Contenu du sommaire

M. A. Chamanga &ampamp;amp N. J. Gueunier —~~ Instrumenting Comorian : Problems of Lexical Adaptation. ~~A case study of the problems arising from the need to translate modem political notions into an African language. In this case, the LI text is the bill introduced in 1974 in the French parliament to organise a referendum in the Comoro Islands prior to independence. The L2 chosen for translation is Shingazidja, the main dialect of the archipelago, generally considered as closely akin to Kiswahili, but which has not been subject to the same kind of development due to the differences between French and British colonial policies. The lexical gaps in the L2 text have been filled up rnainly with words borrowed from Arabie, the religious language of the islands, and, to a lesser extent, from Kiswahili and French. This process seems to have led to a riumber of obscurities and a loss of substance affecting the more technical parts of the LI text. On the other hand, the remaining passages seem to be generally understandable by ail Comorian voters, despite the dialectical diversity of the islands.

J. Hiernaux &ampamp;amp A.-M. Gauthier —~~ A Comparison of the Linguistic and Biological Affinities of Twelve Bantu-Speaking People~~. Despite a degree of analogy in the mechanism of differentiation, a comparison of biometrie and linguistic materials shows only moderate correlation between the two sets of data. Relative linguistic proximity can go along with an important biological distance and vice versa. The differentiating factors are not of the same order. The available biometric data used are not the most significant ones and a different choice would probably affect the results.

R. Devauges —~~ Belief and ils Check: Magical Practices among Urbanised Africans.~~ In Brazzaville, as in other African towns, a number of local entrepreneurs, whose trade implies that they conform to Western economic and technical rationality, do nevertheless turn to traditional or tradition-inspired magical practices whenever anything goes wrong in their professional life. How then can they conciliate the search for efficiency in two Systems where the possibilities of verification are different, and even opposed ? In fact, these Systems are autonomous and unrelated. The first one is connected to the 'how?' questions, the other to the 'why?' ones.

E. M'Bokolo—~~A Social and Economie Study of Pre-Colonial Gabon.~~ Oral sources on the pre-colonial situation in the Gabon estuary before 1850 are scarce and unreliable but an interpretation of contemporary written sources gives a rather precise and detailed picture of the social organisation of the local people. The coastal Mpongwe were more deeply involved with the European traders, their sole economie activity—and a very rewarding one—being to act as middlemen between them and the inland peoples. They had lost the centralised political organisation which prevailed in the 18th century and were hard-struck by the economic changes which followed the French settlement in 1843 and the suppression of the slave trade. The Orungu and Nkomi, less directly involved in the coastal trade, and less dependent upon it, had kept a more centralised organisation and sufiered less of the change.

A. G. Mesquitela Lima—~~Iron in Angola.~~ A short description of metallurgy among the Angolan peoples. The southern Khoisan ignore or, possibly, have forgotten the art of extracting and working iron. Among the southern Bantu people, there is a close association between political structure, iron-working and matrimonial exchange circuits. It seems that the original population—smiths— was conquered and dominated by warriors, hunters, who stand on the receiving side of the matrimonial circuits. This organisation is reflected in the symbolic systems and the languages of the area.

S. Bagayogo — ~~African Afield: Lesson from a Session. ~~The experience of an African anthropology student during a fieldwork training session in the French countryside, or Western anthropology in a mirror.