First published in 1957 by Oxford University Press for the International African Institute.
This edition first published in 2018
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1957 International African Institute
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ISBN: 9780815387138 (Set)
ISBN: 9780429488139 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 9781138487680 (Volume 5) (hbk)
ISBN: 9781351042307 (Volume 5) (ebk)
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WEST AFRICAN CITY
A Study of Tribal Life
in Freetown
MICHAEL BANTON
Published for the
International African Institute
by the
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON IBADAN ACCRA
1957
CONTENTS
Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E.C.4
GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI
CAPE TOWN IBADAN NAIROBI ACCRA SINGAPORE
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T HE field investigation upon which this book is based was carried out in Sierra Leone from November 1952 to November 1953 with the aid of a generous grant from the Nuffield Foundation. The analysis of the data collected there has been facilitated by my subsequent appointment to the Social Sciences Research Centre of the University of Edinburgh. To both the Nuffield Foundation and the Social Sciences Committee of the University of Edinburgh I make grateful acknowledgement.
The Sierra Leone Government extended to me facilities which greatly assisted my research; I wish to record my indebtedness in particular to the officers of the Labour, Medical, Agricultural, and Social Welfare Departments, and to those of the Secretariat. A former Secretary of Protectorate Affairs, Mr. J. S. Fenton, C.M.G., O.B.E., kindly read the manuscript and made a number of valuable suggestions. His Worship the Mayor of Freetown and the Principal of Fourah Bay College also rendered assistance which I much appreciate. I am further obliged to those members of the public in Freetown who helped in my enquiries, especially to the late Mr. E. F. Sayers and Kande Bure, Temne Tribal Headman.
In the academic sphere my principal obligations are to the head of the Social Anthropology Department, Dr. Kenneth Little, who supervised my research; Mr. W. A. A. Wilson and Mr. W. J. Dupigny for help with Temne transcriptions; Mr. J. R. Walsh for assistance with Arabic spelling; Mr. S. A. Sklaroff for advice on the presentation of statistics; Dr. James Littlejohn for permission to use his report on a study of the social effects of industrialization in Lunsar; Mr. I. A. G. Kinniburgh for preparing the maps; Dr. R. H. Osborne for comments on Part Two; Dr. Ian Whitaker and Mrs. B. E. Wyatt for reading the text and offering many helpful suggestions.
Certain passages in the text have earlier been published in Sierra Leone Studies, Journal of African Administration and Africa. Permission to reproduce them here has kindly been given.
M. P. B.
S OCIAL S CIENCES R ESEARCH C ENTRE ,
U NIVERSITY OF E DINBURGH .
September 1995.
Population Changes in Freetown, by Principal Tribes
Unemployment by Tribes, Freetown, July 1939
African Employees working for Employers employing not less than Ten Africans, 19406
Freetown Cost-of-Living Index
Emigrants from three Limba Villages
African Employees working for Employers employing not less than Ten Africans, 194653
Registered Unemployment (Freetown only)
New Registrants, 1953, by Tribe and Month of Registration
Percentage Distribution of New Registrants by Age and Tribe
New Registrants by Tribe and Previous Occupation
New Registrants by District and Chiefdom of Origin
Origins of Seasonal Migrants by Tribe and District
Percentage Distribution of Seasonal Migrants by Age and Tribe
Towns in the Protectorate
An Initial Comparison of the Sample Areas and their Population Density
Age and Sex, by Sample Areas
Housing in Freetown, 1947
Tribal Composition of Sample Survey Areas
Size of Households in Sample Survey Areas
Class and Economic Status, by Sample Survey Areas
Occupations, by Sample Survey Areas
Residential Turnover
Numbers employed in the Principal Industries and Services
Labour Strength of Employers, December 1953
Ethnic Groups in Freetown
Income Groupings by Tax Assessment, 194950
Estimated Population of Freetown by Tribes, 1953
Occupation and Tribe: Sample Survey, all Permanent Residents
Income and Tribe: Sample Survey, Household Heads only
Length of Settlement by Tribes: Sample Survey data on Household Heads
Reasons given by Household Heads for Migrating, by Tribes
Household Heads Intentions of Settling in Freetown
Church Work in the Vernaculars
Tribal Composition of Registered Friendly Societies
Census of the Colony, 1947
Number of Wives per Resident Male in Freetown sample, by Tribe
Tribal Masculine and Feminine Exogamy Rates
Cross-Tribal Marriage by Exogamous males
Cross-Tribal Marriage by Exogamous females
Size of Households in Three Limba Villages
Size of Households in Two Temne Villages
Size of a Random Selection of Households in Freetown
Composition of Households with a Male Head
Comparison of Temne Households in Two Protectorate Villages and in Freetown
Comparison of Tribal and Creole Households in Freetown
Comparison of Tribal and Creole Matricentric Households in Freetown
Registered Marriages in Sierra Leone Colony 194152
