首長と農民 : ウガンダ・バソガの近隣関係

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Neighbourhood relationships are a very important aspect of everyday life of the Basoga, especially because this aspect is often diametrically opposed to the political and administrative system of the traditional chieftainship at a village level. Neighbourhood relationships are diverse and multiplex by nature, but in the present context I am interested in collective relationships whereby villagers in a certain area have mutual moral obligations. Public works, funerals and rituals for the spirits of dead persons (emizimu), and village courts are the occasions on which villagers are expected to engage as neighbours in collective relationships. Neighbours in these instances are characterized in many ways. Each occasion is an organized, rather than a casual, social relation based solely on neighbourliness. A working party for a task, not ordered by the Government but required from villagers' own need, for instance, is headed by an elected leader and other officials as executives, and their participation in it is not voluntary but obligatory for all male adults. There is a severe penalty in the form of a fine for any absentee. The working party is made up of an ad hoc group which is, at the same time, a very autonomous group independent from the political system. Village chiefs (mutala and kisoko chiefs) are simply incorporated into the working party as neighbours under its leader. Villagers are equal in status with village chiefs as neighbours, a point that is in marked contrast to the common villagers' status as subjects of political chiefs. This is evidenced by the fact that enthusiasm is obvious in the case of neighbours' works but cannot be seen in the case of public works ordered by the chiefs. The word abataka is crucial to understanding the neighbourhood relationships of this kind. The root of the word, -taka is recurrent in such words as eitaka (land or soil) and butaka (inherited land where ancestors' graves exist) . Thus abataka seems to mean, as in Buganda, "clan elders" But m present day Busoga or at least in Namwendwa Sub-county, it refers to, first of all, neighbours at funerals. There is an assocratron that can be called "funeral group" which consists of several territories of kisoko chiefs. Abataka at funerals are all the adult men and women in a funeral group except the people of the dead man's clan (including their wives) , who are, on the other hand, collectively called abeekika. Abataka have such obligations as burying a dead body, bringing bark-cloth for ritual and practical use, and attending a ritual and a feast on the last day. Abataka and abeekika constitute two main bodies of funeral participants. Each of them has its own chief or leader, and they never mingle with each other throughout a funeral. The chief and its officials of abataka are responsible for completion of duties of abataka, and those who neglect them are arrested and fined at their meeting. Women of abataka have their own chief and executives responsible for their own duties such as bringing food to the mourning place. This is another indication of the equal status among neighbours because it is almost the only organization for women themselves among the patrilineal Basoga with superior husband's rights. Abataka at a funeral can be said to be an autonomous, self-governed, and "grass-roots" organization with a council, but still it is not a corporation since its members change in every funeral. In other words, it is structurally complementary to abeekika. Interestingly enough, abataka at a funeral are also called abaisekantu, which is a name of a clan, in this case, a fictitious one, apparently opposed to the real clan people of the dead man.
日本文化人類学会の論文
1975-09-30

著者

中林伸浩
金沢大学教養部

首長と農民 : ウガンダ・バソガの近隣関係

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