Articles

“Pronatalist Culture of Tropical Africa: Fertility and Traditional Economy

Vostok/Oriens '2015, №3

 
Sub-Saharan Africa is visibly laggard in terms of fertility transition as compared to other developing regions. The author tries to reveal significant factors of this laggardness. African “Pronatalism” to a large extent seemingly stems from the specific features of traditional social and economic system. The paper reveals the connections between hoe agriculture, extended families, polygyny, and some other traditional norms and practices which contributed to the persistence of high fertility and to the extremely slow rate of fertility transition in the majority of the countries of the region.

Keywords: Sub-Saharan Africa, fertility, demographic transition, hoe agriculture, polygyny, female contribution to subsistence, extended families

Pages: С. 92–99