Bunyoro: An African Feudality?

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Periodical article

Title:	Bunyoro: An African Feudality?
Author:	Beattie, J.H.M.
Year:	1964
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	5
Issue:	1
Pages:	25-36
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Uganda
Subjects:	feudalism traditional polities
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/179766
Abstract:	In an article 'Feudalism in Africa? - (Jl. of African History, IV, 1, 1963, 1-18), Goody discussed the utility of applying the concepts and vocabulary of Western feudalism to traditional African States. He pointed out that the term 'feudalism' has been used in many senses even by European historians, and he concluded that although the specific institutions into which feudalism (however defined) may be broken down may often usefully be compared, the kind of overall comparison that is invited by words like 'feudalism' is best avoided at this stage. In this paper the author adduces corroborative evidence for Goody's thesis from his own study of a traditional African kingdom. He gives a brief account of some of the main structural features of the interlacustrine Bantu state of Bunyoro, as they existed in pre-European times, and also he considers the usefulness, in the context of the Nyoro polity, of feudal ideas. Footnotes.