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The dynamics of cultural continuities : clanship in the Western Cape

Bibliography: pages. 106-111.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mehlwana, Anthony M
Other Authors: Spiegel, Andrew David
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Social Anthropology 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Mehlwana, Anthony M
author2 Spiegel, Andrew David
author_browse Mehlwana, Anthony M
Spiegel, Andrew David
author_facet Spiegel, Andrew David
Mehlwana, Anthony M
author_sort Mehlwana, Anthony M
collection Thesis
description Bibliography: pages. 106-111.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/17448
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:21.255Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Social Anthropology
publisherStr Social Anthropology
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/17448 The dynamics of cultural continuities : clanship in the Western Cape Mehlwana, Anthony M Spiegel, Andrew David Social Anthropology Clanship Bibliography: pages. 106-111. This thesis came as a result of two years' research in ten households in Makhaza. Makhaza is a shantytown situated in the Khayelitsha complex. The focus of this research is clanship a particularly under researched field in contemporary anthropology in southern Africa. The early anthropological literature mentioned clanship notions only in the context of social group formation. This literature argued that clanship is meaningless in urban situations since there are various social groups in urban towns which are based on criteria other than clanship. The present study argues, however, that clanship continues to be a building block in the construction of many relationships that poor Africans in towns manipulate for many purposes. Clanship manipulation should be understood in the context of the history and the poor conditions under which urban Africans live. As a result of the often forced migration, many Africans in urban areas do not live with their immediate families. In order to adapt to these conditions, they commonly build contingent relationships that they use as resources for reciprocal exchanges. This thesis has looked at these contingent relationships on three levels: a) how they are formed; b) the roles that each social actor is supposed to perform; and c) reciprocal exchange between households which are linked by clanship. It argues that clanship is a powerful symbol which binds these relationships. Clanship relationships are perceived as 'blood' relationships which are culturally defined and that underpin many varied relationships of reciprocity and material assistance among Africans. 2016-03-04T16:35:57Z 2016-03-04T16:35:57Z 1996 Master Thesis Masters MSocSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17448 eng application/pdf Social Anthropology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Social Anthropology
Clanship
Mehlwana, Anthony M
The dynamics of cultural continuities : clanship in the Western Cape
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The dynamics of cultural continuities : clanship in the Western Cape
title_full The dynamics of cultural continuities : clanship in the Western Cape
title_fullStr The dynamics of cultural continuities : clanship in the Western Cape
title_full_unstemmed The dynamics of cultural continuities : clanship in the Western Cape
title_short The dynamics of cultural continuities : clanship in the Western Cape
title_sort dynamics of cultural continuities clanship in the western cape
topic Social Anthropology
Clanship
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17448
work_keys_str_mv AT mehlwanaanthonym thedynamicsofculturalcontinuitiesclanshipinthewesterncape
AT mehlwanaanthonym dynamicsofculturalcontinuitiesclanshipinthewesterncape