AFRICAN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES OF THE 20TH CENTURY Volume 27 THE DYNAMICS OF CLANSHIP AMONG THE TALLENSI THE DYNAMICS OF CLANSHIP AMONG THE TALLENSI Being the First Part of an Analysis of the Social Structure of a Trans-Volta Tribe MEYER FORTES Firstpublishedin1945byOxfordUniversityPressfortheInternationalAfrican Institute. Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2018 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©1945InternationalAfricanInstitute Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilised inanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownor hereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformation storageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintentto infringe. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary ISBN:978-0-8153-8713-8(Set) ISBN:978-0-429-48813-9(Set)(ebk) ISBN:978-1-138-59188-2(Volume27)(hbk) ISBN:978-0-429-49023-1(Volume27)(ebk) Publisher’sNote Thepublisherhasgonetogreatlengthstoensurethequalityofthisreprintbut pointsoutthatsomeimperfectionsintheoriginalcopiesmaybeapparent. Disclaimer Thepublisherhasmadeeveryefforttotracecopyrightholdersandwouldwelcome correspondencefromthosetheyhavebeenunabletotrace. Due to modern production methods, it has not been possible to reproduce the fold-out maps within the book. Please visit www.routledge.com to view them. Na Naam Bion, Chief of Tongo (d. 1941), wearing his red fez (mun) the chief emblem of his office, and clad in his finest ceremonial robes. THE DYNAMICS OF CLANSHIP AMONG THE TALLENSI Being the First Part of an Analysis of the Social Structure of a Trans-Volta Tribe BY MEYER FORTES M.A. (CAPETOWN), PH.D. (LONDON) Sociologist to the Institute of West African Industries, Arts, and Social Science Accra, Gold Coast Published for the INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN INSTITUTE by the OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO 1945 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 2044.S.B.459 TO BRENDA Z. SELIGMAN