The Chiga of Uganda

This book is an enlarged and amplified edition of The Chiga of Western Uganda published in 1957, May Edel discusses various aspects of the Chiga culture -- social structure, kinship, marriage, economics, social control, religion and education, and material culture. A new segment on material culture delves into Chiga patterns of food supply and preparation, horticulture, fire and heating, water supplies, cattle raising, hunting, fishing, and problems related to shelter, clothing, and hygiene. Abraham Edel's new introduction provides a special sort of insight, drawing heavily upon the correspondence that May Edel wrote at the time. It shows how the clouds of war and Nazism in Europe at the time were already changing the character and context of anthropology no less than every other area of human endeavor. A final new aspect of The Chiga of Uganda is May Edel's last reflections focusing on African tribalism, which turns out to be not all that different from ethnic and national rivalries in the Western world.

May M. Edel (1909-1964) was professor of anthropology at Rutgers University.