| The Way the World is |
| Preface |
 | 1 Ethnographic and Theoretical Introduction |
| 2 Akher Zamani Mombasa Swahili History and Contemporary Society |
| 3 The Brotherhood of Coconuts Unity, Conflict, and Narrowing Loyalties |
| 4 He Who Eats with You Kinship, Family, and Neighborhood |
| 5 Understanding is Like Hair Limited Cultural Sharing and the Inappropriateness of "All by All" and "Some by Some" Models for Swahili Culture |
| 6 Close One of Your Eyes Concealing Differences Between the Generations and the Uses of "Tokens" |
 | 7 Liking Only Those in Your Eye Relationship Terms, Statuses, and Cultural Models |
| • | Status, Culture's Action Arm |
| • | Role, a Subunit of Status |
| • | Cultural Models, Language, and Statuses |
| Four Kinds of Statuses |
| • | Statuses, Expectations, and Evaluations |
| • | Who is a What? |
| • | Expectations and Double Contingency |
| "Relationship Terms" and Shared Understandings |
| • | Investigating Terms Concerning Expectations and Relationships |
| • | Honor and Deference: How Terms Encourage Conformity |
| • | Unfavorable Terms and Understandings Mainly about the Young |
| • | Expectations in Specific Relationships |
| • | Effects of Relationship Terms through Contrast |
| The Virtues of Reserving Special Treatment for Those in Special Relationships |
| • | Broad Personal Traits, Broad Expectations, and Hierarchy |
| • | Respect and Reciprocity |
| • | Hierarchy as a General Understanding Supported by the Use of a Variety of Terms |
| • | Terms and Conformity |
| Some General Understandings of the World and Relationships |
| • | The Part of Relationship Terms in Cultural Dynamics: Cultural Models |
| 8 Tongues are Spears Shame and Differentiated Conformity |
| 9 Leaning on the Cow's Fat Hump Medical Choices, Unshared Culture, and General Expectations |
| 10 A Wife is Clothes Family Politics, Cultural Organization, and Social Structure |
| 11 The Dynamics of Swahili Culture A Status-Centered View |
| Notes |
| References |
| Index |