This study of politics and government among a West African people, the Banyang of the Upper Cross River, covers the end of the period of Colonial administration. The book:

· Shows the inter-relationship between the structure of the small forest communities and the highly autonomous processes by which they were governed

· Analyses the relationship between residence and common descent as principles of corporate grouping

· Includes a case study of the political struggle involved in one community's claims to independence.

Originally published in 1969.