by custom, conflicts with other customary allegiances to other groupe aed. pervons. Some metabers of each warring group have an interest in bringing about a setlement of quarrels, And these fliferences ef loyalty, leading to divisions in one set of telationships, are inscuionalzed in customary modes ff behaviour, and are often validated. by mystical Deties. “Thus Where custom divides in one act of relationships it produces cohesion, through aetlement of quartelsy in 2 wider range of socal lie, Underlying these customary divisions, which pat pressure on the paris to sete a dip i the ca fant pressure of common residence. For common residence implies a necesity to cooperate in maint ing peace, and that peace involves some recognition of the demands of law and morality. It seo involves ‘mutual tolerance. ‘These demands are backed by the onstantintermarviages which go ou in a limited area, Since men do not commonly seek wives from ait Fence the Nuer as individuals are linked ia a wide- fang web of Kinship es which apreade seroe he land andl new meshe in this web are constantly. being ‘woven with each fiuitfol marrage. ‘These webt of ties, Seniring on individuals, unite members of diferent agnatic groups. And always local groups have cosmos local interests, ‘These common local interests are represented by 4 category of arbitrators, who may be called on (0 ‘up setle disputes. ‘The axbierators are ritual experts who are called ‘mea of the ear’. ‘They have no ‘oveefil powers of coercion. ‘They cannot command ‘DHE Peace I HE FEUD 5 ren to do anything and expect them 10 obey; but they are political as well as Ftual asctionaries TP a fight breaks out, the ‘man of che earth’ can restore ‘peace by running between the combatants and hoeing up the earth. ‘The slayer of a man is defiled with blood, and ean nether eat nor drink until the ‘man of the earth’ has let the blood ofthe dead man out of bie body. If che slayer resides near the hoae ofthe man, the as killed, he wil ive in sanetary with the “man, ofthe earth io avoid death at the bande of his victim’ Kin. ‘The man ofthe earth’ wil then negotiate between the two groups, and ty to induce the deceased's Kin to accept compensation. ‘This they are bound i honoor Corrfuse; but eventually they wil yield when the ‘man ‘of the earth’ threaten to carse them. Evans-Pritchard himself never observed this proces but he collected tales of the dire effets of such x cue. He found that ‘within a village diferences between persons are disused by the elders of the village dnd agreement is generally and easily reached and ‘ompencation paid, or promised, for all are related by Linship and common interes, Disputes between members of nearby villages, betwoen which there see ‘many social contacts and ties can aso be stded by Agreement, but les ealy and with more lkeihood of sort to free” Between sections om extreme sides of ibe, chances of setdement are les. Hence, Evans- Pritchard says, ‘aw operates very weakly outside a very limited radius snd nowhere very effectively But he shows that there is law, and as we te ft is represented in the person of the "man of the earth ‘This fanctionary also represents the need for commun peace over a certain ates, Customary practices here 46 estos axp contrac My artes agin divide men, by emphasing the dubance SEP shone Liven of les ane Cannot eat or dink together, and they may nat both tse the dishes of thnd parce Te sounds a if sme ands and wives night nox beable et together Th fact, to conc that ane hae led man a read efnce been i bled opt de wile tne under dren ofmyniea diane, Clenly people {mot po to their gardens or pastures in any sce Some adjustment ust be made: Tt bere that ihe ‘tan of the eat nt, threngh is connection with the earth Te seems tht for te Noer, a8 br many ‘Altea socltcy the carh has a rysscal a well ay & fecolar vale, The scalar vale ofthe exh the way i provides forthe private interes of inde Clad and groupe within the anger woe. They make {ei ving of aril gardens, pare and Eshng- Towle they bold their home, make the Sey an {ther meals onthe own plots of grounds they boget fd fear thar elses onthe ears "Thee antes Se brine earths Mon groupe dnp over Darcalar pce of earth to verve thee vated ena Bat men ve, work, dane, breed, dion the ear in (he company of tier men, They ain ther eights {o'cenh by vite of ember of group sd ey envoy mntin tena by sine a mee Ship. To ive onthe earth they require endip with ote men over a cetan ares, The elt unvided, So ibe brie of scythe comes to symbolize not inaiidatpromperisy fei, and. god. fortune; but the general prosperity, frit, and good fortune on whic individual ie copend Rain does tf om one pit, atom reused gts ‘THE PEACE IN THE FEUD ” and famine and epidemics bring communal disaster, And not individual disaster alone. With this prosperity are associated peace and the reco moral order over @ range of land. In West Afica tmen worship the Earth, and ia this worship groupe who are otherwise in hore relations anally unite in celebration. Tn Gentral and South Attica Kings ‘whosymbolize che plies! unity of tribes, are identified Sith ihe nthe the Rana ort fee Hing meant ‘earll. “And in some Alicnn tibes there is dogena tha the king must be killed when his physial powere Aecline, est the poviers of the easth decline simul neously, Among the Nuet, the ritual expert who is connected withthe earth, in its general fertlity, and ‘who thercre symbolizes the communal need for peace andthe Fecoguiion of moral rights in the Community of men, acs a8 mediator between warring ‘What emerge, 1 chink, i dhat if ehere are suficfent confit of loyalist work settlement wll be achieved tnd law and social order maintained, Te is cestom Which establishes this confiee in loyalties, Men re Fighaly bound by custom, backed by ritual thei agnnte kin, Ritual ideas sation the customary tiesto maternal kin. As ee fallow Evang Pritchard's nals, working outwards ftom the individual Nuct into'the Tanger “Naet sccety, we see. that point each man i pulled into relations with different men as allies or enemies according to the context of situation, Aman needs help in herding his cate: therefore he must be fiend® with neighbours with whom he may well quarrel over other matters or Indeed over the herding of cattle. ‘The herding of | | | | Lo cattle demands that certain separated groups at rome ‘seasons be in anicable relations. Aman cannot, und oe, marry his close female relatives: thie meane that he meat be fiendly enough with other people for them to give him a wile. He marries her In elaborate ceremonies and transfxseatle which he Collects fom all his kin and gives to all her kia. ‘These tlaborate ceremonies and payments of cattle stabi Flandshipe for Mime And Shrough is wife be shen tp allances with Tlativerdoclaw which are inileal {0 a wholebearted oneided attachment to hit own brothers and fellow-members of his lan. Hie children have close tes of sentiment with the kia of thelr other. Custom supports these tes with obligations And mistical threat, A man's blood-kin are not always his neighbours: the Ges of kinship and locality confit. And all these tes, I repeat, are laborately fet in easiom and backed with ritul belie. "These allegiance and a man’s allegiance to his ‘community and its sense of rightdoing, cteate conflicts hich inbibit dhe spread of gpute and fighting "There fem conic between a mans desire to seve is ‘own material ends, ruthlely, and his recognition of code of law and righi-doing wader that coe; and t conflict appears in his Kinsmen’s willingness oF un- willingness to support him in a quarrel. "There is a conflict between the astrtivenes of each individual land Kingroup and the interets which induce them to ‘come o terms with their neighbours. This isthe confit ‘which i resolved through the ritual cuse of the ‘man ofthe earth Custom lays down the code of law which tables the nature of rightdoing, and castm Ctans that men sll recognize “THE PEACE IN THE FEUD » of kimhip, oof locality, of of several other sort, But fustom it effective in binding the Noee into 2 come ‘munity which mainiaine some kind of order what Evans-Pritchard calls ‘ordered anarehy’—beeawse the obligations of custom link men in erent kinds of relationships, Over longer petiods of time and wider ranges of society the conflicts between these Telation- {hips become eobeson, T may have given the impramion thet Tam arguing that wengeanes ir never taken and the fed iz ever waged. I don't want to do this. Feud js waged and vengeance taken when the partes live suicendy far "part or are too weakly related by dive is, Even ‘when’ they are close together, hot-headednes and dest for prestige may lea to vengeance and constant fighting. ‘But where they ace close together, mauy institutions and ies operate to exert presre on the aquarelles (0 reach a setlement, Agu, this is not {o say that settlement of quarel ir always achieved, We must remember that quarrels arse out ofthe very ses which link men—tes with one's wife's kin or once fon kia or one's neighbours. ‘There is only. presnare towards the establishing of peaceful reatons—on, Ther, the reestabtohing of peaceful relations after ‘breach, ‘Ths pressure is exerted by common interest, in @ modicum of peace over a cerain are, which is necessary if men sre t live in aay kind of towty, and produce food, marry into one another's familie, fr deal with one another. ‘The cones between the loyalties ‘held: by a man hus, in a wider range of relations, etablish order and lead to recognition and fscceptance of obligations within law. A man's several loyalies strike atthe strength of his Toyaty to any one ‘eustos Axp CONFIACT IN AFRICA iroup ose of tlatinthips, which i dh divided Frente the whale sateen depends fr St cohesion om the ince of conics in smaller sub-yte Ech ‘engeance group of agnatie Hssnen is divided by the {erent matertal and conjugal and Leal attachments stlndiidual members Gleaty the pray source of divin i the gry oc tin wich are charaeric of priv sey, the rule that mien mur not mary thin clanswomen Sid oer nar nelativs: But many sores by emo Doser martage with certain acts of Kin, and therefore Ths show ndierent working o the pole! proces. In one aocey, that ofthe Bedouin of Cyensin, Inatiage allowed within the vengeance group lel Uy Daniela. ‘The analy of the renling station, Ed ig connection with habia, wil be» good te afte above argument, Dr. Emys Peter ea present ceed with iis std. We Raow tat there are fice where fede occur in comparatively sal [eae; but none other have been subjected tosdequate Stthopologcal snafyls in terms of the many. Ges ‘stabbed hy eamom “ater stadia have supported che min points made by Bvane Pritchard bout Nur society. Take biel ‘ltence only to one rudy. Evane Pritchard Mime! phased te posiv npc of te linking members ST agnaie vengeance groups to eter roups: 1 have nyse argued tht they have nie eect within the groups and this where the empha was placed by Br. Elzabeth Cobon in er study of the Tonga ‘€ Nore Rhodesia I cal present the beauty of fer ay, tT give a sommaty statement of ese the recorded shi isthe clearest ce ofthe woking ‘of the vengeance threat which we have from Alfica, ‘Aina of the Band ca killed a man ofthe Lion clan. ‘The nmatderer was arrested by the Britsh and sent gaol: but the Lions broke off all relations with the Blends who lived nearby, and men in Lion villages, and Lion men in Bland villages, told Miss Colson that in the past they would have fed home: as it was, the Lions ‘eetracized their” Eland fllow-illages Bland women living with Lion husbands among the husband? kin were subject to insults ad threat— ‘which upret the husbands, ‘The Elads proffered com Peasation through joint inlaws of themselves and the ions; peace was made, and blood-atle promised t9 ‘compensate for the homicide. ‘The Elands Were sow in paying. Eventualy.a son ofan Eland woman by a Lion fa fells al dies he divine said cha the murdered ‘man’s spirit had llled the child because cattle had not bboen paid, ‘The women again began to exereis pressure fon tnale kin to ete the matter, ‘The dispersal of the Nengeance group, andthe ‘marriages of ie women tri men of ether vengeance groups, produced divisions jn the ranks of cach group, aud. exerted presure for settlement. The death of a child, which custom blamed on the vengefil sist, ereated the situation compelling a meeting, at which other relatives of the to parties acted aa imermediaries “The general prineiple I've beea stating ha been Tong recognized by many scholars, but others have over looked it significance. In ther great Fis of Engh Eee Pollock and Maitland wrote that in Anglo- Saxon times ‘penonal injury was in the fie place 4 cause of feud, or private was, between the kindreds fof the wrongdoer and of the person wronged’. The Horr Cambridge Mediaeal History says that feud ‘produced a state of incesant primate watfare in the comunity, and divided the kindreds themselves when the injury was committed by one member gainat snother of the tame group I doubt this ‘The Anglo-Saxon vengeance group, called the sib, which was entided {0 claim Blood-money for a dead sna, was composed of all his kindred, through males find females, up 9 sth cousins. But the group whieh ‘sided and worked togeier seems to have been some form of patslarchal Joint family: again we nd thatthe vengeance group did not coincide with the local iaroup, And if you trace eae man's Kia up to his sth ‘cousin, they form 1 widely seattered grouping which ould not mobilize. Each man, with only his fl Drodhers and fallaisers, was the centre of his own and every individual was a member of the sibs of ‘many other people, Indeed, L yenture to suggest that ina longsettel diate, where there had been much intenmarrying, almost everyone would have beea a tember of everyone eer sib, Hence where vengeance Ina toe taken, or res enforced, some people woul hhave been members of both plainif and defendant fils, ‘They would rorly have exerted. presure for just setlement. Thr is the positon among. the ‘Kalingat of the Philippine Islands who have s similar Kinship system. Feds may have been prosecuted between sibs in separated distits, or as hates between local communities mobilized behind noble families. Tat we must not tke sagas and tals of feuding as evidence, for they may, like the tales of the Nucr Sinan of dhe easth’y) cre, mand at warnings. Or even as historieal record they may have been beter warnings. ‘There was only one lot of Hatfelés and ‘McCoys ia the Kentucky and Virginia ill. Generally, ‘over limited area, there is peace aswell as war inthe ‘teat ofthe feud, ‘This peace are fom the existence of many kind of relationships, and the values attached to them all by fustom. ‘Thee tes divide men at one point; but this ‘division in a wider group and over longer period of time leade 10 the establishment of socal order. In feparated.disuicts men can quarrel The smaller the area involved, the more numerous the social tex But at the area hartows he occasions which breed quarrels between men muldply; snd here 16 that their conflicting ties oth draw them apart, and bring them into telationship with other people who see that tedlesient is achieved, Tn this way cortom unites where it divides, co-operation and confice balancing ‘each other. AC the widest range, cohesion is sated in fitual terme—supparted by -mytical retribution — ‘where values are unquestioned and axiomatic. Hence Hiwial teconeliaion and spcrice often follow the settlement of a quarrel, and ritual methods are wsed (o reach adjustment. ‘The social proce of the foud and seat of feud ray seem very distant from ws, but in fac itis present fom our doorsteps, ‘The application of this analysis to {nteenatinal alfais would overlook many complicating factors: is there a single moral onder, for example, as among the Nuer? Can nations allow their members to recognize external conflicting ties of loyalty? There js cleanly, ag in Nuerland, an Increasing technological Aecemty for some Kind of peace over all the world. ‘That [leave aide, would, however, argue that itis suff lok at our ow national fe in tote terms, Ife examin the salle groupe which make up out vast and complex sce, it cay to ae that divisor interests loyalties within any’ one group prevent {tom standing in abnlate opposition to other groupe fad to the ace at lange. For men can only belong to a large ciety trough intermediate aller groups, based on technical proce on peronal asosaion, fn localigy om scetaran belle win » lege

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