African Population History: Contributions of Moral Demography

Abstract Improving knowledge about African historical demography is essential to addressing current population trends and achieving deeper understanding of social, economic, political change in the past present. I use census parish register data from Tanganyika address origins twentieth-century growth, describe how major changes fertility child mortality began 1940s, emphasise significance large rise between 1940s 1970s. Through this work my wider survey registers Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, consider relationships power, evidence, meaning these sources. Alongside macro gaps Africa's history are significant microsilences — lacunae sources which reflect hegemonic structures within they were produced. suggest a moral approach their analysis, borrowing reflexive dialectic method found studies economy.