The Methods And Uses Of Anthropological Demography

Author : Alaka Malwade Basu,Peter Aaby
Publisher : Clarendon Press
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 1998-09-24
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780191584466

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The Methods and Uses of Anthropological Demography by Alaka Malwade Basu,Peter Aaby Pdf

This volume takes stock of the current status of the comparatively new discipline of `Anthropological Demography', and discusses its major methods, its main strengths, and its chief limitations. It includes contributions from both mainstream demographers and foremost anthropologists, all stressing the necessity of a shared agenda for each discipline to progress successfully and avoid marginalization. While the unique research and personal satisfaction afforded by `participant observation' is described, the book also highlights the potential contribution to the understanding of demographic events of much more than the field methods of traditional anthropology. In particular, it stresses the insights possible from qualitative focus group interviews, from longitudinal studies and from a greater interest in `armchair' anthropology, in which demographers complement their quantitative findings with qualitative information and understanding gleaned from a careful reading of the anthropological literature, in the form of both ethnographies and anthropological theories. In addition, it stresses the larger world of the ideal anthropological demographer: a world that includes the cultural context of course, but also takes into account the historical and political forces that condition so much individual behaviour. But the book is also a critical venture. It includes therefore considerable discussion of the common limits of the purely anthropological approach for understanding demographic events and processes, especially from a larger policy perspective, at the same time as it emphasizes the crucial role of the anthropological approach to designing policy that is potentially effective as well as socially and culturally sensitive. It reiterates the often complementary role of anthropological demography and also discusses some specific questions in demographic research which it does not as yet seem to have the capacity to illuminate. The book is aimed primarily at demographers wishing to broaden their research agenda and deepen their understanding of demographic behaviour, but it also hopes to convert mainstream anthropologists to take a more active interest in demographic issues. Both disciplines, after all, have a common intense interest in the kind of life and death issues that they can fruitfully explore together or by using one another's research methods.

Author : David I. Kertzer,Thomas Earl Fricke
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 1997-07-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780226431963

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Anthropological Demography by David I. Kertzer,Thomas Earl Fricke Pdf

Revised papers originally presented at the Brown University Conference on Anthropological Demography, Nov 3-5, 1994.

Author : Simon Szreter,Hania Sholkamy,A. Dharmalingam
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 434 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2004-03-18
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780191533693

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Categories and Contexts by Simon Szreter,Hania Sholkamy,A. Dharmalingam Pdf

Throughout its history as a social science, demography has been associated with an exclusively quantitative orientation for studying social problems. As a result, demographers tend to analyse population issues scientifically through sets of fixed social categories that are divorced from dynamic relationships and local contexts and processes. This volume questions these fixed categories in two ways. First, it examines the historical and political circumstances in which such categories had their provenance, and, second, it reassesses their uncritical applications over space and time in a diverse range of empirical case studies, encouraging throughout a constructive interdisciplinary dialogue involving anthropologists, demographers, historians, and sociologists. This volume seeks to examine the political complexities that lie at the heart of population studies by focusing on category formation, category use, and category critique. It shows that this takes the form of a dialectic between the needs for clarity of scientific and administrative analysis and the recalcitrant diversity of the social contexts and human processes that generate population change. The critical reflections of each chapter are enriched by meticulous ethnographic fieldwork and historical research drawn from every continent. This volume, therefore, exemplifies a new methodology for research in population studies, one that does not simply accept and re-use the established categories of population science but seeks critically and reflexively to explore, test, and re-evaluate their meanings in diverse contexts. It shows that for demography to realise its full potential it must urgently re-examine and contextualize the social categories used today in population research.

Author : Véronique Petit
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 219 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2013-02-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789400750463

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Counting Populations, Understanding Societies by Véronique Petit Pdf

The core aim of this book is to determine how anthropology and demography can be used in conjunction in the field of population and development. The boundaries of demography are not as clearly defined or as stable as one might think, especially in view of the tension between a formal demography centered on the ‘core of procedures and references’ and a more open form of demography, generally referred to as Population Studies. Many rapprochements, missed opportunities and isolated attempts marked the disciplinary history of anthropology and demography, both disciplines being founded on distinct and highly differentiated traditions and practices. Moreover, the role and the place assigned to epistemology differ significantly in ethnology and demography. Yet, anthropology and demography provide complementary models and research instruments and this book shows that neither discipline can afford to overlook their respective contributions. Based on research conducted in West Africa over more than twenty years, it is a defense of field demography that makes case for a continuum ranging from the initial conception of fieldwork and research to its effective implementation and to data analysis. Changes in behaviors relating to fertility, poverty or migration cannot be interpreted without invoking the cultural factor at some stage. Representations in their collective and individual dimensions also fit into the extended explanatory space of demography.

Author : Eric Abella Roth
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Demographic anthropology
ISBN : 0511215118

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Culture, Biology, and Anthropological Demography by Eric Abella Roth Pdf

Two distinctive approaches to the study of human demography exist within anthropology today: anthropological demography and human evolutionary ecology. The first stresses the role of culture in determining population parameters, while the second posits that demographic rates reflect adaptive behaviors that are the products of natural selection. Both sub-disciplines have achieved notable successes, but each has ignored and been actively disdainful of the other. This text attempts a rapprochement of anthropological demography and human evolutionary ecology through recognition of common research topics and the construction of a broad theoretical framework incorporating both cultural and biological motivation. Both these approaches are utilized to search for demographic strategies in varied cultural and temporal contexts ranging from African pastoralists through North American post-industrial societies. As such this book is relevant to cultural and biological anthropologists, demographers, sociologists, and historians.

Author : Véronique Petit,Kaveri Qureshi,Lecturer in Global Health Equity Kaveri Qureshi,Emeritus Professor of Demography Yves Charbit,Yves Charbit,Senior Research Fellow in Human Sciences Philip Kreager
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 571 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2020-10-30
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780198862437

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The Anthropological Demography of Health by Véronique Petit,Kaveri Qureshi,Lecturer in Global Health Equity Kaveri Qureshi,Emeritus Professor of Demography Yves Charbit,Yves Charbit,Senior Research Fellow in Human Sciences Philip Kreager Pdf

The Anthropological Demography of Health explores the combination of anthropological and demographic approaches to public health research, charting the growing body of research that combines ethnography with quantitative models and methods in the field of population health.

Author : Sarah Harper
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2018-05-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780191038679

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Demography: A Very Short Introduction by Sarah Harper Pdf

The generation into which each person is born, the demographic composition of that cohort, and its relation to those born at the same time in other places influences not only a person's life chances, but also the economic and political structures within which that life is lived; the person's access to social and natural resources (food, water, education, jobs, sexual partners); and even the length of that person's life. Demography, literally the study of people, addresses the size, distribution, composition, and density of populations, and considers the impact the drivers which mediate these will have on both individual lives and the changing structure of human populations. This Very Short Introduction considers the way in which the global population has evolved over time and space. Sarah Harper discusses the theorists, theories, and methods involved in studying population trends and movements, before looking at the emergence of new demographic sub-disciplines and addressing some of the future population challenges of the 21st century. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Author : John Caldwell,Allan Hill,Valerie J. Hull
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 519 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2023-10-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781000929140

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Micro-Approaches to Demographic Research by John Caldwell,Allan Hill,Valerie J. Hull Pdf

Originally published in 1988, this collection of essays was the first attempt by population scientists to incorporate some of the methods and materials of anthropologists into their work. The essays bridge the gap in the conceptualisation and organisation of field research by 2 sets of social scientists – demographers and social anthropologists – who share an interest in the explanation of particular patterns of population composition and change.

Author : W. Penn Handwerker
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2019-03-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780429712128

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Culture And Reproduction by W. Penn Handwerker Pdf

This book originated in a conference on Culture and Reproduction held at the University of California. It discusses conceptual changes in demographic theory, focuses on micro-level issues, and explores linkages between micro-level processes and the macro-level constraints that shape those processes. World population growth, especially its fertility component, poses a major dilemma for policymakers throughout the world. However, theoretical developments in demography have not yet provided a solid foundation for understanding contemporary population processes. From an anthropological perspective, the current micro-level models do not properly recognize the cultural and biological constraints within which people make reproductive decisions. On the macro level, demographic transition continues to be linked to processes of "modernization." Arguing that it is necessary to readdress micro-level issues in light of the cultural-historical variability of particular places and times and to explore linkages between macro- and micro-level phenomena through which population processes work themselves out, the contributors point the way to new theoretical formulations of the concept of culture, the nature of macro/micro linkages, and methods of placing demographic theory within the more encompassing framework of evolutionary theory.

Author : Florent Bédécarrats,Isabelle Guérin,François Roubaud
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 442 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2020
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780198865360

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Randomized Control Trials in the Field of Development by Florent Bédécarrats,Isabelle Guérin,François Roubaud Pdf

In October 2019, Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer jointly won the 51st Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. But what is the exact scope of their experimental method, known as randomized control trials (RCTs)? Which sorts of questions are RCTs able to address and which do they fail to answer? The first of its kind, Randomized Control Trials in the Field of Development: A Critical Perspective provides answers to these questions, explaining how RCTs work, what they can achieve, why they sometimes fail, how they can be improved and why other methods are both useful and necessary. Bringing together leading specialists in the field from a range of backgrounds and disciplines (economics, econometrics, mathematics, statistics, political economy, socioeconomics, anthropology, philosophy, global health, epidemiology, and medicine), it presents a full and coherent picture of the main strengths and weaknesses of RCTs in the field of development. Looking beyond the epistemological, political, and ethical differences underlying many of the disagreements surrounding RCTs, it explores the implementation of RCTs on the ground, outside of their ideal theoretical conditions and reveals some unsuspected uses and effects, their disruptive potential, but also their political uses. The contributions uncover the implicit worldview that many RCTs draw on and disseminate, and probe the gap between the method's narrow scope and its success, while also proposing improvements and alternatives. Without disputing the contribution of RCTs to scientific knowledge, Randomized Control Trials in the Field of Development warns against the potential dangers of their excessive use, arguing that the best use for RCTs is not necessarily that which immediately springs to mind. Written in plain language, this book offers experts and laypeople alike a unique opportunity to come to an informed and reasoned judgement on RCTs and what they can bring to development.

Author : Christine Langhoff
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2007-09
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9783638756525

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Pre-transitional Populations: Historical and Anthropological Demography by Christine Langhoff Pdf

Essay from the year 2002 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Demographics, Urban Management, Planning, grade: 1.1, Oxford University (New College), 9 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Demographic growth has not been uniform over time. Periods of expansion have alternated with others of stagnation and even decline; and the interpretation of these, even for relatively recent historical periods, is not an easy task. The numerical progress of population has been, if not dictated, at least constrained by many forces and obstacles which have determined the general direction of the path of its growth. These can be categorised as biological and environmental. The former are linked to the laws of mortality and reproduction which determine the rate of demographic growth; the latter determine the resistance which these laws encounter and further regulate the rate of growth. Biological and environmental factors affect each other reciprocally and so are not independent of one another. For the most part the mechanisms for re-establishing an equilibrium of population growth are the product of choice (fertility, nuptiality and migration) although some are automatic. The sizes of households and families have varied over time, but they seem to have been similar in different societies despite differences in the types of households. It has to be noted that the European marriage and family formation is neither universal nor is it totally unique.

Author : David Sven Reher,Roger Schofield
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : STANFORD:36105003454092

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Old and New Methods in Historical Demography by David Sven Reher,Roger Schofield Pdf

This book is a selection of papers explaining a variety of techniques used in the analysis of historical demographic data. The papers come from experts in the field of systematic analysis of past population patterns. The papers are divided into five groups. The first tackles the issues andchallenges of time series analysis and other approaches to population reconstruction. The second group deals with different methods of family reconstitution and the problems of following life Scholars and students of politics, political theory, philosophy, sociology, and jurisprudence; anyoneinterested in nation-building, nationalism, and self-determination.

Author : John Charles Caldwell,Allan G. Hill,Valerie J. Hull
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 500 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 1988-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 0710302975

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Micro-approaches to Demographic Research by John Charles Caldwell,Allan G. Hill,Valerie J. Hull Pdf

Author : Zeng Yi
Publisher : EOLSS Publications
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2010-11-30
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781848263079

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Demography - Volume I by Zeng Yi Pdf

According to the classic and widely accepted statement by Hauser and Duncan (1959: 2), demography is defined as “the study of the size, territorial distribution, and components of population, changes therein, and components of such changes.” Almost all disciplines of social sciences and most disciplines of natural sciences deal with human beings in one way or another, either directly or indirectly. Furthermore, demographic concepts (e.g., birth rate, death rate, and migration) and methods and analysis strategies (e.g., life table analysis) can be readily extended to other species (insects, animals, plants, etc.) and inanimate collectives (enterprises, automobiles, etc.). Clearly, demography is an important thematic field in science and it may provide the empirical foundation for studying human beings, animals, and inanimate collectives on which other relevant scientific research is built. The volume aims to be of value to the various audiences of both non-specialists and experts who seek a comprehensive understanding of issues related to human population. As reviewed in the very beginning of the Theme Introduction, “interdisciplinary” is one of the three major features of demography. Given the rapid development in techniques for collecting not only demographic data but also other related data concerning health, biomarkers, genetics, behaviors, and social and natural environments in conventional population surveys, as well as rapidly enhancing computing powers, this volume shows and concludes that demography will be even more interdisciplinary in the coming decades. A notable example is that the cross-field “marriage” between bio-medical sciences and demography will lead us to enter an era in which bio-medical and demographic methods will be well integrated. As indicated by James R. Carey and James W. Vaupel in Chapter 13 of this volume, the bio-demographic branches of demography are vibrant areas of demographic research that are rapidly growing and that have great potential to enrich and enlarge the domain of demography. Not only can demographers learn much from biologists and epidemiologists, but demographers can contribute much to research on life in general and to research on population health. The increasing availability of data sources and much enhanced computing/internet power will also lead demography to be more interactive with the other fields, such as psychology, environmental science, economics, business and management, etc. As discussed in this volume’s Chapter 11 by Swanson and Pol, for example, it is now possible to link conventional demographic data sources of census, surveys, and vital statistics with administrative records such as social security, tax reporting, medical insurance, hospital records, school registration, supermarket purchasing cards use, etc., while protecting individuals’ privacy. Such linkages will substantially increase the value of demographic methods, surveys and administrative records for scientific research and policy analysis, as well as the applicability of demography in business and governmental decision making processes.

Author : Eric Abella Roth
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2004-08-16
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 0521005418

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Culture, Biology, and Anthropological Demography by Eric Abella Roth Pdf

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