The development of large centralized states in West Africa has long been recognized. The complexity of organization of the few well-known kingdoms, but not their differences in size and structure, is constantly emphasized in the literature. The number and variety of West African groups which have not developed states have, on the other hand, frequently been underestimated. In a comparative review by Professors Fortes and Evans-Pritchard two types of political system, centralized and segmentary, have been described for Africa as a whole, with examples of each in West Africa. A survey of West African societies suggests, however, that finer distinctions are possible and that not all these societies can be placed in one or other of these two categories. In particular, this classification omits consideration of ‘stateless’ societies in which associations, rather than a segmentary lineage system, regulate political relations; and it fails to distinguish different types of authority and political structure in states.

The following features of the sapana initiation ceremony were isolated in my first article.

(1) This ceremony is held towards the end of the rainy season as often as there are candidates for initiation; (2) each candidate is, usually, initiated separately; and (3) the immediate effect of this ceremony is not so much to integrate the initiate into a new corporate group, as to permit him to participate in some of the activities of manhood.

The initiated are divided into various ranks of seniority, and passage from the lower to the immediately higher rank is the result of a specific initiation ceremony. The main difference between such a ceremony and that of sapana is that sapana admits initiates to manhood individually whereas the ceremonies which follow it raise a whole group of initiated men through a series of progressively senior age-ranks. They function, that is, as parts of a true age-set mechanism. The moment a man enters one of these strata, his vertical age-mobility is conditioned by their movements, and individual transition is no longer possible.

This paper is concerned with an examination of the usage of a Dinka word, apeth which may be translated either as ‘witch’ or as ‘witchcraft’. These English words, however, only roughly set the limits of its meaning, which are here more precisely indicated by a consideration of the contexts in which the Dinka use it.

In 1936 the Royal Empire Society of Great Britain published African Native Music: An Annotated Bibliography, by Douglas H. Varley. This work fulfilled a long-standing need felt by ethnomusicologists, and particularly those emphasizing the study of African music, for, carefully, done and well annotated, it provided an excellent reference volume for students in the field. The present bibliography represents an extension of Varley's work, listing the books and articles published on African and African-derived music since 1936, as well as a few references omitted from the original volume. While it can by no means be said that the present work includes all references to African music over the past 15 years, it is felt that the major portion of those works has been listed. At the same time, since the listing is small it has not been classified by problems and areas as was the original compilation.