{"product_id":"how-societies-are-born-governance-in-west-central-africa-before-1600-paperback","title":"How Societies Are Born: Governance in West Central Africa Before 1600 - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJan Vansina\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike stars, societies are born, and this story deals with such a birth. It asks a fundamental and compelling question: How did societies first coalesce from the small foraging communities that had roamed in West Central Africa for many thousands of years? Jan Vansina continues a career-long effort to reconstruct the history of African societies before European contact in \u003ci\u003eHow Societies Are Born.\u003c\/i\u003e In this complement to his previous study \u003ci\u003ePaths in the Rainforests, \u003c\/i\u003e Vansina employs a provocative combination of archaeology and historical linguistics to turn his scholarly focus to governance, studying the creation of relatively large societies extending beyond the foraging groups that characterized west central Africa from the beginning of human habitation to around 500 BCE, and the institutions that bridged their constituent local communities and made large-scale cooperation possible. The increasing reliance on cereal crops, iron tools, large herds of cattle, and overarching institutions such as corporate matrilineages and dispersed matriclans lead up to the developments treated in the second part of the book. From about 900 BCE until European contact, different societies chose different developmental paths. Interestingly, these proceeded well beyond environmental constraints and were characterized by \"major differences in the subjects which enthralled people,\" whether these were cattle, initiations and social position, or \"the splendors of sacralized leaders and the possibilities of participating in them.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJan Vansina, Professor Emeritus of History and Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was named the Distinguished Africanist of 1986 and awarded the Herskovits Prize for \u003ci\u003eKingdoms of the Savanna\u003c\/i\u003e in 1967, garnering the two top honors given by the African Studies Association. Vansina is the author of more than twenty books, including \u003ci\u003eLiving with Africa\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePaths in the Rainforests.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 320\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.9 x 9.1 x 6.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 06, 2005\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52618067640627,"sku":"9780813922805","price":82.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/ZkxrdmowQ29hZzJHOVFLem1lWUJJUT09.webp?v=1761901077","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/products\/how-societies-are-born-governance-in-west-central-africa-before-1600-paperback","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}