Contingent Lives : Fertility, Time, and Aging in West Africa - Caroline H. Bledsoe
eTextbook alternate format product

Instant online reading.
Don't wait for delivery!

Go digital and save!

Contingent Lives

Fertility, Time, and Aging in West Africa

By: Caroline H. Bledsoe

Paperback | 10 June 2002 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback


$100.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $25.19 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 10 to 15 business days

When will this arrive by?
Enter delivery postcode to estimate

Most women in the West use contraceptives in order to avoid having children. But in rural Gambia and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, many women use contraceptives for the opposite reason-to have as many children as possible.

Using ethnographic and demographic data from a three-year study in rural Gambia, Contingent Lives explains this seemingly counterintuitive fact by juxtaposing two very different understandings of the life course: one is a linear, Western model that equates aging and the ability to reproduce with the passage of time, the other a Gambian model that views aging as contingent on the cumulative physical, social, and spiritual hardships of personal history, especially obstetric trauma. Viewing each of these two models from the perspective of the other, Caroline Bledsoe produces fresh understandings of the classical anthropological subjects of reproduction, time, and aging as culturally shaped within women's conjugal lives. Her insights will be welcomed by scholars of anthropology and demography as well as by those working in public health, development studies, gerontology, and the history of medicine.
Industry Reviews
"Making brilliant use of the puzzle of women in The Gambia using modern contraception as a means to increase their fertility, Bledsoe shows - in a way no one previously has done so well - just why anthropological insights are needed in demographic research. Contingent Lives offers a rich contribution both to social theory and to social methodology." - David Kertzer, Brown University

More in Mathematics

The Mending of Broken Bones : A Modern Guide to Classical Algebra - Paul Lockhart
How to Win At Chess : The Ultimate Guide for Beginners and Beyond - Levy Rozman
Unequal : The Maths of When Things Do and Don't Add Up - Eugenia Cheng
This Is Chaos : Embracing the Future of Magic - Hagen von Tulien

RRP $39.99

$33.40

16%
OFF
Love Triangle : The Life-changing Magic of Trigonometry - Matt Parker
Family Communication : Routledge Communication - Chris Segrin

RRP $305.00

$190.25

38%
OFF
Family Communication : Routledge Communication - Chris Segrin

RRP $185.00

$157.25

15%
OFF
Bird's Engineering Mathematics : 9th Edition - John  Bird
Introduction to Special Functions for Applied Mathematics - Daniele Ritelli
Essentials of Medical Statistics : 2nd Edition - Betty R. Kirkwood

RRP $91.95

$59.90

35%
OFF
One Fold at a Time Origami : 36 Easy Models for First-Time Folders - Paul Jackson