Six studies In
African anthropology by Max Gluckman
Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Manchester
I-The Peace of the Feud
The feud, according to a dictionary definition, is ' a lasting state of hostility.' 'There is no society which does not contain such states of hostility between its component sections,' says Professor Gluckman, but provided they are redressed by other loyalties they may contribute to the peace of the whole.'
Surveying some anthropological studies of feuding societies in Africa, the speaker introduces his thesis that custom, which exacerbates social conflicts, in so doing also restrains these conflicts from destroying the wider social order.
(The recorded broadcast of April 13)