African Systems of Kinship and Marriage (Trubner's African Series) [Hardcover]

Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown (Editor), Daryll Forde (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1844530388 | ISBN-13: 978-1844530380

"African Systems of Kinship and Marriage" is regarded as a classic work. It is a key text in the field and is one of the most wide-ranging and respected survey of these aspects of African social life. Following on from the success of "African Political Systems", which provided insight into traditional African political institutions in the context of culture contact and social change, this work provides a similar conspectus on an equally fundamental aspect of the indigenous social life of African peoples, upon which the stability of the social order was traditionally based. In the wider context of the development of social anthropology, it is the work that exemplifies the British approach to the study of kinship during that period. In his introduction, A.R. Radcliffe-Browne provides an analysis of African kinship systems and the theoretical problems arising from the study of them. The method used combines comparison and analysis. Social systems are compared so that their differences may be defined and beneath their differences more fundamental and general resemblances may be discovered. The volume includes a series of detailed studies by authors who made intensive field investigations of the particular social systems they analyze. Each presents the essential characteristics of one or more varieties of African patterns of kinship.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Trubner & Co (March 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844530388
• ISBN-13: 978-1844530380
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,633,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)