Word: headmanned
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Before the advent of colonialism, the Africans had lived in tribal groups. The social structure was purely communalistic. The tribal headman or chief established the legitimacy of his authority either by birth or by his prowess in battle. All the other paid their loyalty to him. The chief in turn was answerable to a council of elders. Every individual was a part of the decision-making body. And a chief could easily be deposed either by a decision of the majority or by the elders, if they found him tyrannical--an event that is almost impossible in present day Africa...
...their man--they appointed him, after all. To the community he is their spokesman, against the administration if the need arises. A case in point was the recent development scheme proposed by government agencies for the Berawan. The Berawan did not like the scheme at all and expected the headman to speak out against it. The government officials expected just the reverse. They assumed that his duty was to wean the community out of its backward conservatism. As with the tua kampong, loyalty to the home community usually takes precedence. It is difficult to be at loggerheads with the people...
Occasionally a headman comes along who is adept at manipulating these conflicting forces. The trick is to utilize the threat of external power, which cannot really be mobilized by a humble village headman, to bring about his own ends within the longhouse. By failing to perform one of his trivial administrative functions, such as signing an application for a national registration card without which a man cannot get a job in a lumber camp, he can harass his opponents. Over matters of importance such as a land dispute, he may hold the entire house to ransom, if he is careful...
...position of tutor at the house is very like that of the tua kampong in the village. The tua kampong is a government appointed headman. He is chosen for his presumed influence in the community but other criteria also enter into the choice, such as pleasantness of manner and perhaps the ability to write. The tua kampong is primarily an intermediary between the longhouse and an external political power that has no place in the traditional organization of Berawan society. The resident tutor at the co-op is likewise a representative of an outside and alien power, Harvard's housing...
...confidence vote, 63 to 42; to demonstrate the Premier's intent, Israeli police moved into the West Bank to arrest and deport four Arafat sympathizers, including Arab Editor Ali Khatib, 54. At the same time, Israeli forces carried out a helicopter raid into Lebanon; they captured the headman of a village reportedly sympathetic to the fedayeen and took him back to Israel for interrogation...