West African City: A Study of Tribal Life in Freetown (African Ethnographic Studies of the 20th Century)

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 to the demands of urban life and charts the growth of Freetown from its foundation in the 18th Century. The ethnic composition of its population and the character of the rural districts from which the migrants come are also discussed, along with the motives for migration, the nature of housing and employment. The aim of this book was to introduce the European to the art of West Africa. Many of the examples (extensively illustrated with black and white photos are from the regions between Senegal and Angola, primarily from Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Nigeria and the Cameroons. Although the art and sculpture of West Africa is coherent, there are tribal and territorial characteristics which are discussed as is the significance of masks in ritual ceremony Routledge is delighted to be re-issuing 79 volumes originally published between 1931 and 1988 in association with the International African Institute. Unavailable outside a few key libraries, many of these republished volumes were at the cutting edge of a fieldwork and ethnographic revolution in African anthropology in the decades after 1930. Originally published in 1977, this volume completes with a wealth of case material and against the background of a whole century, Monica Wilson's detailed study of the Nyakyusa-Ngonde people of Tanzania and Malawi. In this study of the Ndembu of Zambia, ritual is examined under two aspects: as a regulator of social relations over time and as a system of symbols. Social life is thereby given direction and meaning.