Abstract
This chapter examines the mutual contributions of demography and anthropology based on my research experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on methodology and data interpretation. As a defence of field demography, it makes a case for a continuum ranging from the initial conception of fieldwork and research to its effective implementation and to data analysis. It markedly differs from research on secondary data analysis examining vital records, censuses or large-scale surveys, or, to put it bluntly, from armchair demography. In this conception, the focus of research is not fixed but is liable to change and to develop based on a productive exchange between observation and the broader framework of analysis (Glaser and Strauss 1967). The field is thus no longer viewed merely as a space for data collection but is construed as an area in which the reflections and analyses of researchers confronted with the reality of interactions that cannot be entirely controlled are elaborated and developed.
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Notes
- 1.
POPINTER was subsequently merged with CEPED.
- 2.
Notwithstanding the criticisms levelled against her book in this chapter, Calame-Griaule’s work remains a classic reference and a key source of understanding for anyone with an interest in Dogon society.
- 3.
‘Concession’ or ‘carrés’ are extended families comprising up to 150 members, depending on the ethnic belonging.
- 4.
An estagnon (from the Provençal estagnoun and estanh, meaning tin or pewter) is a tin container for oil and essences.
- 5.
In the published results, these measurements can be easily converted into more common units (litres, kilograms and US dollars).
- 6.
The benefits of the measurement of trends will not be reiterated here. See Petit and des Robert (2004).
- 7.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Ivory Coast had one of the most dynamic and attractive economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The country’s economic development was based on agriculture, particularly export cultures such as cocoa. Agriculture represents half of the national GDP. A plantation economy requires an abundant labour force.
- 8.
CM2: final year of primary school education. CM2 pupils are aged 12.
- 9.
The notion of ‘bricolage’ was initially developed by Claude Lévi-Strauss in an examination of American Indian myths (Lévi-Strauss 1962) but has subsequently been used to describe the creative processes that are specific to popular or immigrant cultures and to explain phenomena of religious syncretism.
- 10.
See for example an undergoing CEPED research project entitled La migration prise aux mots (MIPRIMO) led by Cécile Canut on the production and circulation of migration narratives in West Africa, involving French and African linguists, anthropologists, sociologists, demographers and historians.
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Petit, V. (2013). The Practices of Comprehensive Demography. In: Counting Populations, Understanding Societies. Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5046-3_6
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