About this book:

*Everyday Lives: Social History of Families, Food, and Festivities in Africa* provides a comprehensive microhistorical examination of daily existence across the African continent. By focusing on the "intimate geographies" of homesteads and compounds, the book explores how kinship structures—including matrilineal and patrilineal systems—shape labor, inheritance, and authority. It moves through the life cycle, detailing the nuances of childhood through play and apprenticeship, the complex negotiations of courtship and bridewealth, and the management of both monogamous and polygynous households. These social frameworks are presented not as rigid traditions but as flexible practices that adapt to urban migration and shifting economic realities.

The narrative places significant emphasis on the labor and culture surrounding food and drink. It delves into the daily rhythms of the hearth, the processing of regional staples like grains and tubers, and the vital role of women traders in household economies. The book illustrates how hospitality is performed through the brewing and sharing of drinks, and how communities navigate the cyclical tensions between seasons of plenty and hunger. This material history is further enriched by an exploration of the objects of the everyday—pots, tools, and textiles—which serve as silent archives of domestic life and cultural identity.

Festivities and spiritual practices are highlighted as essential mechanisms for community cohesion and memory. The book describes how festival calendars, masks, and performances embody history and provide a reprieve from daily toil. It also examines the sanctuary of the home as a site for faith, healing, and dispute resolution through customary law. Rites of passage, particularly birth, naming, and the elaborate rituals surrounding death, are shown to be collective events that reaffirm social bonds and provide a sense of continuity across generations.

In its concluding chapters, the book addresses the impact of modernization and environmental change on these enduring patterns. It tracks how media—from transistor radios and cassette tapes to the ubiquitous mobile phone—has reshaped connectivity and financial management for families. Finally, it grapples with the contemporary challenges of climate variability and crisis, documenting the ingenious ways African communities are adapting their traditions to ensure future resilience. Ultimately, the work asserts that the true history of the continent is found in the ordinary gestures and shared experiences of its people.

What You'll Find Inside:

• Microhistorical portraits reveal how family, food, and festivities serve as archives of social change across African regions
• Examines matrilineal and patrilineal kinship systems and their impact on household organization, inheritance, and daily labor
• Explores foodways as expressions of identity, labor, hospitality, and adaptation to seasonal and economic changes
• Shows how festivals and rituals function as social laboratories for negotiating values, resolving tensions, and imagining futures
• Demonstrates how African families adapt to historical pressures like colonialism, migration, urbanization, and climate change through everyday practices

Who's It For:

This book is ideal for students and scholars of African history, anthropology, and sociology seeking human-scale perspectives on social transformation. It will particularly benefit readers interested in gender studies, kinship systems, foodways, and cultural practices across African contexts. General readers curious about everyday life in diverse African communities will also find the microhistorical approach engaging and informative.