Anthropology of colonialism is theoretical and research approach started by French anthropologist Georges Balandier. In 1958 Balandier founded the Centre d’études africaines (Centre for African Studies), where he and his students studied the effects of Westernization and colonial rule on African countries and societies, and people. Balandier studied political anthropology, primarily African political systems, which were undergoing many changes, at the time. He thought it was important to study changes in the system of thought, that were happening in that turbulent times, but that is also necessary to study the breaks in continuity and complex socio-cultural relations, unique to each society, in a state between tradition and modernity. He also explored the question of how the processes of national formation and social and economic changes affect the population of the newly formed African countries. He was also a pioneer of urban sociology in African cities.

Authors: Balandier Georges. Claude Meillassoux.

Books:

Balandier. Ambiguous Africa: Cultures in Collision (1966, in French 1957);

     -     Political Anthropology (1972, in French 1967);

     -     Daily Life in the Kingdom of the Congo: From the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century (1968, in French 1965);

     -     The Sociology of Black Africa: Social Dynamics in Central Africa (1970, in French 1955a);

Meillassoux, Claude. Maidens, Meals and Money: Capitalism and the Domestic Community (1975a; 1981);

     -     (ed.) L’esclavage en Afrique précoloniale(1975b);

     -     Terrain et théories, (collection of articles) (1977);

     -     Les derniers blancs, le modèle sud-africain (1979);

     -     (ed.) Verrouillage ethnique en Afrique du Sud (1988);

     -     Mythes et limites de l’anthropologie. Le sang et les mots (2001).