African Tribes

 A history of the Maghrib

The Maghrib or Maghreb are one of the African tribes living in the North Western part of Africa. Professor Abun-Nasr’s book is unique, in that it attempts to describe the entire history of one of the Maghrib, from prehistoric times to their recent achievement of independence in the mid 1900’s. A significant book.

 

 

 

“People of the Veil” – the Tuaregs

This book is an account of the habits, organisation and history of the wandering Tuaregs,  one of the African tribes inhabiting the Mountains of Air or Asben in the Central Sahara. It was written as a result of a journey of many months by camel in the Southern Central Sahara in 1922. The author finds the area has been virtually unexplored, with its inhabitants unaffected by contact with Europeans and still in their age old way.

 

The Ovimbundu of Angola

This contemporary study of one of the Ovimbundu, one of the African tribes living in Angola. It describes the changes, from the time of their caravan trade in slaves, rubber, and ivory, down to the more recent period in which the organization of their chiefdoms has been influenced by Catholic missions, Portuguese administration and wage labour.

 

 

Boiling Energy – Community Healing among the Kalahari Kung

This account of the ancient healing dances practised by one of the African tribes living in Kalahari Desert in South Africa, the Kung people, includes vivid eyewitness descriptions of night-long healing dances and interviews with Kung healers. At a time when many voices rightly, are urging us to move towards a more wholistic approach to medicine and healing society itself, it is fascinating and valuable to read this thoughtful eyewitness account, of a culture which has always been wholistic. This is a book not just for anthropologists or psychologists, but for a much wider readership. It is vivid and inspiring.

 

A Walk with a White Bushman

“A Walk with a White Bushman” by Laurens van der Post is a beautiful book based on his own experiences with the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. Whether writing or speaking, Laurens van der Post had that rare ability to rouse the imagination and reach to the soul, to enlarge horizons, even to change peoples lives. The result is a book brimming with ideas, insights, people and events; at once thoughtful and exciting, mellow yet full of promise, autobiographical but also topical.

 

African and her peoples

This little book aims at giving a birds eye view of Africa and the peoples of Africa. It is just an introductory book to Africa, to give an overview and some “background knowledge” of the various races of Africa, for teachers.

 

 

African Kingdoms

When the people of Europe overflowed into the rest of the world during the 16th & 19th centuries. The indigenous people of all the colonized countries went under, so within 300 years the original populations were reduced to insignificant minorities. In this volume the Author digs deep into the history of these great surviving African Kingdoms and African tribes. 

 

 African Societies

A social anthropologist’s studies into various African tribes and their societies, who are still unaffected by colonization and the industrial revolution.

 

 African Worlds

The present volume consists of 9 studies, each describing the world outlook of an African people, as expressed in their myths of creation, traditions of origin, and religious beliefs. The African tribes’ studies are concerned with widely divergent systems of thought, such as the complex Dogon of French West Africa, the Abaluyia of Kenya, the Lele of Kasai, the Mende, Ashanti, and many more.

Bantu Heritage

Who actually are the Bantu? Who were their ancestors? “Bantu Heritage” is an in-depth study of Bantu heritage in Southern Africa. Set out in seven chapters, it deals with African races and tribes: The Bantu language, Bantu folklore, Bantu music, Bantu social organization, Bantu tribal organization, and Bantu law etiquette. A very important study for those interested in Bantu tribal history.

 

Bantu Origins

The Bantu are one of the largest tribes of Africa, stretching from East Africa right down into South Africa. “Bantu Origins – The People and their Language” is a study into the history of the Bantu people, their customs, culture and language.

 

 

 

African Kingships in Perspective

In Africa, as elsewhere, the intrusion of modernity has acted as a powerful solvent on traditional political structures, and the effect of this corrosive process is nowhere more evident than in the case of African Kingships. This book attempts to deal comparatively and analytically with the dynamics of political change and modernization in monarchical settings.

 

 Bantu Researches

“Bantu Researches” is a book of Bantu studies – an in-depth study into the origin and history of the Bantu race. It is a collection of extracts from old original copies of the “South African Journal of Science”. There is no index, only a typed contents page, that seems to have been added when all the various extracts were bound together.

 

Eight Years with the Congo Pygmies

The authors Pat and Anne Putman, and Allan Keller, tell of their experiences during their eight years of living amongst the strange and fascinating Pygmy people, in the Congo: learning their way of life, eating their food, and living as naturally as possible. A truly interesting account.

 

Mind in the Heart of Darkness – a study of the Tswana people of Southern Africa

This book “Mind in the Heart of Darkness” is basically a study of one of the African tribes in South Africa, the Tswana people. It is a study about the transitional period of colonial rule into independence, and the effect, modern social structure has had on the various tribal communities and on the individual.

 

Natives of Africa in the 16th century

A collection of studies taken from a series of journals.

 

At Home With The Savage

Fifteen year’s service in Uganda and the Sudan brought the author into contact with several African tribes, and through his contact with them he was able to develop ties of true friendship, particularly with the Lango and the Didinga. He was admitted into their tribal association, and was able to learn from the inside their traditions and ways. He participated freely in their tribal activities, and is one of the few Europeans to have become expert in the practice of native warfare, and perhaps the only one to have hunted lions and elephants with a spear.

 

 

Communal Rituals of the Nyakusa

The Nyakyusa and the Ngonde tribes occupy an area shut in by mountains at the northern end of Lake Nyasa, in Tanzania, and enjoy a culture which, though varying locally, clearly springs from a common basis and is traditionally attributed to similar origins. The subject of this book is the traditional rituals celebrated on behalf of chiefdoms and groups of chiefdoms, and the changing ideas and values apparent, as a section of the Nyakyusa turn from paganism to Christianity.

 

Good Company

This is a study of Nyakyusa in Southern Tanzania, where the social structure of the society was founded strictly upon age and generation, without regard to familial descendants. Dr Monica Wilson and her husband anthropologist, Godfrey Wilson, lived for some time among the Nyakyusa people, observing their unusual form of communal living. This analysis of the Nyakyusa way of life was written by Dr Wilson after the death of her husband, when she assumed the position of Professor of Social Anthropology at Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, South Africa.

 

 

Maasai

This simple book is dedicated to the Maasai people who, despite external world pressure, are strongly and proudly determined to live according to their ancient traditions. But for how long? May we, people of the atomic age and the consumer society, understand this act of faith and courage of their decision. The great Maasai tribe is made up of almost 120,000 people divided into about 20 different groups: the Keekonyokie, Mara,,Wanderobo, Ilkunoono, Arusa, Kisongo, etc. Some of these, like the Samburu, for example, have acquired special characteristics through time, which distinguish them from the majority of the Maasai people.

 Herd & Spear – The Maasai of East Africa

The Maasai are among the most striking and widely known people of Africa.They have superb physique and taditions of great courage. Their colourful dress and elaborate ceremonies are constant reminders to them that they are a warrior tribe. “Herd and Spear” provides a unique insight into the world of the Maasai, frequently told in the words of the people themselves, sometimes brutal, often funny, but always warm and personal.

 

 

Warrior Herdsmen

The warrior herdsmen are a tribe called the Dodoth,who live in northernmost Uganda close to the borders of Kenya and the Sudan.They are warriors who fight by necessity for the defence of their livelihood, and they are herdsmen whose sole wealth exists in the ownership of cattle. The author lived among them for the second half of 1961, and from the experience of that six months she has brought back a picture of a harsh and poignant way of life.

 The Dobe !Kung

Here is another volume in the Case-study Series in Cultural Anthropology. This is a study of the !Kung San, foragers of the Dobe area of the Kalahari desert of north western Botswana, near the border of Namibia.

 

 

The Samburu

The Samburu are a Masai-speaking tribe of some 30,000 persons living in the arid regions of northern Kenya. In an era of rapid change for Africa, this nomadic tribe clings to to its traditional way of life. This book examines their society and provides the first full published description of human life in the area. The author, a social anthropologist, spent more than 2 years among the Samburu, as an adopted member of one of their clans. He perceived how their values and attitudes are closely interwoven with a social system that resists change.

 

 

 

 

For more tribes, see:  African Tribes and other categories