Houses in the Rainforest: Ethnicity and Inequality Among Farmers and Foragers in Central Africa

by Roy Richard Grinker

Overview

This is the first ethnographic study of the farmers and foragers of northeastern Zaire since Colin Turnbull's classic works of the 1960s. Roy Richard Grinker lived for nearly two years among the Lese farmers and their long-term partners, the Efe (Pygmies), learned their languages, and gained unique insights into their complex social relations and ethnic identities. By showing how political organization is structured by ethnic and gender relations in the Lese house, Grinker challenges previous views of the Lese and Efe and other farmer-forager societies, as well as the conventional anthropological boundary between domestic and political contexts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520915664
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/28/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Roy Richard Grinker is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at George Washington University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Note on Language and Orthography

1. Introduction: From Tribes to Ethnic Groups
2. The History and Isolation of the Lese
3. Gender and Ethnicity
4. The House and the Economy
5. Witchcraft and the Opposition of Houses
6. Conclusion: A Union of Opposites

References
Index