African Kingdoms

An anthropological and historical approach is taken in describing past African civilizations. This book is concerned with the creation and organisation of the principal African Kingdoms. Drawing on her own considerable experience and bringing together the ethnographical and historical evidence, Professor Mair provides an account of how power was acquired and consolidated in these kingdoms. She discusses not only the ritual surrounding kingship but also the territorial and functional organisations that followed the establishment of kingdoms. This survey will interest anthropologists, political scientists, historians and others professionally concerned with Africa.

Lucy Mair was Professor of Applied Anthropology at the London School of Economics from 1963-68. She has been a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Durham and Columbia and has won the Welcome Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.