The Lunda-Ndembu by James Pritchett

The Lunda-Ndembu by James Pritchett

Continuity and change in Zambia Bridging history and anthropology, this richly documented account of the Lunda-Ndembu people of northwestern Zambia has at its center the paradox of continuity and change. To legitimate and justify innovations to their cultural identity and practice, the Lunda-Ndembu propose that such innovations have conceptual similarities to long-standing traditions. While framing the discussion around classic anthropological oppositions - the individual versus the group, old versus young, females versus males, rich versus poor, us versus them, people versus the natural environment, the physical world vs. the metaphysical world - James A. Pritchett also offers a work of historical imagination. It is at the shifting boundaries of these relationships, he argues, that change is actually confronted on a daily basis, spoken about, and negotiated into conformity with widespread and enduring traditions. Juxtaposing Victor Turner's ethnographic data on the Ndembu from the 1950s with his own fieldwork in the 1980s and 1990s, Pritchett demonstrates that, by restudying areas already well known, it is possible to generate nuanced answers about social change that more accurately reflect local sensibilities.

James Pritchett is assistant professor of anthropology and the assistant director of the African Studies Center at Boston University.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780299171544
ISBN 10	029917154X
Title	The Lunda-Ndembu
Author	James Pritchett
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	University of Wisconsin Press
Year published	2001-06-30
Number of pages	424
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable