Monica Wilson (1908-1982) and Social Change

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Periodical article

Title:	Monica Wilson (1908-1982) and Social Change
Author:	Brokensha, David
Year:	2006
Periodical:	Anthropology Southern Africa
Volume:	29
Issue:	1-2
Pages:	1-7
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	South Africa Tanzania
Subjects:	social change anthropological research Anthropology and Archaeology Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Labor and Employment
About person:	Monica Hunter Wilson (1908-1982)
Abstract:	This paper, which was originally delivered as the Monica Wilson Lecture at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town, in September 1999, deals with this anthropologist's writings on social change. Monica Wilson's publications contain a wealth of material on social change, on how institutions and groups and values change. Based on extensive fieldwork among the Pondo of the Eastern Cape of South Africa and the Nyakyusa of Tanzania, her ethnographies and many articles are illuminating for many topics, including scale of change, the changing status of women, effects of Christianity, growing inequality and the 'interpreters'. Unusual for her period, Monica Wilson examined all aspects of society, including missions, trade, schools, migrant labour and, especially, the results of European domination. She was a keen student of history, editing 'The Oxford History of South Africa'. Her first monograph, 'Reaction to Conquest' (1936), is still relevant today. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract]