Educational assistance, kinship, and the social structure in Sierra Leone

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Periodical article

Title:	Educational assistance, kinship, and the social structure in Sierra Leone
Author:	Sinclair, John
Year:	1971
Periodical:	Africana Research Bulletin
Volume:	2
Issue:	3
Pages:	30-62
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Sierra Leone
Subjects:	social stratification kinship traditional education
Abstract:	In this paper, which is based on research carried out in 1968 and 1969 the author examines the way educational assistance is provided through the kinship network and relates this to traditional patterns of kinship fostering in West Africa'; he then looks at the wider effects of his findings especially as they relate to social stratification. Main aims of the study were to gather data on the life histories and social position of secondary school leavers in Sierra Leone, and to use some of these data in examining various theoretical problems raised by the emergence of new patterns of social stratification - and perhaps social classes - in West Africa. The author hopes that this paper will show that the study of fostering contributes to both these aims. Bibl., notes, tables.