THE BANTU OF KAVIRONDO 201
society. There is no political structure as distinct from the kinship and social structure; that is, there exists no system of institutions that serve explicitly and exclusively the purpose of maintaining the tribal unit as a whole. To enable one to understand the organization of the tribal unit, the emphasis must, therefore, be shifted from the concept of the political institution to that of the political function. The assumption that each function in a culture must have its corresponding institution—religious, economic, political, &C.—would cut short an understanding of the way in which cultures are integrated into a body politic, the institutions of which are not yet clearly differentiated according to different aspects, but which serve many functions at the same time. Even in advanced communities where institutions are highly differentiated, they present only a visible superstructure, while their bases, the forces that sustain them, extend throughout the whole structure of society.
The political unit must thus be defined in terms of a consciousness of unity and interdependence rather than in terms of submission to a central authority. The tribe, as a political unit, is a group of internally and externally 'sovereign' clans, which are conscious of having sprung originally from a common ancestor and which are interconnected by the bonds of intermarriage as well as by common practices and beliefs in such a way that they consider themselves a unit in contrast to surrounding groups with whom they do not maintain such bonds. This tribal political unit does not necessarily act as a body in all its foreign relations, but it is merely the largest unit of people which feels as a unit and which—on certain occasions—acts as one.
The term 'political* will, accordingly, be used with reference to any form of socially sanctioned behaviour which, directly or indirectly, strengthens the unity of the tribal group, whether that be its primary purpose or not. An institution thus has political significance if it fulfils a political, function, regardless of what other functions it may perform besides. The political structure, in this sense, is the sum total of all forms of sanctioned behaviour which serve, directly or indirectly, intendedly or not, to integrate the political unit.
We shall examine now where in the cultural life of the 'Bantu Kavirondo' this political structure resides.