By definition Utopias are closed communities. They are established by people who believe that their basic goals—religious, social or otherwise—cannot be realized in conventional society. In order not to be contaminated by the mundane world, boundary-crossing is kept to a minimum. Members are discouraged from travelling outside the Utopias, and visitors are permitted only on a limited basis; usually, too, new members are unwelcome after a Utopia has been firmly established. Obviously Utopias vary in the extent to which the boundaries are closed (see Kanter 1972), but the above description is generally applicable. It is therefore understandable that a rapid increase in defection, and a concomitant upsurge in recruitment, should be regarded as a threat to the existence of a Utopia. From the point of view of the members, defectors have rejected the exact values that led to the Utopian movement, and thus threaten their raison d'être. From the sociologist's perspective, a sharp increase in both defection and recruitment implies that the Utopia has begun to decline, because it cannot survive unregulated boundary-crossing.

In this study I shall utilize data from one Temne chiefdom, Kolifa Mayoso, to illustrate patterns of migration in central Sierra Leone. Of primary concern are the extent of migration in terms of in-migrants and out-migrants and for the latter the relative importance of various destinations both rural and urban, the reasons for migration with special emphasis on patterns of out-marriage and finally, the importance of migration in terms of the adjustments made by in-migrants and by residents who encounter new objects, attitudes, and ideas while incorporating strangers into village life. The emphasis is on rural-rural migration but this is not the exclusive concern.

Ankole is a district in the south-west of the Uganda Protectorate. Its inhabitants, as a result of fifty years of British administration, are being gradually welded together into one people, the Banyankole. There are, however, two distinct ethnic groups in the country: the Bantu aborigines who till the soil and the cattlekeeping Bahima. The latter were Hamitic invaders from the north, who brought with them their own long-horned cattle, easily distinguishable from the small shorthorned zebu type found already in the country. Their one aim in life was and is the well-being of their herds.

The problem of the relationship between Pygmies and Bushmen is not yet solved. The earlier investigators contented themselves with the methods of Physical Anthropology which have predominated over all others. Father Wilhelm Schmidt, using more especially arguments based on his studies of religious history, was the pioneer of the ethnological approach. The only student to make use of linguistic evidence was Father Schebesta, who tried to establish the unity of all African Pygmies and Bushmen by means of tribal names.

Technological change among the Anlo-Ewe of southeastern Ghana is a subject that has received little attention from scholars, but it is a theme which figures prominently in Anlo oral tradition. Of the technologies mentioned, those associated with lacustrine fishing and salt making are discussed in the greatest detail. Traditional accounts of the fishing industry, for example, agree that when the Ewe-speaking Anlo first settled in their present area (located on the Atlantic coast immediately east and south of the Volta River and Keta Lagoon system) the Anlo were not familiar with the use of boats. As a consequence they employed fishing techniques that restricted such activities to the more shallow sections of the Keta Lagoon. The first boat that was developed (the agowu, made by hollowing out the trunk of the fan palm [Borassus aethiopium]) was said to have been inefficient because it capsized easily (Greene, 1981b: no. 29). A more stable vessel, still in use today and known as the lewu, was introduced, according to the traditions, by Amega Le.

Dans un précédent article publié ici même, je me suis efforcé de décrire les cas de possession, l'initiation de l'exorciste et l'exorcisme chez les VaNdau. Dans une autre publication une courte étude démographique de la tribu, de son totémisme et de son histoire permettra de situer comme il convient les VaNdau parmi les autres tribus bantoues. Je me propose ici d'exposer quelques coutumes particulières de ce peuple si intéréssant, qui contribueront peut-être à préciser encore sa physionomie, au point de vue ethnologique.