cloth 1-56639-042-7 $49.95, Jun 93, Out of Stock Unavailable
192 pp
6x9
5 tables 3 figures
"This is an excellent book. It is timely for the field of demography, where the current mood indicates a willingness to reevaluate accepted empirical practices and to rethink standard theoretical positions. This book should contribute importantly to that reevaluation and rethinking, especially so as it is written in a clear and accessible style."
Susan Watkins, Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences
Agnes Riedmann argues that the authority of First World scientists to penetrate the Third World for research has its roots in the 15th century idea of a "right to invade." Introducing "World System Demography," a global, bureaucratically administered science that is controlled by the First World elite, she analyzes three large-scale research projects that were carried out among the Yoruba in Nigeria in the early 1970s. She maintains that World System Demography, exemplified by such studies, is an agent of First World-directed cultural imperialism.
Charging that World System Demography is an extension of the Western family planning/birth control movement, Riedmann critically analyzes how even the collection of data ultimately promotes contraception. Using the reports of interviewers, she illustrates how Western assumptions conflict with those of the research population, and she discusses policy considerations.
Read a review from Canadian Journal of African Studies, Volume 32.1 (1998), written by Karol J. Krotki (pdf).
Maps and Tables
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: World-System Demography and the Yoruba
Bureaucratic Surveillance
The CAFN Projects
From World-System Theory to World-System Demography
Nigerian Demographic Data
The Yoruba
What Follows
2. Historical Prelude: Bringing Yorubaland into the World System
Eurocentric Devaluation of the Yoruba
Deconstruction of the Indigenous Economy
Advancing Bureaucratic Surveillance
Resistance and Political Liberation
Nigeria Today
Demographic Parallels with the Historical Themes
Conclusion
3. The Yoruba Fieldworkers: Emissaries of Bureaucratic Surveillance
The Subordinates as Yorubas
The Bureaucratic Supervision Network
Ongoing Training
Conclusion
4. Gaining Entrance
"Block 40" and Surveillance
Utilizing Cultural Capital from Two Worlds
Sources of Difficulty
Invading Subjects' Territorial Selves
Conclusion
5. The Lessons Inherent in the CAFN Projects
Disciplining Power and Docile Bodies
Lesson 1: The "Real" Family Is the Nuclear Family
Lesson 2: Children Should be Evaluated According to a Cost Calculus
Lesson 3: Western Contraceptive Methods are Morally Acceptable as Traditional Measures
Lesson 4: Personal Efficacy is Normal and Natural
Lesson 5: Placing Oneself under Bureaucratic Surveillance is Normal and Natural
Conclusion
6. Resisting the Lessons
"I strongly suspect that she lied"
"This attitude is foreign to African society"
"The poor man must not lack both wealth and children"
"She is not interested in such topics"
"Things should be allowed to happen as it pleases God"
Restating the Yoruba Case
The Effect of Western Schooling on Compliance
Conclusion
7. The CAFN Projects as Exercises in World-System Demography: Policy Considerations
Exploitation and Reactivity
World-System Demography and Funding Agencies
Opening Doors
Conclusion
Appendix A: The Study Design
Appendix B: Description of Background Documents, with Samples
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Agnes Riedmann has taught sociology and anthropology at the University of Nebraska and Creighton University.
Health, Society, and Policy, edited by Sheryl Ruzek and Irving Kenneth Zola.
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Health, Society and Policy, edited by Sheryl Ruzek and Irving Kenneth Zola, takes a critical stance with regard to health policy and medical practice, ranging broadly in subject matter. Backlist titles include books on the legal and professional status of midwifery, the experience and regulation of kidney transplants, the evolution of federal law on architectural access, and a political/ethical argument for making the community responsible for universal access to health care.
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