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Opening ParagraphObservation of the way in which local groups develop in a given society must ideally take place over a longer period than most researchers remain active in the field, particularly if changes over time are to be charted adequately. But longer-term studies remain relatively scarce and there are obvious difficulties in the way of them: younger anthropologists are often reluctant to look again at a society that has already been carefully studied, especially if the scholar who carried out the earlier field-work still survives; and changing theoretical perspectives and field-work techniques make it hard to match data from different periods. Bearing in mind the need to overcome these difficulties, we combine in this paper field data collected in the course of expeditions spanning more than forty years in an effort to trace the development of an important Kgatla grouping, the ward.

The BaKxatla baxaKxafêla belong to the Sotho cluster of Southern Bantu peoples. They lived originally in the Rustenberg district of the Transvaal, where many of them are still found; but in 1869 the main body of the tribe, owing to trouble with the local Dutch authorities, crossed the border into what is now Bechuanaland Protectorate. Here they are now settled in a proclaimed reserve approximately 3,600 sq. miles in extent. Much of their land, however, is arid, poorly watered, and of little practical value. Their population inside the Reserve may be estimated at about 12,000 souls. Two-thirds of them live in the large central town of Mochudi. The rest are distributed over nearly a dozen much smaller villages to the south and west, at distances of six to thirty miles from Mochudi.

Opening ParagraphPrevious contributors to this symposium have described in some detail the problem of culture contact as it appeared to them in their own fields, and the methods they employed in studying it there. I do not propose here to cover similar ground, particularly as I have already published a short statement of the lines along which I have been attempting during the last five years to inquire into the presentday culture of the Kxatla in Bechuanaland Protectorate. My purpose is rather to set down briefly what appear to me as the essential elements to be considered in any field study of modern culture contacts, as reflected, shall we say, in the relations between the European and Native inhabitants of South Africa.

The Bibliography aims at giving a survey of the most important books and articles dealing with African languages and cultures. Entries in this number cover publications from September to November 1936. The Editor will welcome information in regard to books, pamphlets, or other papers published in Africa which might otherwise not come to his attention. The bibliography is arranged under the following headings: I. Archaeology, II. Physical Anthropology, III. Ethnology, IV. Linguistics, V. Education and Missions, VI. Economics, VII. Administration, VIII. Geography and Travel, IX. Cartography, X. History, XI. Bibliography, XII. Miscellaneous.

1. The Old Bantu Culture2. Present-Day Life in the Native Reserves3. Christianity and the Religious Life of the Bantu4. The Educated Native in Bantu Communal Life5. European Influences upon the Development of Bantu Language and Literature6. The Effect of Western Civilization on Bantu Music7. The Economic Condition of the Rural Natives8. Social and Economic condition of the Urban Native9. The Economic Position of the Bantu in South Africa10. Native Administration in South Africa11. Race-Mixture and Native Policy in South Africa12. Bantu Grievances