Kings of Disaster : : Dualism, Centralism and the Scapegoat King in Southeastern Sudan / / Simon Simonse.

• Superior document: Studies in human society ; Volume 5
• VerfasserIn: Simonse, Simon,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden : : BRILL,, 1992.
• Year of Publication: 1992
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in human society ; Volume 5.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

This study of the rainmakers of the Nilotic Sudan means a breakthrough in anthropological thinking on African political systems. Taking his inspiration from Rene Girard's theory of consensual scapegoating the author shows that the long standing distinction of states and stateless societies as two fundamentally different political types does not hold. Centralized and segmentary systems only differ in the relative emphasis put on the victimary role of the king as compared with that of enemy victims. Kings of Disaster so proposes an uninvolved solution to the vexed problem of regicide. Recent cases occurring during the great drought of the mid-1980's are discribed and analyzed. Making simultaneous use of first-hand field data and archival sources, the book offers the first presentation of five Nilotic communities on the East Bank of the Nile. This study offers a new perspective on the role of violence in the structuring of society.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of case histories -- Introduction -- The aim of this study -- The plan of the book -- A note on terminology: Kings, chiefs, Masters, and Rainmakers -- Technical notes -- Acknowledgements -- Part One: The Problem and the Setting -- 1. The sacred, consensus and power -- The scapegoat mechanism according to René Girard -- The victimary scenario of conflict resolution -- Consensus and the sacred: Girard, Durkheim and structuralism -- Power and the sacred: Girard and Weber -- The enemy scenario -- Dualism as a victimary form of social organization -- Centralism -- The Neo-Frazerians -- The scenario of conflict avoidance -- The King as sovereign and as a Big Man -- Conclusion: scenario, cultural form and historical events -- 2. Ethnological connections between the Nile and the Kidepo -- The geographical setting -- Delimitation of the 'ethnological field of study' -- The Eastern Nilotic connection -- The Madi connection -- The Lwo connection -- The iron connection -- Melting-pot -- 3. Modes of subsistence and social organization -- Sorghum, 'provider of life' -- Work-parties and the Big Man -- Cattle and the fly -- Hunting and egalitarianism -- The village: size, layout and defence works -- The monyomiji -- Sections -- Interclan relations -- 4. The passing of the glamour: the Bari -- The Beautiful, the brave, and the earthly -- Bari: The collapse of the hegemony of the Bilinyan Bekat -- The cargo chiefs (1859-1885) -- The steamer cult -- The era of the warlords (1885-1898) -- The government chiefs -- Conclusion -- 5. The twin kingdoms: the Lotuho -- The traders (1860-1875) -- The 'Nacar' (1888-1897) -- The Uganda Protectorate (1898-1914) -- The Condominium (1914-1954): Tirangore -- The Condominium: Loronyo -- Conclusion.

6. The bugbear of the administration: the Pari, Lokoya and Lulubo -- The first interactions between the Pari and the Sudan government -- First government interactions with the Lulubo and Lokoya -- The patrols (1910-1920) -- Rainmakers and government chiefs -- Conclusion -- Part Two: Dualism -- 7. Territorial dualism -- Violence and social distance -- Hero and victim in warfare -- The dualist structure of sectional organization -- The tightrope of non-violent competition -- The westward military pressure between the Nile and the Kidepo -- Conclusion -- 8. The dualist structure of the age-class organization -- The owners of the village -- Generational succession -- Generational antagonism -- The seclusion of the new generation -- The mock-conquest of the village -- The bull of generational reconciliation -- Conclusion -- Part Three: Centralism, or the King as Aggressor Against the People -- 9. The king as enemy of his people -- The antagonism between King and people -- Alliances of Kings against their people -- The rain-drama of Lowe (June 1981) -- Kings as lonely heroes -- The rhetoric of the harangue -- Mediators between King and people -- The marriage between King and people -- Conclusions -- 10. The king as unifier of the people -- The King as supreme commander in war -- The King as bridge across social cleavages -- The King's palace as a sanctuary -- The King as arbitrator -- Sanctions -- The use of physical force as a sanction -- The King as bridge of generational cleavages -- Conclusion -- 11. Tipping the balance of power to the king -- The King's men -- The creation of armies -- The conclusion of alliances -- The King and the social division of labour -- Tribute -- Trade -- The peripatetic character of kingship -- Conclusions -- 12. Boundaries in the sky: the territorial dimension of kingship -- Segmentary expansion: the Kursak.

Segmentary expansion: the Bekat -- The division of the Lotuho -- The territorial span of the centre -- Conclusion -- 13. The fingers of god: the cosmological dimension of kingship -- Compartmentalization of powers: Lokiliri -- Disaster and power -- The control of temporal order and disorder Liria -- Concentration of powers: the Bari -- Concentration of powers: the Lotuho -- The social distribution of divinity -- Conclusions -- 14. Rain queens and rainstones as symbols of the Centre -- The Lotuho Queen as the ultimate prize of dynastic rivals -- Lomoro's assassination -- The value of rainstones -- The rainstones as a focus of rivalry and an archive of history -- The sexual symbolism of rainstones -- Conclusion -- 15. The spear and the bead: the divisiveness of kingship -- The myth of the spear and the bead -- The spiral of violence in Bilinyan -- The rivalry between the Lotuho kingdoms -- Conclusions -- Part Four: The Scapegoat King, or the People as Aggressor Against the King -- 16. The king as victim in suspense -- The anger of the King and the sins of the people -- The emergency meeting of the monyomiji -- Drought, a Rainmaker's weapon -- Turning the cards on the Rainmaker -- Violence and the Rainmaker -- The buffer of ritual -- The apocalyptic time-frame of rain ritual -- Conclusions -- 17. The king as victim -- The designation of the droughtmaker -- The allocation and handling of stigma -- The use of torture -- The simulation of regicide -- Deliberate regicide -- The killing of the Queen of the Pari -- Conclusions -- 18. Catching life in the spell of death -- The installation of the King -- The royal funeral -- Elimination of the King's evil -- Collecting the blessings from the dying King -- The reign of the dead King -- The live burial of the King's assistants -- The exhumation of the King's body -- The relics of the dead King -- Conclusions.

19. The metabolism of violence and order -- The preparations for the New Year's Festival -- The New Year's Deliberations -- The New Year's Hunt and the 'reconquest' of the village -- The New Year's Dance -- The containment of violence during the New Year's Festival -- The 'cooling' of the village shrine -- The Rain-creeper -- A cosmology of violence and peace -- The bitter stomach of the King -- Conclusions -- Conclusions -- The scapegoat mechanism and Nilotic kingship -- Dualism and centralism as alternative forms of political organization -- The King, the sacred and power -- The state as irreversible centralism -- Bibliography -- Linguistic Chart -- Index -- Maps.