Primitive government: A study of traditional political systems in Eastern Africa

by Lucy Mair

Primitive government (Pelican books) Mair, Lucy Philip

Genres: Anthropology

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Lucy Philip Mair was a British anthropologist. She wrote on the subject of social organization, and contributed to the involvement of anthropological research in governance and politics.

Mair read Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA in 1923. In 1927 she joined the LSE, studying social anthropology under Bronisław Malinowski, and commenced ethnographic fieldwork in Uganda in 1931. At Malinowski's direction[5] she spent her time in Uganda studying social change, returning to the UK in 1932 to submit her dissertation and receive her PhD. She began lecturing at LSE the same year, but joined the Royal Institute for International Affairs with the outbreak of World War II. In 1943 she moved to the Ministry of Information, then at the war's end took a job training Australian administrators for work in Papua New Guinea.

In 1946 Mair returned to LSE as reader in colonial administration, commencing a second readership (in applied anthropology) in 1952. In 1963 she became a professor, a post she held until retirement in 1968. In 1964 she was made president of Section N of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. She gave the 1967 Frazer Lecture at Cambridge University.

Reviews

[Kester · Rating 2 out of 5]

A review of preliterate societies in East Africa before colonial rule. Interesting topic but almost covered in too much detail, not very readable, especially towards the end.