Decentralization and the Evolution of Egalitarian Behaviors in Sedentary Societies

Abstract

West Africa is home to myriad small and large-scale societies with non-centralized political systems. While a substantial ethnographic record describes the intricate balances of power and authority in such systems, their developmental trajectories are largely unknown owing to the lack of historical documentation and archaeological investigation. Given this gap in historical context, a great many assumptions and doubts exist in regards to the utility of the region’s ethnographic observations to world-wide archaeological and anthropological models. In this book I explore the long-term developmental trajectory of an ancient community (Kirikongo (Figure 1.1)) ancestral to the modern Bwa, who inhabit remarkably complex autonomous villages with extensive social differentiation despite a strong ethos of egalitarianism. Through the presentation of empirical data I argue that many of the characteristics of modern and colonial period African societies that have been seen by some as devolved social systems disrupted by the slave trade and colonial practices may in fact be the end results of highly complex political histories. In particular, I suggest that the political organizations of many West African societies are derived from long histories of negotiations between social segments (including popular collective actions and revolutions), which have led to the development of diverse social contracts. At Kirikongo, the political actions of several constituencies over time resulted in a trajectory where inequalities were rejected altogether in favor of a reinvented egalitarianism, but similar processes have likely contributed to the formation of the myriad ethnographic and historically known polities in the region where the power of elites was constrained.