The village headman or village chief is a central government post. The village headman is the person appointed to administer an area that is often a single village.
The headman has several official duties in the village. More importantly perhaps the headman is seen as a mediator in disputes and a general “fixer” of village or individuals problems.
Examples of headmanship have been observed among the Zuni, !Kung, and Mehinacu, among others. Nearby tribal leaders recognized or appointed by the Chinese were known as tusi (Chinese: 土司, tǔsī), although they could command larger areas than a single village.
Famous quotes containing the words village and/or head:
“There were those young men,
those village lands
and that youthfulness of mine.
People tell it
like a tale
that I must listen to.”
—Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)
“Dead drunk
is the term I think of,
insensible,
neither cool nor warm,
without a head or a foot.
To be drunk is to be intimate with a fool.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)