Fertility and Household Labour in Tanzania Demography, Economy, and Society in Rufiji District, c. 1870-1986

by Lockwood, Matthew

• ISBN13: 9780198287544
• ISBN10: 0198287542
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-06-04
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

This book is an interdisciplinary study of the way in which human reproduction interweaves with the reproduction of society and economy in coastal Tanzania. Combining demography, history, and sociology, and with a breadth of theoretical discussion and empirical detail, it offers a newmethodology for the study of African fertility and the role of household demography in agrarian economies. Part I provides a political economy of changing fertility. Demographic patterns are situated within the wider social and economic context, in particular the transformation of marriage in relation to kinship and local political structures, and child-spacing dynamics rooted in the moral exonomy ofgender. In Part II, the author examines the implications of demographic patterns for people's work-loads and economic fortunes at the individual and household level. Based on extensive field-work in a Tanzanian village, the analysis shows the importance of women's involvement in rice cultivation, and thefluidity of life cycles.

Author Biography

Matthew Lockwood was formerly Lecturer in Sociology at the School of African and Asian Studies, University of Sussex, and is now a Senior Policy Adviser at Christian Aid.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	viii	(1)
List of Maps	ix	(1)
List of Tables	x	(3)
Abbreviations	xiii
Introduction	1	(10)
PART I	11	(90)
Introduction to Part I	11	(12)
1. The Historical Demography of Coastal Tanzania	23	(21)
Appendix 1.1: Population of Rufiji District, 1913-86	42	(2)
2. The Proximate Determinants of Fertility	44	(14)
Appendix 2.1: Calculation of the Bongaarts and Potter Indices	56	(2)
3. The Historical Roots of a Fertility Regime	58	(11)
4. Twentieth-century Transformations	69	(17)
5. Interpretations of Change	86	(15)
PART II	101	(82)
Introduction to Part II	101	(16)
6. Labour and Land in Mng'aru	117	(15)
7. Inequality and Accumulation in Mng'aru	132	(10)
8. Households and Life Cycles in Mng'aru: Norms and Patterns	142	(21)
9. Household Demography and Patterns of Work	163	(20)
Conclusion	183	(4)
References	187	(14)
Index	201