De staat als analyse-eenheid in de culturele antropologie, problemen en mogelijkheden voor regionaal vergelijkend onderzoek

Samenvatting

Anthropologists have often used the concept of the "state" loosely, barely distinguishing it from other vague terms, eg, "nation," "people," or "tribe." For African anthropology, this problem is accentuated by historical variations in the size & variety of states. Regional contrastive analysis is discussed, exemplified by an ethnic analysis of the Interlacustrine region of eastern Africa. Although some Dutch anthropologists view the problem in terms of ethnicity, a better approach is to focus on the interaction between civil organizations & their members. This approach has been useful in explaining the dynamics of state formation & in establishing state boundaries. 29 References. Modified HA.