Abstract
THE Bomvana are a Bantu people of the Transkei who, according to their own tradition, are derived from the Amanguema, a people said to have lived in Natal. It is probable that it was somewhere about the middle of the sixteenth century that they were driven out of Natal and settled among the Pondos, with whom they remained until the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is evident that although all call themselves Bomvana, the tribe is composite. Mr. Cook has made a very thorough study of their social organisation, religion, and ritual. While their institutions generally conform to type, it is indicated very clearly that, speaking broadly, no generalisation about the Bantu peoples of South Africa is sound. Each must be studied individually. This warning is not unnecessary, even for anthropologists, and still less for the administration.
Social Organisation and Ceremonial Institutions of the Bomvana.
P. A. W.
Cook
By. Pp. xi + 171 + 16 plates. (Cape Town and Johannesburg: Juta and Co., Ltd., n.d.) 10s. 6d.
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Social Organisation and Ceremonial Institutions of the Bomvana . Nature 129, 637 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129637d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129637d0