MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

SCHOOL OF LIBERAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

NAME: WAMARA STUART

REGNO.: 16/U/12283/PS

COURSE NAME: African Traditional Justice Systems and Human Rights Practices

COURSE CODE: EHR 2202

LECTURE NAME: D.R. FERDINAND M. KASOZI

QUESTION:

From the Article “Concepts of Social Justice in Traditional Africa” By Alyward Shorter

1. What is the general understanding of Africa which Alyward Shorter gives?

2. What does Traditional Africa mean?
3. What is the understanding of African Indigenous Institutions of Social Control?
4. What does he mean by that term “Justice”?/ The meaning of Justice?
5. What is the nature of Justice?
(1) Alyward Shorter's general understanding of Africa

Alyward shorter's general understanding of Africa is grounded in his analysis of the relationship
between Traditional Africa and Modern Africa. He stressess that one cannot deny that there are
many threads of continuity linking the past with the present, the old social order with the new. In
respect to this, among the Banyakole there are customs and traditions that were practiced in the
pre colonial error which are reflected in today's culture forexample; paying bride price for
marriage (okujuga) which was mainly in form of giving cows to the girl's family. It is still
applicable today where by people pay bride price i.e the man's family gives cows to the girl's
family

Shorter also stresses that the discontinuities which may seem to be are of diminishing importance
and that traditional concepts survive because they find a new dimension and a new application in
the modern situation. This is again reflected among the Banyakole still, people today pay bride
price sometimes in form of money valued for specific cows and in so doing, paying bride price is
done with a medium of exchange (money) but yet it remains true that this money has to be equal
to specific cows valued in giving away a girl and this taking up a new form of paying pride price
as cows

(2). What Traditional Africa means according to Alyward Shorter

According to Shorter, Traditional Africa refers to pre-industial societies in Africa with social and
political settings, economic systems of languages, cultures and religion. This is reflected in the
following;

In Traditional Africa, the experiences of society as a clearly bounded group strongly outweighs
the experience of ego-centred networks of personal relationships where by; stability and
continued existence of the group is a much more important consideration than the rights of the
individual i.e Individual identity is derived from group identity, and group identities establish
themselves at different levels of interaction between groups family communities, clans, villages,
chiefdoms, sub-tribes and larger political entities. Among the Banyakole, people identified
themselves in groups ie Bairu (peasants) and Bahima (cattle keepers). Bairu families did
cultivation together, helping themselves raise food while Bahima also kept cattle together, Like
in Ankole was communial in the pre-industial error with families established in houses built on
this communial land

(3) The understanding of Africa indigenous institutions of social Control

In the kinship system, the importance of the family community in traditional Africa was defined
differently in different societies, according to various types of economy, rules of descent and
residence. Among the Banyakole, families headed by a man with many wives, children and
property (eka engaiga) is considered of great importance than the family with the opposite (enka
enyolo). This was because one would have enough land for food, enough labourers (chidren or
family members) etc

Among the Banyakole, Within the family (Eka), there was a strict hierarchy of authority
(okugondera ondi), according to which the males (abashaija) ruled, and held responsibility
(obuvunanizibwa) for, the females (abakazi). Brothers (banyanya aboojjo) ruled their sisters
(banyanyazi), and sons (abaana), even their mothers (ba nyina), when they came of age or
succeeded to the inheritance (okusikira). Women (abakazi) did not enjoy any ultimate authority
or responsibility (obushoborozi ningashi obuvunanizibwa) for the household (eka)

In the social, political system, the African village or settlement usually represented a
convergence of loyalties that made for a strong sense of community. Very often family ties criss-
crossed the village, added to which were the loyalties of chiefdom and ethnic group, as well as
those of professional associations. Neighbors co-operated in a thousand ways, working
communally on each other's farms, taking part in each other's expeditions for hunting or fishing,
celebrating each other's family and social events. Neighbours borrowed tools and utensils from
each other, and performed innumerable services for each other. For many African peoples the
ideal of the good life was sharing "good company. " Among the Banyakole for example, one's
marriage is out of a collective responsibility where there is "katerarume" which means the one
who connects the bride and the bride groom, people in the village (abataka) bring food and also
participate in cooking but also drink alcohol (amaarwa) together among other many things, and
this keeps the society working together, sharing good company.

Neighbours (barurwaana) come together not only for work and recreation, but also to solve
disputes (okugonjoora enshonga zobutikirizanga). The neighbourhood court (embuga zamateeka)
play an invaluable role in reconciling disputants (okugarukana), in settling quarrels and in
imposing sanctions. The court operates on the basis of a thorough personal knowledge
(obwengye) of the parties (embaju zombi) involved and their families, and its interest is in
maintaining peace (obusingye) and harmony (obumwe) among neighbours (barurwaana) and
villagers (abataka). A local chief (omukungu) or headman (omwebembezi) might be responsible
for the final decision taken (okusharaho), but it has to reflect the opinions (enshonga) voiced in
the free discussion (okugonzora) which had preceded it

(4) Meaning of Justice according to Alyward Shorter

According to Shorter, decisions concerning social control, and collective decisions taken for the
good of the community, were based on cases or precedents i.e Custom was the guide to present
action. However, that did not mean there was no possibility of change or adaptation. On the
contrary, there was considerable flexibility, even when the appeal to tradition was made in the
form of myths and other forms of oral tradition for example; among the Banyakole, In a family if
one sat on a grinding mortal "eshekuro" it was mythical that one would give birth to only girls
which was seen as a disgrace. So this would come in as a flexibility to deal with actions were one
has sat on it.

Witch-hunting as a characteristic feature of societies that are strongly group-centred is also a

reflection of Justice and anyone who places himself outside the life and normal working of the
group constitutes a threat to the whole group. Among the Banyakole night dancers
(Abachechezi) were hunted. Night dancers would leave water boiling attended to by their wives
or members of the family, then go to practice night dancing while the water is boiling until they
came back. For people (abataka) to trap them, one of the ways they used when they have
recognised who these people would be, the next time they would go to the night dancer's home
when he has left for his usual business of night dancing and they spill off the boiling water when
the night dancer is still out. This would make him vulnerable to be caught and dealt with

Throughout traditional Africa there were no codes of positive law, and society did not make laws
" in any literal sense. Decisions concerning social control, and collective decisions taken for the
good of the community, were based on cases or precedents. Custom was the guide to present
action. Among the Banyakole in the local courts people (abataka) would be judges in any case,
who would listen to the proceedings, make judgements and the chief (omukungu) would help
come out with final decisions depending on the court proceedings and people's judgements.

(5) The nature of Justice in Traditional Africa according Alyward shorter

In the minimally structured society including the hunters, food gatherers and pastoralists,
Alyward shorter stresses that with the minimum of structure, the band of hunters and gatherers
had a continually fluctuating membership and so loyalties were short term and there was no need
for elaborate mechanisms of reconciliation. Among the Banyakole hunters would also move
from one bush to another and actually if you saw hunters around your area, many you even don't
know where they come and you you may not see them again after hunting and as for meat
hunted, they share each part of an animal but also depending on the number of hunting materials,
in this case dogs. The one with many dogs takes a bigger share. Food Gathers would also gather
food from different places and the one who gets to the food first is the one to take it/own it.

For Nomadism applied in varying degrees to the pastoralists, shorter stresses that there is a
pattern in the movements of all pastoralists, dictated as it is by the availability of water and
grazing, among the Banyakole if a place was the only source of water for grazing (okweeshera)
the one who brings his comes would first grade and the next one would be the one who was the
second until the last person to bring animals.

In the decentralized society or chief tainship, shorter stresses that the symbolism of the ruler or
ritual leader was important, and the chieftains or chiefs of Africa were varied examples of the "
divine king " concept first studied by Frazer. The divine king is more than a ruler whose
authority is supported by religious sanctions, and more even than a ruler with priestly or
mediating functions in worship. The divine king is regarded as a living pledge of divine favour
for his people, and the focus of innumerable rituals, rather than the reposition' of real power. The
chieftains and chiefs of so many sedentary African societies stand somewhere between the two
extremes of the stateless, pastoralist society and the highly centralized kingdom with a basic
patrimony in land or livestock forexample, the chief among the Banyakole mediate the King
(Omugabe) and other local people (abataka) and this was reflected in collected food for the royal
family, seetling people's disputes among other things. Chiefship was very far from dictatorship,
In most cases, the chief took no decisions alone, but always relied on the advice of a council
(abanyakakiiko), usually drawn from the male members of the royal clan

In the centralised society, Shorter stresses that the centralized kingdom comes into existence
when there is the possibility of a patrimony under the control of the chief ans that often this
patrimony was land. Local administration was tied to grants of populated land and the
subordinate chief who received the land understood that he was responsible for its inhabitants, as
well as for seeing that the king received tribute from its produce. He himself was also supported
from the fruits and tribute of the land he received. Like among the Banyakole, land inhabitants
(abataka) would give the King (Omugabe ) food through the chiefs (abakungu). At other times,
the patrimony was cattle, and the king theoretically owned all cattle, taking them or granting
them at any time, and requiring a tribute from the herds at regular intervals. Such a situation
obtained in the Ugandan kingdom of Ankole and in the kingdoms of Rwanda and Burundi.

Referrences

Concepts of Social Justice in Traditional Africa” By Alyward Shorter