Reproduction and Social Context in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Collection of Micro-Demographic Studies

Perhaps no region matches sub-Saharan Africa in its social and cultural diversity. In this collection of micro-demographic studies, the authors examine how the diversity of this region influences reproductive behavior. The empirical studies, distributed throughout the continent, are localized, in-depth studies that give special attention to contextual effects of social structure and social organization. A diverse range of topics is addressed including, adolescent sexuality and the effects of early childbearing on later fertility, the impact of development programs on fertility and the association between social organization, social diffusion, and reproductive regime. Highly revealing of the determinants of reproduction in Africa, these studies serve as a model for a new mode of demographic research.

The chapters are arranged by geographical regions of the continent, with an introductory chapter outlining the editors' vision of a micro-demographic enterprise and a concluding chapter placing the African fertility transition in the context of the global fertility transition. This volume inspires fresh thinking and theorizing about demographic change, not only in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in all low-income settings.

SAMUEL AGYEI-MENSAH is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Resource Development at the University of Ghana. He is currently working on a book on the spread of HIV/AIDS in Ghana.

JOHN B. CASTERLINE is Senior Research Associate in the Policy Research Division at the Population Council in New York. He is the author of Diffusion Processes and Fertility Transition (2001).