Norbert Elias’s African Processes of Civilisation: On the Formation of Survival Units in Ghana

Acknowledgements
Contents
A Professor in Ghana: Norbert Elias, civilising processes and the African challenge. An introduction by the editors
	Elias’s Intellectual Route to Africa
	A Note on the Texts
	Elias and the Krobo
	The Impact of Elias’s African Experiences on his Later Thinking
	Do African Processes of Civilisation Exist?
	Conclusion
Problems of Researching Traditional Societies
Overcoming ‘Tribe’ and Other Static Categories
	I Remarks About Research in Ghana
	II ‘Tribe’ as a False Category: Categories in Anthropology
	III Shifting Power Balances and the Decline of Race as an Argument for Differences
	IV Pseudo-metaphysical Explanations, the ‘Otherness’ and Short-lived Political Evaluations
African Village-States: The Formation of Survival Units
	I Introduction
	II Tribe as a Category
	III Development of Categories as a Process
The Krobo People. Socio- and Psychogeneses of a Stateless Society
Outline of an Early State-Formation Process
	I Hilltop Settlements as the First Stations to Statehood
	II Sociology and History in Studying ‘Prehistoric’ African Societies
	III Notes on Noa Azu and his Adangbe History
A Tribe on the Move: The Development of Krobo Society
	I The Journey Begins
	II Interstation
	III Group Identity and Settlement
	IV Rivalry and Alliance Between Manya and Djebian
	V The Krobos as Survival Unit and Evaluating Historical Records
Fission and Fusion: The Next Stage of Tribe Formation
	I The Fission and Fusion of Groups
	II Violence Control and the Survival Function of Early States
	III Integration Under the Rule of Priests
	IV Priests and Warriors as Competitors for Ruling Functions
Religion in a Village Society
	I A State in a Nascent Form: The Central Council of Okumo Priests
	II Superego Formation and Learned Self-regulation in Krobo Society
	III A Dramatic Ceremonial Performance as an Instructive Example of a Civilising Spurt
	IV The Arrival of the British Colonial Power (Scenario 3) and Understanding the Survival Function of Priests in the Traditional Krobo Society
Priests and Knowledge
	I Knowledge as a Basic Need and as a Survival Function for Societies
	II The Rise of a Priestly Aristocracy and Agricultural Surplus
	III Self-Regulation and Conscience Formation
	IV Knowledge, Collective Fantasies, and Communal Rituals
	V The Need for Controlled Decontrolling of Affects and the Functions of Priests at War
Emotions, Violence and Rituals: On Traditional Klama Songs
	I Social Traps and Warfare
	II Conflict Solution in Stateless Societies: Religious Rituals and Traditional Songs
	III The Problem of Generalisation
	IV Comments About Klama Songs
	V Death and Emotions: Klama Funeral Songs and Marriage Songs
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	African and Western Civilising Processes
The Formation of States and Changes in Restraint
	I Survival Units and the Struggle Between Nomad and Sedentary Societies
	II From Village States to City States
	III City States and Empires
Sociology and Anthropology
	I Introduction
	II Development of Social Sciences and States
	III The Traditionally Low Status of British Bociology
	IV British Anthropology
	V Comparing Anthropology and Sociology
	VI Overcoming the Separation Between the two Academic Disciplines
Epilogue: Off to Ghana—the Encounter of Norbert Elias and Malcolm X
Bibliography