Studies in African social anthropology

Politics & Social Sciences

Fortes, Meyer

Patterson, Sheila (eds)

Social Sciences

Academic Press

African sociology. Many dogmatic opinions are held on the subject of African political organization and are even made use of in administrative practice; but no one has yet examined this aspect of African society on a broad, comparative basis. This book will, we hope, prove the need for and indicate some of the possibilities of such an investigation. Many of the problems it brings into the foreground can only be solved by further research; but the opportunity for such research is rapidly passing and if it is not grasped now may be lost for ever. We regard this book as the first stage of a wider inquiry into the nature and development of African political systems. In addition to further research into native political systems, such an inquiry would include the study of the development of these systems under the influence of European rule. This problem is not only sociologically important, it is of pressing importance to the peoples of Africa and to those who are responsible for governing them. We hope this book will be of interest and of use to those who have the task of administering African peoples. The anthropologists duty is toresent the facts and theory of native social organization as he sees them. It is no light duty; for a thorough training and laborious field investigations are indispensable to its proper performance. Whether or not an anthropologists findings can be utilized in the practical tasks of administration must be left to the decision ofadministrators themselves. We are grateful to the International African Institute for sponsoring the publication of this book. Though several of the contributors carried out their field research as Fellows of the I nstitute, it is in no way responsible for any points of view or opinions expressed in the book. We have to thank Professor Radcliffe-B rown for much help and advice, as well as for the Preface which(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

African political systems;

Published for the International African Institute by Oxford U.P

One of the world's most eminent social anthropologists draws upon his many years of study and research in the field of kinship and social organization to review the development of anthropological theory and method from Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) to anthropologists of the 1960s. It is the central argument of this book that the structuralist theory and method developed by British and American anthropologists in the study of kinship and social organization is the direct descendant of Morgan's researches. The volume starts with a re-examination of Morgan's work. Professor Fortes demonstrates how a tradition of misinterpretation has disguised the true import of Morgan's discoveries. He follows with a detailed analysis of the work of Rivers and Radcliffe-Brown and the generation of anthropologists inspired by them. The author states his own point of view as it has developed in the framework of modern structuralist theory, with ethnographic examples examined in depth. He shows that the social relations and institutions conventionally grouped under the rubric of kinship and social organization belong simultaneously to two complementary domains of social structure, the familial and the political. Meyer Fortes' contribution to the field of anthropology can best be understood in the context of balance of forces between these domains of the personal and public. In the latter part of the book, he gives detailed attention to the principal conceptual issues that have confronted research and theory in the study of kinship and social organizations since Morgan's time. He shows that kinship institutions are autonomous, not mere by-products of economic requirements, and demonstrates the moral base of kinship in the rule of amity.

Kinship and the Social Order: The Legacy of Lewis Henry Morgan

Routledge

Oedipus and Job in West African Religion

Anthropology

Octagon Books

white cover with black text and red bands at top and bottom with white text

Time and Social Structure and Other Essays (London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology : No 40)

History

Americas

Humanities Press

Kinship and the Social Order

<p>Originally published in the UK in 1970.<br> The central argument of this book is that the structuralist theory and method developed by British and American anthropologists in the study of kinship and social organization are the direct descendants of the researches of Lewis Henry Morgan. Re-examining Morgan's work, the book demonstrates how a tradition of mis-interpretation has disguised the true import of Morgan's discoveries and ideas for Rivers and Radcliffe-Brown and the generation of anthropologists inspired by them.</p>

Kinship and the Social Order.: The Legacy of Lewis Henry Morgan

Time and Social Structure and Other Essays (London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology)

Bloomsbury Academic

Oedipus and Job in West African Religion (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Series Number 48)

Religion & Spirituality

Cambridge University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Fortes, Meyer. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Fortes, Meyer