This informative bibliographic study provides the most thorough survey available of the literature on voluntary associations. The authors first sketch major theories on the origin, growth, and functions of voluntary associations and discuss the place of associations in political theory, viewing especially the unproven assumption that voluntary associations are beneficial to a democratic society. They then survey the findings on the role of voluntary associations in the political and social structure (abroad as well as in the United States). The specific organizations themselves are covered and the final chapter views a recent development in the field--volunteers in government service, such as the Peace Corps. The final section of each chapter is an annotated bibliography of works cited in the text or related to its subject; over 600 items are listed.
Addresses issues of current social and theoretical concern such as urban ethnic conflict, multiculturalism and immigration.How do people make sense of their lives amid the social and cultural diversity of cities? The essays in this volume argue that a powerful and related set of methodologies - including comparative research, the ethnography of situations such as dances and parades, and social network analysis - can further our understanding of the intertwined processes of ethnicity and community, class and gender. Written by leading researchers from a number of disciplines, these essays demonstrate a sensitivity to places and contexts ranging from Los Angeles to Queensland. Students of anthropology, geography and urban studies will find this book an invaluable guide to the intricacies of urban social life in the late 20th century.
Includes chapters on hunting and gathering, horticulture, pastoralism, agriculture, and transitions to modernity in societies and cultures around the world.
"The Fulani are one of West Africa's most populous and geographically dispersed ethnic groups. Commonly thought of as a pastoral people, primarily engaged in cattle herding, Fulani peoples are in reality highly differentiated in livelihood and patterns of mobility. Despite having a long history of residence in Ghana, Fulani are considered ""aliens"" in the eyes of the state and ""strangers"" by the various ethnic groups among whom they reside. Among Fulani themselves, differences of place, circumstance, and experience have generated parallel ambigoities on matters of identity and survival. In Moving Through and Passing On, Yaa P.A. Oppong focuses on the Fulani of the Greater Accra region to offer the first detailed account of the lives of this transnational community in Ghana.Based on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, Oppong develops detailed case studies and draws upon over two hundred in-depth life histories to explore issues of mobility, survival, and identity among this spacially dispersed and diverse group. Using perspectives and insights gained from oral life histories, private and public ceremonies, and ethnic associations, she examines the sites and circumstances in which people profess to be the ""same"" or ""different"" from one another. The markers of Fulani identity-as recognized by Fulani and non-Fulani alike-are examined. Oppong also explores the factors that allow them, as a distinct ethnic category, to maintain and perpetuate this identity and viability in Greater Accra. The metaphoric analogy of ""construction sites"" is employed to define the explicit and implicit events and recurring processes through which people conceive of themselves as Fulani. These locations and contexts of action include ethnic associations, public gatherings, and common rites of passage. The recurring processes include genealogical reckoning of kinship and endogamous marriage transactions, and the ways in which ties of descent and filiation are used to enha"
Originally published in 1978 as part of the Urbanization in Developing Countries series, this is an interdisciplinary study of rapid urban growth in West Africa. Gugler and Flanagan first explore the history of the cities of the early West African empires and they draw on the work of social anthropologists and sociologists, as well as demographers, economists, geographers, historians, political scientists and social psychologists. They then describe the urban explosion that the region experienced after World War II. They explore the implications of widespread urban unemployment and underemployment, the housing crisis and the emergence of metropolitan areas such as Lagos. The literature on urbanization and social change in Black Africa in general, and West Africa in particular, expanded at a fast pace in the years preceding publication. This critical review of the disparate findings filled a gap in African Studies and threw light on the understanding of Third World urbanization.