Society and culture: general Books

Originally published in 1972 this study analyses the process of economic growth and social change in the riparian communities of the Lower Volta River in Ghana, which came about in large part due to the construction of the Volta dam in 1963. With its...

Originally published in 1962, this study discusses the changes in the life of the Ovimbundu from the time of their caravan trade in slaves, rubber, and ivory down to the more recent period when the organization of their chiefdoms was influenced by the...

Originally published in 1943 this book discusses the life and culture of the Lovedu, a Bantu tribe in South Africa. As well as discussing the Rain-Queen, much of the book is devoted to the royal institutions; the network of links woven by kinship,...

Originally published in 1967 this volume presents studies of 10 West African kingdoms which have played an important part in the economic, political and cultural life of the region. Ranging geographically from the kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria to...

Originally published in 1947 and reprinted with a new preface in 1961, this book is based on field studies and gives an account of the social organization of the Swazi, wiith special reference to the aristocratic structure of their society and the way in...

Originally published in 1954 this book was originally designed for administrators but has become a key title for anthropologists. It includes a summary account of the history and social organisation of the Nuer and provides a descriptive analysis of...

This book illuminates the experiences of a set of students and faculty who are members of the Dalit caste - commonly known as the 'untouchables' - who are relatively 'successful' in that they attend or are academics at a prestigious university.

As China globalises the number of marriages between Chinese people and foreigners is increasing. These Chinese-foreign marriages have profound implications for China's cultural identity. This book, based on extensive original research, outlines the...

Originally published in 1950 and updated in 1968, this book discusses the functions and status of native chiefs in what were the French colonies in West Africa. It also examines the relation of the French legal code to native law and custom and the...

This book is about the political economy of China's industrial reform and the rise of a group of Chinese big businesses under the Communist Party and the central state's control. It examines the origins, evolution and institutional configuration of this...

This book discusses Japan's earlier experiments with jury trials, compares developing views in Japan on this issue with views in other countries where dissatisfaction with the jury system is often evident, and concludes by assessing how the new...

This volume, by recognizing the complexity of cultural production in both its diasporic and national contexts, seeks a nuanced critical approach in order to look ahead to the future of transnational literary studies. The majority of the chapters, written...

Sport is a geographic phenomenon. The physical and organizational infrastructure of sport occupies a prominent place in our society. This important book takes an explicitly spatial approach to sport, bringing together research in geography, sport studies...

Originally published in 1967, this book is a study of witchcraft and sorcery among the Shona, Ndebele and Kalanga peoples of Zimbabwe. It analyses in their social context verbatim evidence and confessions from a comprehensive series of judicial records...

Widowhood in an American City focuses on the roles and lifestyles of urban American widows fifty years of age or older

In this age of large cities, mass culture, and ever more massive events, people must struggle against an overwhelming crowd of their own creations to maintain human integrity

The changing economic and demographic patterns of the United States have many measurements; few of them, however, are more comprehensive than the new circulation realities of the press

This book examines key themes and concepts pertaining to religious and sexual identities and expressions, mapping theoretical, methodological, and empirical dimensions. It explores the ways in which debates around sexuality and religion have been framed,...

Originally published in 1945, this book was written at a time when an increasing European influence was affecting customary law in what was Tanganyika and this volume records different aspects of customary law such as inheritance, matrimony, divorce,...

Utilizing each chapter to present core topical and timely examples, Pop Culture Freaks highlights the tension between inclusion and individuality that lies beneath mass media and commercial culture, using this tension as a point of entry to an...

Originally published in 1953, this book records the Customary Law of the Sukuma tribe and discusses the differences in law whcih grew up in the various local federations, with the aim of unifying Customary Law for both the Tanzanians and European...

Originally published in 1949, this book discusses Umbundu social structure and education, with particular reference to how both of these adapted as Angola's contact with Western influences increased in the first half of the twentieth century. Using...

Originally published in 1931, this book collects tales told to the author by agricultural labourers and hunters in what was Togoland in the 1920s. A rare and valuable resource of oral history, the book also contains the history of the Dagomba from...

New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman declared the modern age in which we live as the 'age of distraction' in 2006. The basis of his argument was that technology has changed the ways in which our minds function and our capacity to dedicate ourselves...

This book analyses the nature of the Tibetan Buddhism in the Diaspora. It examines how the re-signification of Tibetan Buddhist practices and organizational structures in the present refers back to the dismantlement of the Tibetan state headed by the...

Originally published in 1935, when the province of Iringa in what is now Tanzania was still under British administrative control, this book is inevitably a product of its time, but nonetheless it represents an important project in collaboration between...

Across many parts of the postcolonial world, it is everyday reality for people to cross regularly between state-based and customary governance, institutions and norms. This book examines this phenomenon in the context of the villages of Timor-Leste, and...

Since publication in 1957 the importance of Bohannan's study of judicial institutions and procedures among the Tiv has been widely recognized. It has contributed widely to the continuing discussion concerning the objectives and methods to be followed in...

How much thinking have you done about gender? What does it feel like to be gay, trans or non-binary at school?How unbiased, safe and inclusive are our teachers, our schools and our systems, and what can we do about it?The time is ripe for a re-think, and...

Since publication in 1957 the importance of Bohannan's study of judicial institutions and procedures among the Tiv has been widely recognized. It has contributed widely to the continuing discussion concerning the objectives and methods to be followed in...

Originally published in 1959 this volume studies the ritual office of the Mugwe which was of great social significance among the Meru of the Central Province of Kenya and analyses the social changes and decline of the Mugwe which came about in the second...

Why people kill themselves remains an enduring and unanswered question. With a focus on Sri Lanka, a country that for several decades has reported 'epidemic' levels of suicidal behaviour, this book develops a unique perspective linking the causes and...

Buddhism is widely known to advocate a stance of total pacifism towards all sentient beings, and because of this, it is often thought that Buddhist doctrine would stipulate that non-violent food practices, such as vegetarianism, be mandatory. However,...

Originally published in 1951, this book provides an account of the traditional status and functions of the Asanti chief. The effects of British administration on the powers of the chief and his council are described, as are the tensions which the...

This collection of R. E. Bradbury's papers, originally published in 1973 includes edited sections of his (then hitherto) unpublished thesis on the Benin village in Western Nigeria. The book is arranged in 3 parts: historical and political studies of the...

Originally published in 1963 this volume surveys various aspects of the complex relations between rights in land, social organization and economic interests in tropical Africa. The papers - in English and French but with summaries in the other language -...

Originally published in 1968 this volume discusses the issues and problems relevant to Christianity in Tropical Africa. It includes historical studies of the earlier Catholic and Protestant missions and their relationship with African communities,...

Disability is a widespread phenomenon, indeed a potentially universal one as life expectancies rise, yet it is often dismissed as a niche market. This collection explores how academic avoidance of disability studies is indicative of social prejudice and...

Originally published in 1973, this volume presents some of the main approaches that were developed by French Africanists during the 1940s, 50s and 60s. The book covers social structure, kinship systems, economic change, ethnography, language, history and...

This book evaluates the relevance of classical debates on agrarian transition and extends the horizon of contemporary debates in the Indian context, linking national trends with regional experiences. It identifies new dynamics in agrarian political...

Originally published in 1957 this volume deals with the issue of large scale immigration into Freetown, Sierra Leone from the rural areas in the 1950s and the problems which arose as a result. It analyzes the way traditional social systems had to adjust...

Originally published in 1952 and as a second edition in 1967 this volume provides a systematic and comprehensive account of the Basuto people and their changing culture, and reviews the developments and changes leading up to 1966 when Basutoland...

Originally published in 1974, this volume deals with studies of migration from census and other data, variations in scale, distance and duration of various types of migration, social relations of migrant populations with their home areas and their host...

At the heart of constitutional interpretation is the struggle between, on the one hand, fidelity to founding meanings, and, on the other hand, creative interpretation to suit the context and needs of an evolving society. This book considers the...

As China moved from a planned to a market economy many people expected that China's political system would similarly move from authoritarianism to democracy. It is now clear, however, that political liberalisation does not necessarily follow economic...

China suffers frequently from many types of natural disasters, which have affected the lives of many millions of Chinese. The steps which the Chinese state has taken to prevent disasters, mitigate their consequences, and reconstruct in the aftermath of...

Thailand's position during the Cold War was ambiguous: the country's political leadership was very keen to maintain the country's independence on the world stage, yet at the same time was anxious to establish the country's credentials as staunchly...

This interdisciplinary collection provides a set of innovative and inventive approaches to the use of video as a research method. Building on the development of visual methods across the social sciences, it highlights a range of possibilities for making...