{"product_id":"chisungu-a-girls-initiation-ceremony-among-the-bemba-of-zambia-paperback","title":"Chisungu: A Girl's Initiation Ceremony Among the Bemba of Zambia - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAudrey Richards\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eJessica Johnson\u003c\/b\u003e (Foreword by), \u003cb\u003eJean La Fontaine\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAudrey Richards (1899-1984) was a leading British anthropologist of the twentieth century and the first woman president of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Based on fieldwork conducted at a time when the discipline was dominated by male anthropologists, \u003ci\u003eChisungu: A Girl's Initiation Ceremony Among the Bemba of Zambia\u003c\/i\u003e is widely hailed as a classic of anthropology and African and gender studies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnderpinned by painstaking research carried out by Richards among the Bemba people in northern Zambia in the 1930s, \u003ci\u003eChisungu\u003c\/i\u003e focuses on the initiation ceremonies for young Bemba girls. Pioneering the study of women's rituals and challenging the prevailing theory that rites of passage served merely to transfer individuals from one status to another, Richards writes about the incredibly rich and diverse aspects of ritual that characterised Chisungu: its concern with matriliny; deference to elders; sex and reproduction; the birth of children; ideas about the continuity between past, present and future; and the centrality of emotional conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn a deeper level, \u003ci\u003e Chisungu\u003c\/i\u003e is a crucial work for the role it accords to the meaning of symbolism in explaining the structure of society, paving the way for much subsequent understanding of the role of symbolic meaning and kinship.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis \u003ci\u003eRoutledge Classics\u003c\/i\u003e edition includes a new foreword by Jessica Johnson and an introduction by Jean La Fontaine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAudrey Richards\u003c\/strong\u003e (1899-1984) was one of the outstanding ethnographers of her generation. She completed her PhD at the London School of Economics in 1931, under the supervision of Bronislaw Malinowski. She was amongst the first anthropologists to carry out fieldwork in Africa and taught at the University of the Witwatersrand from 1937 to 1940. On her return to England she taught at the London School of Economics and was a key member of the Colonial Social Science Research Council, leading to her becoming director of the newly established East Africa Institute at Makerere University, Uganda in 1950. She returned to England again in 1956 as a Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge, where she later served as vice-principal. She was awarded a CBE in 1955 and became the first woman president of the Royal Anthropological Institute.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 210\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.48 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 29, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42162139201671,"sku":"9780367540944","price":38.86,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/5f07c6a07078946bfbbe74a0dd0f4a63.webp?v=1733286946","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/chisungu-a-girls-initiation-ceremony-among-the-bemba-of-zambia-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}