ANTHR207 Study Guide - Final Guide: Bride Price, Christian Symbolism, Marae
20 Dec 2015
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Document Summary
The bovine mystique: power property and livestock in rural lesotho (james. Livestock as special asset/property of pride than as commercial commodity. Traditional reason for keeping cattle: bride-price, prestige, investment. Stocks are highly valued for religious, social and symbolic, and economic reasons. Rational appraisal of the use-values of the animals vs. a particular amount of cash. Traditional livestock practice is maintained by traditional tribal forces and institutions and transformed by modern ones. Bovine mystique is a set of cultural rules which define and validate livestock as a special domain of property. Property is a relation between people, concerning things. Cultural rule: livestock is not meant to be sold (unless uttermost emergency with no other choice) One way barrier between cash and livestock: ethnographic fact of far-reaching consequences. A man with livestock means he can help the people. Morui (have social form of wealth that belongs to the whole community) Cash and cash goods are selfish, household-centred form of wealth.
