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.

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.