Urban Dreams: Transformations of Family Life in Burkina Faso - Paperback

by Claudia Roth (Editor), Willemijn de Jong (Editor), Manfred Perlik (Editor)

Claudia Roth's work on Bobo-Dioulasso, a city of half a million residents in Burkina Faso, provides uniquely detailed insight into the evolving life-world of a West African urban population in one of the poorest countries in the world. Closely documenting the livelihood strategies of members of various neighbourhoods, Roth's work calls into question established notions of "the African family" as a solidary network, documents changing marriage and kinship relations under the impact of a persistent economic crisis, and explores the increasingly precarious social status of young women and men.

Author Biography

Claudia Roth (1955-2012) taught and conducted anthropological research at the Universities of Zurich, Bern, and Lucerne. She served on the board of the Swiss Society for African Studies (SGAS/SSEA) and was a member of the International Mande Studies Association (MANSA). Urban Dreams is the first collection of her work to appear in English.