This book offers an in-depth African perspective to the major issues in demographic discourse in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides comprehensive analysis of sub-Saharan African censuses, profiling demographic changes, trends, patterns and consequences in the region. Interdisciplinary, comprehensive, accessible, simple and topical, this volume is perfectly suited to researchers, students and lecturers who are interested in understanding sub-Saharan African population dynamics and issues.
In sub-Saharan Africa, older people make up a relatively small fraction of the total population and are supported primarily by family and other kinship networks. They have traditionally been viewed as repositories of information and wisdom, and are critical pillars of the community but as the HIV/AIDS pandemic destroys family systems, the elderly increasingly have to deal with the loss of their own support while absorbing the additional responsibilities of caring for their orphaned grandchildren. Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa explores ways to promote U.S. research interests and to augment the sub-Saharan governments' capacity to address the many challenges posed by population aging. Five major themes are explored in the book such as the need for a basic definition of "older person," the need for national governments to invest more in basic research and the coordination of data collection across countries, and the need for improved dialogue between local researchers and policy makers. This book makes three major recommendations: 1) the development of a research agenda 2) enhancing research opportunity and implementation and 3) the translation of research findings.
This book is a comprehensive analysis of the structure, determinants and consequences of changes in sub-Saharan African families, thereby representing an Afrocentric description of the emerging trends. It documents various themes in the sub-disciplines of family demography. The first section of the book focuses on philosophical understanding of African family, its theoretical perspectives, and comparative analysis of family in the 20th and 21st centuries. The second section covers family formation, union dissolution, emerging trend in single parenthood, and adolescents in the family. The following section describes types, determinants and consequences of African family changes: health, childbearing, youth development, teen pregnancy and family violence and the last chapter provides systematic evidence on existing laws and policies governing African family structure and dynamics. As such it illustrates the importance of family demography in African demographic discourse and will be an interesting read to scholars and students in the field of demography, social workers, policy makers, departments of Social Development in countries in Africa and relevant international agencies and all those interested in understanding the African family trajectory.
This handbook provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of African population dynamics, variations, causes and consequences, demonstrating the real-world applications of research in policies and programmes. African demography has come of age. Over 50 years, the discipline has grown exponentially in the number of training and research institutions, specialist experts and academic output, all with an aim of addressing the enormous demographic challenges faced by the continent. The book draws on old and emerging analytical tools to explore the relationships between population dynamics and social, economic, cultural and political environments from African perspectives. Key topics include fertility, sexual behaviours, healthcare, ageing, mortality, migration, displacement, the causes and consequences of demographic changes and teaching and research developments in African demography. The Routledge Handbook of African Demography will be an essential resource for students and researchers of African demography, sociology, development and cultural studies.
Sub-Saharan Africa is at a turning point. The barriers to economic growth seen in the 1980-2000 era are disappearing and new optimism is spreading. However, difficult goals of eliminating poverty, achieving equity and overcoming environmental threats continue. This much-needed and insightful textbook has been written to help us understand this combination of emerging improvements and significant challenges. Opening with an analysis of the main theories relating to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, the book explores all the key issues, including: Human development; Rapid urbanization; Structural and gender dimensions; Sustainable development and environmental issues; and Africa’s role in the world economy. The authors use economic tools and concepts throughout, in a way that makes them accessible to students without an economics background. Readers are also aided by a wide range of case studies, on-the-ground examples and statistical information, which provide a detailed analysis of each topic. This text is also accompanied by an e-resource, featuring additional sources for students and instructors. African Economic Development is a clear and comprehensive textbook suitable for courses on African economic development, development economics, African studies and development studies.
Unlike most Asian and Latin American countries, sub-Saharan Africa has seen both an increase in population growth rates and a weakening of traditional patterns of child-spacing since the 1960s. It is tempting to conclude that sub-Saharan countries have simply not reached adequate levels of income, education, and urbanization for a fertility decline to occur. This book argues, however, that such a socioeconomic threshold hypothesis will not provide an adequate basis for comparison. These authors take the view that any reproductive regime is also anchored to a broader pattern of social organization, including the prevailing modes of production, rules of exchange, patterns of religious systems, kinship structure, division of labor, and gender roles. They link the characteristic features of the African reproductive regime with regard to nuptiality, polygyny, breastfeeding, postpartum abstinence, sterility, and child-fostering to other specifically African characteristics of social organization and culture. Substantial attention is paid to the heterogeneity that prevails among sub-Saharan societies and considerable use is made, therefore, of interethnic comparisons. As a result the book goes considerably beyond mere demographic description and builds bridges between demography and anthropology or sociology. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.
Many international and national charters and declarations have sought to define and protect the rights of children and ensure their safety. Although many African countries subscribe to these international conventions and charters, rights violations against children have not diminished, and negative actions against children are still carried out daily. Though the media have been charged with the responsibility of active involvement in protecting the interest of the child, it is important to examine how well they have fared in the performance of this duty and the challenges that occur in the process, as well as identify future pathways to ensure that the media succeeds in this assignment. Media and Its Role in Protecting the Rights of Children in Africa is an essential research publication that examines media roles, challenges, theories, and strategies to ensuring the realization of the rights of children. Featuring a range of topics such as cyber-ethics, media studies, and sustainable development, this book is essential for reporters, journalists, newscasters, broadcasters, communication specialists, government officials, activists, humanitarians, sociologists, psychologists, social workers, professionals, researchers, non-governmental organizations, policymakers, academicians, and students.
This book explores important chapters of past and recent African history from a multidisciplinary perspective. It covers an extensive time range from the evolution of early humans to the complex cultural and genetic diversity of modern-day populations in Africa. Through a comprehensive list of chapters, the book focuses on different time-periods, geographic regions and cultural and biological aspects of human diversity across the continent. Each chapter summarises current knowledge with perspectives from a varied set of international researchers from diverse areas of expertise. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars interested in evolutionary history and human diversity in Africa. Contributors are Shaun Aron, Ananyo Choudhury, Bernard Clist, Cesar Fortes-Lima, Rosa Fregel, Jackson S. Kimambo, Faye Lander , Marlize Lombard, Fidelis T. Masao, Ezekia Mtetwa, Gilbert Pwiti, Michèle Ramsay, Thembi Russell, Carina Schlebusch, Dhriti Sengupta, Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi, Mário Vicente.
