A radical reassessment of the importance of women in East-Central African society during the precolonial period.

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 Architecture Each 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.

" ""The Ila Speaking"" is a record of life in a Central African village around a century ago. It originated in conversations recorded by Methodist missionaries as they attempted to learn the language and customs of the Ila people. Over the years 1906 to 1966 they collected over 12000 items. What began as a vocabulary with examples ended as the self-portrait of a people and a way of life. The author worked with the Ila from 1958 to 1966, later producing a ""Dictionary of Ila Usage"" (LIT Verlag 2000). The present book is a series of extracts from the dictionary arranged by subject, with a commentary. It is the author's hope that `the voices come over loud and clear to you the reader, and that you come away from this book with a feel for Ila humour, Ila life, and Ila reflections on people and their ways. I did, and I am sure you will too' (Professor Graham Furniss, School of Oriental and African Studies - London). "