Contexts of Kinship
An Essay in the Family Sociology of the Gonja of Northern Ghana

Goody concentrates on interrelationships between political and domestic institutions in a bilateral kinship system.

Esther N. Goody (Author)

9780521017206, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 July 2005

356 pages
23.3 x 15.5 x 1.9 cm, 0.5 kg

In her study of domestic organization in Gonja, a formerly important West African state, now part of Ghana, Esther Goody has concentrated on tracing the interrelationships between political and domestic institutions in a bilateral kinship system, untypical of the area. After outlining the problems which she is seeking to solve and describing the domestic, political and economic context of life in central Gonja, the author examines the several aspects of marriage fundamental to the establishment of domestic groups and their development. The practice of sending children to be reared by kin is then discussed and is related to the strong ties binding kin together however far apart they may live. Dr Goody examines patterns of residence through time, and seeks to relate these to both the political context and the form taken by authority in the kin group. The study concludes with a comparison of the Gonja system with other bilateral and unilineal African kingdoms, and the book is completed by appendices presenting the statistical material gathered during research.

List of tables
List of illustrations
Preface
Symbols used in the text
Part I. Contexts and Problems: 1. Problems
2. The historical, political and economic setting
3. Three divisions of central Gonja and their villages
Part II. Marriage: 4. Courtship and patterns of marriage: open connubium
5. Establishing a marriage
6. The conjugal relationship
7. The termination of marriage
Part III. Kinship: 8. Parents and children
9. Kinship and sibship
Part IV. Residence: 10. Residence: the synchronic view
11. The developmental cycle
12. Conclusions
Appendices
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]