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On the Irrelevance of the Segmentary Lineage Model in the Moroccan Rif
Author(s) -
MUNSON HENRY
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1989.91.2.02a00070
Subject(s) - lineage (genetic) , competition (biology) , genealogy , ethnology , state (computer science) , commodity , politics , history , sociology , geography , political science , biology , law , ecology , economics , computer science , algorithm , gene , market economy , biochemistry
In attempting to analyze the precolonial Moroccan Rif in terms of the segmentary lineage model, David Hart overlooked the fact that violence in this region typically involved brothers and the sons of brothers in competition for inherited land, which was a commodity controlled by individuals, not lineages. What Hart depicted as a segmentary lineage system was actually a network of factions that cut across genealogical lines. Moreover, the political impact of the Moroccan state on the precolonial Rif was far more important than Hart suggested.