Rural Settlement Structure And African Development

This volume is the result of a group of researchers applying their insights and experience to a common theme. All the authors are con-cerned with rural development in Africa and all have focused on the con-nection between the development process and the arrangement of people and their built environment in rural space. Both anthropologists and geo-graphers have contributed to the dialogue on this subject and represen-tatives of the two disciplines are included in this volume. The members of this group have never all been in the same place at the same time, and so have utilized various electronic modes of commu-nication to link their locations around the world. Two conferences were organized, however, among a subset of the whole, in order to generate a group discussion. One of these meetings was a symposium on African rural development held at Temple University while a second was orga-nized at the African Studies Association Meetings in Toronto. Both opportunities helped raise issues that found their way into individual chapters. The audience in each case further stimulated our thinking.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements -- Preface -- PART ONE Background to the Study of Settlement -- 1 Introduction / Marilyn Silberfein -- 2 The Geographical Study of Rural Settlements / David Grossman and David Siddle -- PART TWO The Historical Perspective -- 3 The Origins of African Rural Settlement / James L. Newman -- 4 Cyclical Change in African Settlement and Modem Resettle-ment Programs / Marilyn Silberfein -- PART THREE The Evolution of Settlement Types: Some Case Studies -- 5 Settlement Concentration and Dispersal Among the Kofyar / Glenn Davis Stone -- 6 The Role of Villages and Ecological Constraints in Botswana / R.M.K. Silitshena -- 7 Settlement Structure and Landscape Ecology in the Sahel: The Case of Northern Yatenga / Burkina Paso, Robert E. Ford -- 8 Settlement Structure and Landscape Ecology in Humid Tropical Rwanda / Robert E. Ford -- PART FOUR Rural Development Programs: The Role of Settlement Structure -- 9 Participatory Development and Settlement in Southern Africa / Edward C. Green and Raymond T. Isely -- 10 The Design of Community and Its Socioecological Consequences: Marsabit District / Kenya, Asmarom Legesse -- PART FIVE National Settlement Strategies -- 11 Rural Settlement Patterns in Zimbabwe and State Manipula-tion of the Settlement Structure / Lovemore Zinyama -- 12 The Political Economy of Spatial Rationalization and Integration Policies in Tanzania / Richard J. Massaro -- PART SIX Conclusions and Implications for the Future -- 13 The Rural-Urban Nexus, Marilyn Silberfein -- About the Contributors -- Index.