Kinship and Marriage Among the Anlo Ewe

Dr Nukunya is one of the few Africans who have worked as trained anthropologists among their own people. His book is a study of the Anlo, the most numerous of the Ewe peoples who are divided between Ghana and Togo. Their descent is remarkable in that a patrilineal ideology is balanced by unusually strong matrilineal ties, and descent is traced from genitor whether or not he is the mother's legal husband. Dr Nukunya describes the complex system of landholdings that the high densisty of population make necessary. Adjustments are made by the exercise of claims through maternal kin; his conclusion contradicts the argument that patrilineal claims are asserted more strongly where there is pressure on land. He also discusses the changes in household structure that result from the absence of parents on trading or fishing expeditions or in wage employment.