R. G. Abrahams – författare

A detailed study of the political organization in an important area of Tanzania shortly before Independence. Unyamwezi covers 35,000 square miles and has a population of 400,000. Dr Abrahams outlines the social and economic framework and examines the origins of the modern political system. He then discusses the internal organization of Nyamwezi chiefdoms and villages and the emergence of national politics. The theoretical and comparative implications of the study, which is based on extensive field work in the area, are also considered.

The Nyamwezi of west-central Tanzania have had a long history of involvement in the wider world as farmers, traders, migrant labourers, and subjects of first German and then British colonial regimes. Dr Abrahams first lived and worked among the Nyamwezi in the last years of British rule (1957-60), and he revisited their area in 1974-5 and 1978. This book is based largely on these later visits and traces the nature of developments since his earlier work and publications on the people. He discusses the people's integration into their new nation and examines the changes and problems that this has involved, both at village and at higher levels of organization. First published in 1984, The Nyamwezi Today will be of interest both to ghe general reader and to beginning, and other, students of social anthropology and the sociology and politics of developing countries. It will also be of value to those teaching and researching in these fields.

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 ArchitectureEach 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.