ABSTRACT
Most anthropologists are agreed that models of society which leave out time are inadequate: they are too far from reality to be illuminating theoretically, and of limited use in planning development. Most changes in a society begin as a divergence in the behaviour of one person, who is then followed by others. The process of change is experimentation with new forms by innovators—'the beginners'—and the recruitment of others to accept these forms. Awareness of diversity is closely linked to the increase in scale which is the most fundamental change that has taken place in Africa during the last hundred years. Differences between chiefs and commoners were much less defined among Nyakyusa-Ngonde than in a stratified society such as Rwanda, nevertheless there were distinctions in status acknowledged in marriage law and in ritual. This chapter focuses on change in the relationships of men and women, and between generations.
