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SUMMARY:Segou Fanga – Tamani Kafu: towards an archaeology of Mande polit
 ical tradition (AD 1200-1850) - Kevin MacDonald\, Institute of Archaeology
 \, University College London
DTSTART:20130304T170000Z
DTEND:20130304T180000Z
UID:TALK42705@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Judith Weik
DESCRIPTION:Work on the early urban systems of Mande Africa since the 1970
 s has indicated that their organisation was effectively heterarchical. Lik
 ewise\, Roderick McIntosh in his book *The Peoples of the Middle Niger* ha
 s argued that Mande society prior to meeting with the 'Islamic Imperial Tr
 adition' was also horizontally\, rather than vertically organised. Yet the
 re are alternatives to this explanation. At the heart of historic Mande po
 litical organisation there is the dichotomy of the kafu (confederacy) and 
 the fanga (state power)\, just as there are markadugu (heterarchical urban
  centres) and fadugu ('capitals' or 'towns of power'). Using a range of ar
 chaeological and historic sources the long-term and sometimes cyclic co-ex
 istence of these two systems within the Mande world will be advocated. \n
LOCATION:Seminar Room S1 Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge
  CB3 9DT
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