A. R. Radcliffe-Brown

First published in 1950 and this edition in 1987, this book is one of the most wide-ranging and respected surveys on kinship and marriage in African social life. In his introduction, Radcliff-Brown provides a masterly analysis of the main features of African kinship systems and the theoretical problems arising from the study of them. The contributions range from examinations of kinship systems among the Swazi, the Tswana, the Zulu, the Nuer, and the Ashanti, to double descent among the Yakö and dual descent in the Nuba groups of the Sudan. The contributrs themselves are still viewed as giants in their field: Evans-Pritchard, Meyer Fortes, Max Gluckman, Hilda Kuper, Naderl, A. I. Richards, Schapera and Monica Wilson.

First published in 1950 and this edition in 1987, this book is one of the most wide-ranging and respected surveys on kinship and marriage in African social life. In his introduction, Radcliff-Brown provides a masterly analysis of the main features of African kinship systems and the theoretical problems arising from the study of them. The contributions range from examinations of kinship systems among the Swazi, the Tswana, the Zulu, the Nuer, and the Ashanti, to double descent among the Yakö and dual descent in the Nuba groups of the Sudan. The contributors themselves are still viewed as giants in their field: Evans-Pritchard, Meyer Fortes, Max Gluckman, Hilda Kuper, Naderl, A. I. Richards, Schapera and Monica Wilson.

Originally published in 1939, this book presents the content of the Frazer Lecture in Social Anthropology for that year, which was delivered by Alfred Radcliffe-Brown at Cambridge University. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in anthropology and the nature of taboo.

Alfred Radcliffe-Brown (1881–1955) was a key British social anthropologist who is widely considered to be the founder of social functionalism. Originally published in 1922, and reprinted in this corrected form in 1933, this book was based upon fieldwork carried out by Radcliffe-Brown, alongside E. L. Grant Watson and Daisy Bates, in the Andaman Islands during the years 1906 to 1908. The text contains detailed information on various aspects of the indigenous cultures found on the Islands, with analysis of social organisation, ceremonial customs, myths, legends and religious beliefs. Illustrative figures are incorporated throughout, including numerous photographs, and appendices are provided on language and technology. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Radcliffe-Brown, the Andaman Islands and the development of anthropology.