Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-20T20:43:02.953Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kinship and Contract in Somali Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Jama Mohamed
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Traditional Somali politics was based on two dialectically related principles: kinship and contract (tol iyo xeer). Kinship was founded on the segmentary lineage system under which people traced their descent to common male ancestors. Agnates functioned as corporate political groups because they were blood relatives. But the blood relation was not sufficient to establish a political system. Agnates functioned as corporate political groups because they negotiated a social contract that defined the terms of their collective unity.

Résumé

La politique traditionnelle somalienne reposait sur deux principes dialectale‐ment liés: la parenté et le contrat (tol iyo xeer). La parenté était fondée sur le systéme de lignage segmentaire dans lequel les individus faisaient remonter leur descendance à des ancêtres communs de sexe masculin. Parents par le sang, les agnats formaient des groupes politiques communs. Or, ce lien de sang ne suffisait pas à établir un systéme politique. Les agnats formaient des groupes politiques communs parce qu'ils négociaient un contrat social qui définissait les conditions de leur unité collective.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 77 , Issue 2 , May 2007 , pp. 226 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abud, H. M. (1893) PRO, FO 78/4602, ‘Genealogical trees of the Somal, Dolbahanta and Habr Gerhajis, Aidagalleh, October’.Google Scholar
Andrzejewski, B. W. (1967) ‘Poetry in Somali society’, New Society 1 (25) (21 March).Google Scholar
Andrzejewski, B. W. (1993). An Anthology of Somali Poetry. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle, (1953) The Nicomachean Ethics. London: Penguin Classics.Google Scholar
Aristotle, (1962). The Politics. London: Penguin Classics.Google Scholar
Barthes, R. (1957) Mythologies. Paris: Editions du Seuil.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burton, R. (1966) First Footsteps in East Africa. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Carrick‐ Allan, N. P. (1958) PRO, CO 830/16, Acting Attorney General and Chair, ‘Commission of Inquiry into the Unofficial Representation in the Legislative Council, 8 February’.Google Scholar
Chief Secretary, (1948) PRO, CO 537/3618/15363, ‘Notes on British Somaliland, June’.Google Scholar
Clarke, W. S. (1995) The Humanitarian Intervention in Somalia: a bibliography. Washington: Centre for Strategic Studies.Google Scholar
Colonial Office (1954, 1955) Colonial Office Annual Reports on the Somaliland Protectorate, 1954 and 1955. London: HMS.Google Scholar
Cooper, F. (1997) International Development and the Social Sciences. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cordeaux, H. E. S. (1905) PRO, CO 879/87, Acting Commissioner to Mr Lyttelton, 23 August.Google Scholar
Cordeaux, H. E. S. (1906) PRO, CO 537/44, ‘Memorandum by H. E. S. Cordeaux on Somaliland, 30 June’.Google Scholar
Cruttenden, Lt (1849) ‘Memoirs of the western or Edoor tribes, inhabiting the Somali coast of northeast Africa’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 19.Google Scholar
’Debates in Council’ (1958) Africa Digest 5 (4) (January‐February).Google Scholar
Drake‐ Brockman, R. E. (1912) British Somaliland. London: Hurst and Blackett, Ltd.Google Scholar
Executive Council (1957) PRO, CO 830/11, ‘Minutes of the 18th Meeting of the Executive Council Held at Government House on Wednesday, 27 November at 9 a.m.’Google Scholar
Executive Council (1959) PRO, CO 830/13, ‘Abolition of Heer’.Google Scholar
Fisher, G. T. (1943) PRO, WO 32/10862, ‘Annual Report on the Administration of British Somaliland’.Google Scholar
Fisher, G. T. (1945) PRO, CO 1015/672, ‘British Somaliland and its Tribes, January’.Google Scholar
Griffiths, J. (1950) PRO, CO 535/152/2, J. Griffiths to Gerald Reece, 30 March.Google Scholar
Haabiil, A. J. (1993‐4) ‘Baroordiiq’, Hal‐Abuur: Journal of Somali Literature and Culture 1 (1‐2).Google Scholar
Hornby, M. L. (1905) PRO, CO 879/87, Lt Colonel M. L. Hornby, Commanding the Troops, Somaliland Protectorate, to His Majesty’s Commissioner and Commander‐in‐Chief, Somaliland Protectorate, 16 August.Google Scholar
Hudson, R. S. (1952) PRO, CO 1015/560, ‘Some preliminary notes on problems relating to the constitutional development of the Somaliland Protectorate, March’.Google Scholar
Ibn Khaldun, . (1999) al‐Muqaddimah. Beirut: Dar al‐Kitab al‐Lubnani.Google Scholar
Information Office. (1951) PRO, CO 1015/366, ‘New notes on Somaliland Protectorate, July‐September’.Google Scholar
Jameson, F. R. W. (1943) PRO, WO 230/94, ‘Tour impressions 5 September’.Google Scholar
Jerrom, (1950) PRO, CO 535/152/2, ‘Minutes’.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanham, (1950) PRO, CO 535/152/2, ‘Minutes’.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, I. M. (1958) ‘Modern political movements in Somaliland ‐ II’, Africa 28 (4).Google Scholar
Lewis, I. M. (1961) Pastoral Democracy. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, I. M. (2002) A Modern History of the Somali. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Maine, H. (1861) Ancient Law. London.Google Scholar
Miles, S. B. (1870) PRO, FO 78/3186, ‘A rough genealogical sketch of the Somalees from Tagurah to east of Berbera, 22 April’.Google Scholar
Mohamed, J. (2002) ‘“The evils of locust bait”: popular nationalism during the 1945 anti‐locust control rebellion in colonial Somaliland’, Past and Present 174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
’Native Administration in Somaliland’ (1951) PRO, CO 535/152/3.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. (1973) Theory of Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reece, G. (1950) PRO, CO 535/152/2, Gerald Reece to C. E. Lambert, Esq., 5 March.Google Scholar
Reece, G. (1951) PRO, CO 535/152/2, Gerald Reece to C. E. Lambert, Esquire, 29 January.Google Scholar
Reece, G. (1953a) PRO, CO 1015/363, Reece to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 9 May.Google Scholar
Reece, G. (1953b) PRO, CO 1015/560, Gerald Reece to J. E. Marnham, 6 August.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, F. (1967) The Muqaddimah. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Scawin, A. L. (1959) Oxford University, Rhodes House Library, 751.13s.2/1959(1), ‘Somaliland Protectorate: Report of the Commission on Representational Reform, April‐May’.Google Scholar
Walker, D. (1980) The Oxford Companion to Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wallis, (1950) PRO, CO 535/152/2, ‘Minutes’.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
War Somali Sidihii (1953) PRO, CO 1015/868.Google Scholar
War Somali Sidihii (1955) PRO, CO 1015/868.Google Scholar
War Somali Sidihii (1957) PRO, CO 1015/868.Google Scholar
Wright, A. C. A. (1941) Oxford University, Rhodes House Library, Mss.Afr.S.1104, ‘The interaction of various systems of law in British Somaliland with particular relation to the payment of blood money and the infliction of the death sentence’.Google Scholar