In a rural community in Southern Ethiopia, there are two types of
rituals performed by the same people. Historical evidence suggests
that one has shown remarkable stability over the years, while the
other has undergone massive transformations. External factors are
the same, so how is this to be explained? In this 2002 book, Dena
Freeman focuses on ethnographical and historical data from the Gamo
Highlands of Southern Ethiopia to tackle the question of cultural
change and transformation. She uses a comparative perspective and
contrasts the continuity in sacrificial rituals with the rapid
divergence and differentiation in initiations. Freeman argues that
although external change drives internal cultural transformation,
the way in which it does is greatly influenced by the structural
organization of the cultural systems themselves. This insight leads
to a rethinking of the analytic tension between structure and
agency that is at the heart of contemporary anthropological theory.
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