ABSTRACT

Routledge is proud to be re-issuing this landmark series in association with the International African Institute. The series, published between 1950 and 1977, brings together a wealth of previously un-co-ordinated material on the ethnic groupings and social conditions of African peoples.

Concise, critical and (for its time) accurate, the Ethnographic Survey contains sections as follows:

  • Physical Environment
  • Linguistic Data
  • Demography
  • History & Traditions of Origin
  • Nomenclature
  • Grouping
  • Cultural Features: Religion, Witchcraft, Birth, Initiation, Burial
  • Social & Political Organization: Kinship, Marriage, Inheritance, Slavery, Land Tenure, Warfare & Justice
  • Economy & Trade
  • Domestic Architecture

Each of the 50 volumes will be available to buy individually, and these are organized into regional sub-groups: East Central Africa, North-Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, West Central Africa, Western Africa, and Central Africa Belgian Congo.

The volumes are supplemented with maps, available to view on routledge.com or available as a pdf from the publishers.

chapter 1|5 pages

Grouping and Demography

chapter 2|6 pages

History and Traditions of Origin

chapter 3|6 pages

Language

chapter 4|1 pages

Physical Environment

chapter 5|15 pages

Economy

chapter 6|18 pages

Social Organization and Political System

chapter 7|8 pages

Life Cycle 1

chapter 8|3 pages

Religion

chapter 9|6 pages

Other Cultural Features

chapter 10|2 pages

Changing Social Conditions