Some Aspects of Diffusion

Raglan, Lord

doi:10.2307/2844100

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…[11] With this background, it is gratifying to see that in recent years sanity is beginning to emerge among the anthropological fraternity. Firstly, Lord Raglan in his presidential address to the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1957 [12] made a detailed case to show that new ideas do not originate in savage societies or even in those more advanced and long-established cultures. All that has ever been observed is that customs are often considered as sacred and upheld rigorously; innovation of any sort is discouraged.…”

Section: History Of the Idea Of Progressmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Idea of Progress.

Stover¹,

Doren²

1969

The Philosophical Quarterly

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The history of the idea that mankind has made progress is traced from earliest times. The idea of progress only became accepted by the Christian west in the mid-seventeen hundreds, found mutual support in Darwinism a century later but today is in serious doubt by many historians. At the same time, the concept of "primitive society" among the anthropologists has been abandoned leaving nothing in its place even though the discipline is still dominated by the belief in evolution. Meanwhile, psychology still cannot offer a rational evolutionary explanation for the genius and the idiot-savant. However, the situation in all three disciplines can be resolved once the creation account of the fall of man given in the book of Genesis is accepted.

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Section: History Of the Idea Of Progressmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Idea of Progress.

Stover¹,

Doren²

1969

The Philosophical Quarterly

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“…(5) Their'bases of Üivelihood are subsisterice económies, sometimes 13 With due regard to Lord Raglan's lively, and in söme instances clearly correct, views on "diffusion" (Raglan 1957), I müst.point out that this comparative problem is one of many which show the difference between the social anthr'opologist and the ethnologist whose prime concern is to make speculative reconstructions of the past movements and contacts of peoples and cultures. Intrigued thbugh I am personaily by speculation about cultural contacts in Indonesia in the unrecorded past, and the transmission of notions and customs throughout.the archipelago, I cannot conceive of any remotely plausible parahistorical hypothesis to account for common type of terms possessed by the Mentawai and middle-Borneans.…”

Section: IVmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mourning-terms

Needham¹

1959

Bijdr taal land volkenkd

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Exploring the Origins and Expansion of the Nyaminyami (Water Spirit) Belief Systems among the BaTonga People of Northwestern Zimbabwe

Matanzima

2022

J. Relig. Afr.

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Water spirits are an integral part of African traditional religious beliefs and ritual practices. Like many other African traditional religious practices and beliefs, water spirit beliefs are characterized by complex ‘myths’ surrounding their origins. In that regard, this paper explores the origins and expansion of the Nyaminyami (water spirit,) beliefs prevalent among some BaTonga people of northwestern Zimbabwe. It argues that these beliefs were exotic to the BaTonga people. In so doing, it substantiates the assumption by Elizabeth Colson and Thayer Scudder that Nyaminyami was a foreign idea to the BaTonga people. This study brings in new contemporary evidence to substantiate and extend this diffusionist perspective. It provides evidence from ethnographic research conducted among the BaTonga and Shangwe-speaking peoples living in the immediate vicinity of the Kariba Gorge area from April to November 2017. This study also rests on the wider scholarship on water divinities in Africa that explains the emergence of water divinities in different societies through diffusion of ideas. The study further examines the ways by which the cultural borrowing may have occurred, as well as the period and the extent to which the diffusion of ideas occurred, based on the ethnographic evidence.

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Some Aspects of Diffusion

Cited by 4 publications

References 8 publications

The Idea of Progress.

The Idea of Progress.

Mourning-terms

Exploring the Origins and Expansion of the Nyaminyami (Water Spirit) Belief Systems among the BaTonga People of Northwestern Zimbabwe

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