African Systems of Kinship & Marriage

by Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, Cyril Daryll Forde

African Systems of Kinship and Marriage is a classic. Seldom out of print since its first publication in 1950, it is still, thirty-six years later, the most wide-ranging and respected survey of these aspects of African social life. In his introduction Radcliffe-Brown provides a masterly analysis of the main features of African kinship systems and the theoretical problems arising from the study of them. The contributions range from examination of kinship systems among the Swazi, the Tswana, the Zulu, the Nuer, the Ashanti to double descent among the Yako and dual descent in the Nuba groups of the Sudan. The names of the contributors are those of anthropologists still viewed today as giants in their field: Evans-Pritchard, Meyer Fortes, Max Gluckman, Hilda Kuper, Nadel, A.I. Richards, Schapera and Monica Wilson.

Genres: Anthropology, Africa

398 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA, was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism.

Reviews

[Philip]

A detailed and we'll researched book with a much interesting information and useful insights into this very complex subject.

[Lily Bronski]

Fascinating and rich comparative material and theoretically provocative analyses. I'm only upset it took me so long to read this.