Olaf H. Smedal

Totalization and detotalization Alternatives to hierarchy and individualism

This article marks an effort to extend Louis Dumonts concept pair of hierarchy and individualism towards a more realistic understanding of social formations. Dumonts work is reviewed along with his critics, and through a survey of contemporary ethnography a move towards a concept of totalization is suggested. It is argued that a view of totalization and detotalization provides a vocabulary for a re-establishment of the social for the discipline of anthropology.

Unilineal descent and the house – again: The Ngadha, eastern Indonesia

The article deals with the social organisation of the Ngadha (Flores, eastern Indonesia), of which there are contradictory accounts. While it has been suggested that that the Ngadha are best described as unilineal (matrilineal), others, including the author, hold that the more accurate label is cognatic. The first part of the article outlines central characteristics of unilineality. The second part is more ethnographic. Drawing on his own field research and publications as well as on earlier literature, the author discusses the claim advanced in BKI (by Susanne Schroter, 2005) that the Ngadha have a matrilineal kinship system. He concludes that, superficial appearances notwithstanding, the appellation is misplaced.