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Friendship, descent and alliance are basic forms of relatedness that have received unequal attention in social anthropology. Offering new insights into the ways in which friendship is conceptualized and realized in various sub-Saharan African settings, the contributions to this volume depart from the recent tendency to study friendship in isolation from kinship. In drawing attention to the complexity of the interactions between these two kinds of social relationships, the book suggests that analyses of friendship in Western societies would also benefit from research that explores more systematically friendship in conjunction with kinship.
“By illustrating the variety of ways in which kinship and friendship interrelate, this collection’s essays make a convincing case for a joint analysis of kinship and friendship; highlighting issues of power, generation, the plural character of friendship; and political, economic, and social transformations as new directions for future research. I recommend the volume to anyone interested in African studies, anthropology, and the sociology of friendship.” · Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute
“The volume captures the complex nature of friendship among various ethnic groups in Africa in different social contexts and situations. On the basis of rich ethnography, the volume manages to offer a comparative perspective on an often neglected form of relationship and proves that the study of friendship sheds light on important societal issues… The edited volume contributes not only to the establishment of the study of a neglected field in anthropology but also to one of the core questions in social theory.” · African Spectrum
“All in all this volume is a good read for those interested in friendship and other social relations beyond mere kinship. Guichard’s thorough review of the literature is important in itself and combined with the other chapters the book gives us a not just broad but also deep, as well as rare, contribution to the study of African friendship.” · ARAS
“…a well-crafted project that proves the importance of friendship and other purportedly non-kinship relationships, while clearly illustrating the porous boundaries between friend and kin. A few other anthropologists have looked at friendship of late, and we can hope that this book inspires more examination of more cultural areas where relationships are also undoubtedly being invented and contested in terms of and in contrast to family bonds.” · Anthropology Review Database
Foreword
Günther Schlee
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Martine Guichard
Part I. Friendship, Kinship and Age
Chapter 1. Where Are Other People’s Friends Hiding? Reflections on Anthropological Studies of Friendship
Martine Guichard
Chapter 2. Comradeship and the Transformation of Alliance Theory among the Maasai: Shifting the Focus from Descent to Peer-Group Loyalty
Paul Spencer
Part II. Friendship and Ethnicity
Chapter 3. Friendship Networks in Southwestern Ethiopia
Wolde Gossa Tadesse and Martine Guichard
Chapter 4. Friendship and Spiritual Parenthood among the Moose and the Fulbe in Burkina Faso
Mark Breusers
Chapter 5. Labour Migration and Moral Dimensions of Interethnic Friendships: The Case of Young Gold Miners in Benin (West Africa)
Tilo Grätz
Part III. Friendship, Politics and Urbanity
Chapter 6. Friendship and Kinship among Merchants and Veterans in Mali
Richard L. Warms
Chapter 7. ‘Down-to-Earth’: Friendship and a National Elite Circle in Botswana
Richard Werbner
Chapter 8. Negotiating Friendship and Kinship in a Context of Violence: The Case of the Tuareg during the Upheaval in Mali from 1990 to 1996
Georg Klute
Afterword: Friendship in a World of Force and Power
Stephen P. Reyna
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index