ABSTRACT
The connexion between community and locality has the three aspects found in all Tale social institutions. The bonds between a community and a locality, or between an individual or a lineage and land, are summed up in the idea of 'ownership'. This concept, which occurs in various contexts, has certain general implications. The three functionally differentiated aspects of man's relations to territory in Taleland are interconnected in Tale thought and custom in a rather complex way, and local differences blur the general principles. The simplest approach will be from the starting-point of land used for agricultural purposes. Farming is the basis of the Talǝŋ's livelihood. A failure of crops, nowadays, spells widespread privation. Thirty years ago it would have brought famine. Sufficient crops of the staple cereals mean survival, good crops mean joy to the Tallensi. They show it in the Harvest Festival that marks the end of the farming year.
