| caption: |
Chapter eight: conclusion |
| caption: |
general village solidarity through kinship organization |
| note: |
footnotes indicated by boxes within square brackets |
| text: |
The Central Nzemi village, then, is a compact and closely-knit unit whose democratic political structure reflects the basic moiety organization of the kinship system. The military organization, the kienga, transcends the bounds of the diverse social groupings and promotes village cohesion. There is a strong preference for village endogamy and a consequent network of kinship within the village, while a system of mutual assistance which includes both agnates and affines strongly reinforces the tendency to marry within the village. The village organization is strongly orientated towards the maintainance of village solidarity. Its primary purpose is to preserve the village community as a stable and strong (157) aggregate able to survive in the face of outside pressure, not only outside pressure due to the harsh nature of the environment, but the military pressure of hostile neighbours and the formidable Angami raiders from the North-East. |
