The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial AfricaUniversity of Virginia Press, 1997 - 311 Seiten To many Westerners, the disappearance of African traditions of witchcraft might seem inevitable wuth continued modernization. In The Modernity of Witchcraft, Peter Geschieres uses his own experiences among the Maka and in other parts of eastern and southern Cameroon, as well as other anthropological research, to argue that contemporary ideas and practices of witchcraft are more a response to modern exigencies than a lingering cultural custom. The prevalence of witchcraft, especially in African politics and entrepreneurship, demonstrates the unlikely balance it has achieved with the forces of modernity. Geshiere explores why modern techniques and commodities, usually of Western Provenance, have become central in rumors of the occult. |
Inhalt
| 15 | |
| 61 | |
FOUR | 97 |
COMPARATIVE INTERSTICE 2 | 131 |
SIX | 169 |
SEVEN | 198 |
AFTERWORD | 215 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 283 |
INDEX | 301 |
Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa Peter Geschiere Keine Leseprobe verfügbar - 1997 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
accumulation accusations action Africa Ahidjo Ahmadou Ahidjo ambiguity ambivalence anthropologists association authority Azande Bakossi Bakweri Bamileke Bayart become beliefs Bertua Beti Bouvignies Buea Cameroon Cameroonian chapter chief clear clients cocoa colonial context Copet-Rougier courts craft dangerous djambe djambe discourse dominate Duala East Province ekong elders emphasized especially Evina évolués Ewondo example famla Fisiy forest societies forms of wealth forms of witchcraft francs CFA gbati Geschiere Grassfields healers inequalities instance judges kaande killed kinship Kribi Kupe Mabaya Maka Medumba Mendouga Mimbang modern Mpal Mpang nganga Nkal Selek nkong notables notions nyongo Obasinjom occult forces palaver party Paul Biya plantations political politicians popular region relations riches role Rosny rumors seems sorcellerie sorcery sorcery and witchcraft sorts sous-préfet story tions tribunals urban elites village Warnier Western witchcraft and sorcery witchcraft discourse witchcraft trials witches woman women Yaunde young
Beliebte Passagen
Seite 218 - See that ye love one another fervently.' But beliefs in the malice of witchcraft and in the wrath of ancestral spirits do more than ask this as an act of grace; they affirm that if you do not love one another fervently misfortune will come. Bad feeling is charged with mystical danger; virtue in itself produces order throughout the universe. Though a charge of witchcraft for causing a misfortune may exaggerate and exacerbate a quarrel, the belief emphasizes the threat to the wider social order which...
Seite 226 - Nor, it should be stressed again, are witches advocates of "tradition," of a life beyond the universe of commodities. They embody all the contradictions of the experience of modernity itself, of its inescapable enticements, its self-consuming passions, its discriminatory tactics, its devastating social costs.
Seite 216 - The anthropologists of the 1950s developed insights into the functioning of witch beliefs which seemed about as relevant to the European experience as if they came from another planet. Dangerous in Europe, the same beliefs in Melanesia or Africa appeared to be tame, even domesticated; they served useful functions and were not expected to run amuck
Seite 218 - ... of ancestral spirits do more than ask this as an act of grace; they affirm that if you do not love one another fervently misfortune will come. Bad feeling is charged with mystical danger; virtue in itself produces order throughout the universe. Though a charge of witchcraft for causing a misfortune may exaggerate and exacerbate a quarrel, the belief emphasizes the threat to the wider social order which is contained in immoral sentiments. Hence the beliefs exert some pressure on men and women...
Seite 3 - [a]ll planes are in the world of witchcraft, and when the white man gets it from the black man, he then interprets it into real life. As it is with planes, so with televisions, radios, telephones etc.
Seite 259 - See also the interesting text by Basile Ndjio (1995) on a recent series of performances of the Ngru, a Bamileke purification ritual. Apparently this old ritual was suddenly revived in 1994, simultaneously in several rural chieftaincies in the West Province but also in the Bamileke quarter in the city of Duala. Ndjio interprets the staging of the ritual as a somewhat desperate attempt by the chiefs to restore their authority, severely undermined by their close collaboration with the regime. Typically,...
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