Bondarenko Dmitri M. Homoarchy

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chiefdom at the level of which it was in the 10 th – 12 th centuries though such
traits of the preceding period as, e.g., ethnic heterogeneity and nonparticipation
of the suprasimple-chiefdom elite in subsistence production, social
stratification were inherited and strengthened further (see Bondarenko 1993a;
1995a: 90–275; 2000b: 106–112; 2001: 232–243; 2004a: 344–348). At the
same number of complexity levels (two above the local community), socioeconomic
background (extended-family-based community and slash-and-burn
hoe agriculture), and till the mid-15 th century approximately the same size of
territory – about 4,500 – 5,000 sq km (Bondarenko 2001: 123–124, 241), Benin
of the Obas demonstrated incomparably higher degree of integration, unity, and
centralization. From this standpoint Benin can be characterized as not just
complex but as a supercomplex society. In her social complexity level,
economic parameters, governmental apparatus’ hierarchization, and the
spiritual sphere the Benin Kingdom was an equivalent of early states.
Nevertheless, the society was still based on the homoarchic “matrix” of the Bini
community that consisted of extended families (see below, section 4 of
chapter 4).
In complex and supercomplex societies communities are not internally
homogeneous but rather comprise a number of factions that co-operate and
compete with each other in the socio-political sphere and whose role increases
with the formalization of the supracommunity levels of complexity (Hays 1993;
Brumfiel and Fox 1994; Stone 2005). The Benin community was characterized
by a tangle of kin and neighbor ties dominated by kinship (see chapter 4,
section 4) and by explicit social and administrative homoarchy expressed
particularly in unreserved superiority of the seniors over the juniors in any
social interaction in the family and (as an outcome of this [Sidahome 1964:
128]) the community and chiefdom (Egharevba 1949: 67–70; Bradbury 1957:
16, 23–25; 1973: 149–209; Roese and Rees 1994: 543–545; Bondarenko 2001:
39–55). Margaret Mead (1970) argued logically that a “postfigurative”
(stability-oriented) culture depends crucially on the real presence in society of
three generations’ representatives. In Biniland the three male age-grade
system – otu (see Thomas, N. W. 1910a: I, 11–12; Talbot 1926: III, 545–549;
Bradbury 1957: 15, 32, 34, 49–50; 1969; 1973: 170–175; Igbafe 1979: 13–15;
Agheyisi 1986: 22, 39–40, 66, 67, 74; Bondarenko 1995a: 144–149; 2001: 48–
51), was a proper means for permanent reproduction of the homoarchic status
quo, at one time equally effectively promoting the senior men’s privileges and
preventing autocracy in the community (as a whole well-defined group of
persons – senior male age-grade members had the equal right and duty to
participate in its government). Even in the second half of the 20 th century the
age-grade system, though partially corrupted in the colonial time (see
Bondarenko 1995a: 292, note 19), was of greater importance for the Binis than
for any of their neighbors (Kochakova et al. 1974: 79). Not occasionally
Robert Bradbury (1957: 15; see also 1969) put the system of three age-grades