A companion to the anthropology of Africa / edited by Roy Richard Grinker [and three others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Grinker, Roy Richard, 1961- editor.

Series:

Blackwell companions to anthropology ; 32.

Blackwell companions to anthropology ; 32

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--Africa.

Ethnology.

Africa--Social life and customs.

Africa.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (486 pages).

Place of Publication:

Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2019.

Summary:

"Anthropology conducted in Africa has been central to the methodological and theoretical development of the discipline since it was first institutionalized in the late 19th century. Sadly, the earliest anthropologists were predisposed to imagine that sub-Saharan Africa consisted of relatively isolated peoples, as were European explorers, colonial administrators, and colonists. They overlooked much of what they witnessed on the ground - including complex states, migrant labor, the proliferation of vernacular Christianities, and urbanization - and often neglected obvious evidence of Islamic influence and the slave trade. Well into the twentieth century, most anthropologists working in Africa studied small-scale, rural communities, and represented them as static and bounded. Anthropologists either ignored change or viewed change as a by-product of external forces, such as colonialism or Christian evangelism. The topics anthropologists selected for study reflected this ahistorical predisposition: local rather than long-distance trade; rural rather than urban communities; so-called traditional religions rather than Islam or Christianity; ritual performance rather than violent struggle; reproduction of kinship and marriage systems rather than social transformation"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781119251514

1119251516

9781119251507

1119251508

9781119251521

1119251524

OCLC:

1062418980