Books by Monica Wilson

Originally published in 1977, this volume completes with a wealth of case material and against the background of a whole century, Monica Wilson's detailed study of the Nyakyusa-Ngonde people of Tanzania and Malawi.

Originally published in 1957, analyses the rituals celebrated by groups of kinsmen on the occasion of births, marriages and deaths within the age villages of the Nyakyusa. the connection between the form of the rituals and the kinship structure is examined.

Originally published in 1959, this book includes detailed accounts of Nyakyusa traditions of origin, cosmology and moral values, often in direct quotations from informants, while part of the book is devoted to a description of Christian missions, the growth of African churches and the conflict between pagan and Christian ethics and practices.

Originally published in 1951 this book is a study of village system in southern Tanzania, which at the time of publication was thought to be unique. Each village consisted not of a group of kinsmen but an age-set: a group of male contemporaries, together with their wives and young children.

When previously isolated societies come into contact with the outside world they undergo certain obvious changes. Professor Wilson has long been interested in these changes. She sees, as the most general change going on in society, a change in scale, that is in the number of people interacting and the closeness of their interaction.