In a preceding article I discussed the organization and aims of modern Somali political movements in the light of the traditional political structure. Three types of political organization were distinguished: clan, regional (or tribal), and nationalist. These three types reflect traditional variations in the social structure and culture of different regions of Somaliland and also varying degrees of political evolution. I drew attention to the extent to which all parties—especially those with nationalist aims—have adopted a religious ideology and pointed out that Islam, through the traditional organization and aims of the Sufi Dervish Orders (ṭariiqas), has provided a precedent for pan-Somali solidarity. I now attempt to assess the extent of nationalist feeling in the different Somali territories, and examine the degree to which recent constitutional changes in government and administration have recognized the growth of nationalist aspirations and promoted their extension. I discuss first the present position in the five Somali territories: French and British Somaliland; Harar Province of Ethiopia; Somalia; and the Northern Province of Kenya. Finally, I consider the importance of Islam in furthering nationalism and in helping to overcome the cleavages of clan and Dia-paying group affiliation which oppose the formation of a unified Somali nation.

A Knowledge of what has been traditionally termed ‘folklore’, and more recently ‘verbal art’, has long been considered essential for any well-rounded ethnography. Among many non-literate peoples this art form sanctions and validates other aspects of culture such as religious, economic, social, and political institutions. This paper will discuss the role of one of its elements, the proverb, in a West African culture.

The Methodist Church in Ghana, in common with all the missionary-implanted Churches in the area, strongly reflects its Western origins: its organization and polity, its worship and discipline, and its ethos are manifestly those of the British Methodism which gave it birth. Methodist institutions have been present in parts of Ghana, particularly in the coastal strip, for over a century and have thereby become part of the social and religious landscape; but whether they are related to it or rooted in the soil has been seriously questioned. It is therefore all the more notable that within this implanted institutional framework typically Ghanaian attitudes seek expression, and that in one direction at least a Fante cultural form has found an honoured place within the Church's life. This is the Fante lyric.

In this article I give a brief outline of Somali social organization and describe the constitution and aims of the main political parties as they existed in 1957. It is hoped in a second article to examine the activities of the parties in individual Somali territories in the light of particular events in these territories and in relation to recent constitutional changes already effected or proposed.

Moča is a dialect of the Kafa cluster, in the south-west of Ethiopia. It is spoken in the province of Ilubabor, to the west of Kafa, extending north across the river Baro. The language is called Šäkka by the Moča themselves; the term Moča is used by the Galla and by the Europeans.

The dialects of the Kafa cluster are: Kafa spoken in the province of Kafa, between the rivers Omo and Goǧeb to the north and the Gimira tribes to the south; Boša (or Garo) spoken to the north of the river Goǧeb, and west of Omo; and Moča.

The Gbaya languages are treated in the third part of the recently published volume of the series, Handbook of African Languages. In this work they are held to represent a dialect cluster (a single unit) within the larger unit, the Banda-Gbaya-Ngbandi languages. In thus uniting these linguistic groups, Tucker and Bryan agree at least in part with Greenberg, who includes them as well as some other languages within his Eastern Branch of the Niger-Congo Family. On the other hand, they do not go as far as Greenberg does on the ground that ‘the divergent features of these languages [i.e. those included by Greenberg in the Eastern Branch] would seem to be sufficient to exclude some of them from this “branch”, and possibly to allocate them to other branches . . .’. They therefore ‘feel that Greenberg's “Eastern Branch” grouping cannot be justified (still less the order of his items), except on the grounds of geographical expediency’ (Tucker and Bryan, p. 146).