Like stars, societies are born, and this story deals with such births. Hitherto neglected by historians, the rise of societies and cultures in West Central Africa is a captivating story. 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? In ""How Societies Are Born"", Vansina continues a career-long effort to reconstruct the history of African societies before European contact, employing a provocative combination of archaeology and historical linguistics to turn his scholarly focus to governance. Whether cattle, initiations, or social position, Vansina uncovers what drove each society's developmental path, revealing the fascinating motivations behind how societies are born.

About the Author
Jan 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 Kingdoms of the Savanna in 1967, garnering the top two honors given by the African Studies Association Vansina is the author of more than twenty books, including Living with Africa and Paths in the Rainforests.

Reviews
Even scholars who know better tend to assume without thinking that the people the Portuguese found had been the same since time began. - Book News, Inc. ""How Societies Are Born represents a political and agrarian history of a period and region for which absolutely no scholarly histories have been written, and Vansina possesses rare and unmatched skills in marshaling a recalcitrant and multilingual body of historical sources."" - David Schoenbrun, Northwestern University, author of A Green Place, A Good Place: Agrarian Change, Gender, and Social Identity between the Great Lakes to the 15th Century



Book Information
ISBN 9780813922805
Author Jan Vansina
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint University of Virginia Press
Publisher University of Virginia Press
Weight(grams) 496g