Research Directions in Political Anthropology

Abstract

anthropology deals with the nature of power and authority relations, with special emphasis on small-scale societies in the non-western world. The term, political, can be interpreted to refer to an aspect of life in any society, thus, political anthropology is related closely to comparative politics as well as to social anthropology; ultimately it benefits from, and should contribute to, both of these research fields. Because the word, political, is used in an adjectival sense in the phrase, political anthropology, it is sometimes said that the field is recognizable as one in which the so-called anthropological method is used. In general terms, this method involves an holistic approach and participant-observation carried out at the local level. In other words, it involves the examination of all features in terms of their specific context, i.e., the cultural setting which conditions the meaning of any one feature. In general, this kind of information is obtained through long-term close associations in a relatively small community and it is usually descriptive and qualitative in form. However, in political anthropology neither methods nor basic approach are in any way limited. Some workers may stress psychological variables; others stress social, structural ones. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques are used. In Africa the basic work in political anthropology is proceeding along two fronts: the first entails analysis of traditional political systems, while the second deals with the emergence of modern nation-states and the problems of incorporating traditional societies into these new entities. Traditional African politics have been found to vary from simple hunting and gathering societies like the Kalahari Bushmen or the Pygmies of the Ituri Forest, through a group of widely dissimilar acephalous peoples who practice horticulture, pastoralism, and combinations of both, to fairly complex kingdoms and empires. sity. * Professor, Departments of Science and Anthropology, Northwestern University. 1. For greater detail on this classification of traditional political systems see R. Cohen, Political Anthropology: the Future of a Pioneer, Anthropological Quarterly, XXXVIII, 3 (1965), 117-131; R. Cohen and J. Middleton, Comparative Systems: Studies