Headmanship and the Ritual of Luapula Villages

Abstract

Opening ParagraphThis article is intended primarily as a contribution to the study of the village headman in British Central Africa. While most reports from the area have paid attention to the headmanl's structural position, this has been specifically considered by Gluckman, Barnes, and Mitchell in ‘The Village Headman in British Central Africa’ (Africa, xix, no. 2, 1949) and, more recently, by Mitchell in his forthcoming analysis of The Yao Village. The closely related question of the values attached to village life has received attention notably from Prof. M. Wilson in Good Company.