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Spirit Possession, Modernity and Power in Africa Heike Behrend

Spirit Possession, Modernity and Power in Africa By Heike Behrend

Spirit Possession, Modernity and Power in Africa by Heike Behrend


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Summary

Focuses on questions of power, the history and inner dynamics of cults, and images of the other.

Spirit Possession, Modernity and Power in Africa Summary

Spirit Possession, Modernity and Power in Africa by Heike Behrend

Focuses on questions of power, the history and inner dynamics of cults, and images of the other. The articles in this book make valuable contributions to the literature of African religious experience. The majority of the pieces are based on research conducted in the last 10 to 15 years, and are therefore positioned to document changes taking place across the continent as possession beliefs and practices respond to new circumstances and address the shifting local implications of an increasingly global socio-economy. Gender, ethnicity, and class are rightly presented as intersecting forces and features of spirit phenomena. The case studies presented are richly contextualized: history, social organization and upheaval, alternative religious options where applicable - all are considered relevant to an understanding of possession forms.' - Janice Boddy, University of Toronto Uganda: Fountain Publishers

Spirit Possession, Modernity and Power in Africa Reviews

Spirits and spirit possession are common in African public life, as is witchcraft. Yet this is an area to which political and social scientists as well as economists pay scant attention ... highly recommended to those who are not familiar with the subject, or who may still doubt its importance ...The merit of this volume is that the various country studies are presented in a manner that makes them comparable. - -- Patrick Chabal * INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS *
Every article in the volume is full of necessary historical, political and economic information, enabling the reader to see how truly nuanced and dense the ethnographies are upon which the pieces are based...this is a very worthy scholarly project, and one that should have wide appeal to those interested in indigenous and external religious practices on the continent of Africa. - -- Misty L. Bastian * JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICA *

Table of Contents

Introduction - one or many modernities?, Heike Behrend and Ute Luig. Part 1 Power of the spirit, power of the possessed: defunct women; possession among the Bijagos islanders, Alexandra de Sousa; possession and power in the central Sudan - the case of the butcher's wife, Susan M. Kenyon; possession and power in Madagascar - contesting colonial and national hegemonies, Lesley A. Sharp. Part 2 Inner dynamics and transformation of spirit possession cults: power to heal, power to kill; spirit possession in three Holy Spirit movements in northern Uganda (1962-1992), Heike Behrend; the invention of anti-tradition - Dodo spirits in southern Nigeria, Adeline Masquelier; on history and language of the European Bori spirits of Kano/Nigeria, Matthias Krings; constructing local worlds - spirit possession in the Gwembe valley, Ute Luig; horse, hunter and messenger - the possessed men of Nya cult among the Manyanka of Mali, Jean-Paul Colleyn. Part 3 Images of the other: slavery, spirit possession and ritual consciousness - a case study of the Tchamba cult among the Mina in Togo, Tobias Wendl; spirit possession and the symbolic construction of Swahili society, Linda Giles.

Additional information

NLS9780852552582
9780852552582
0852552580
Spirit Possession, Modernity and Power in Africa by Heike Behrend
New
Paperback
James Currey
1999-12-16
192
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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