Conspiracy Narratives from Postcolonial Africa

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Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226835855
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (268 download)

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Book Synopsis Conspiracy Narratives from Postcolonial Africa by : Rogers Orock

Download or read book Conspiracy Narratives from Postcolonial Africa written by Rogers Orock and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2024-10-09 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decoding conspiracy thinking at the nexus of sexuality, Freemasonry, and the occult. In this book, anthropologists Rogers Orock and Peter Geschiere examine the moral panic over a perceived rise in homosexuality that engulfed Cameroon and Gabon beginning in the early twenty-first century. As they uncover the origins of the conspiratorial narratives that fed this obsession, they argue that the public’s fears were grounded in historically situated assumptions about the entanglement of same-sex practices, Freemasonry, and illicit enrichment. This specific panic in postcolonial Central Africa fixated on high-ranking Masonic figures thought to lure younger men into sex in exchange for professional advancement. The authors’ thorough account shows how attacks on elites as homosexual predators corrupting the nation became a powerful outlet for mounting populist anger against the excesses and corruption of the national regimes. Unraveling these tensions, Orock and Geschiere present a genealogy of Freemasonry, taking readers from London through Paris to francophone Africa and revealing along the way how the colonial past shapes present-day anxieties linking same-sex practices to enrichment.

Argonauts of West Africa

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Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226822621
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (268 download)

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Book Synopsis Argonauts of West Africa by : Apostolos Andrikopoulos

Download or read book Argonauts of West Africa written by Apostolos Andrikopoulos and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Argonauts of West Africa examines the paradoxes of kinship in the lives of unauthorized African migrants as they struggle for mobility, employment, and citizenship in Europe. In a rapidly changing and highly precarious context, migrants turn to kinship in search of security, stability, and predictability. Through the exchange of identity documents, assistance in obtaining such documentation, marriage, or cohabitation, new kinship dynamics are continually made and remade to navigate the shifting demands of European states. These new kinship relations, however, often prove unreliable, taking on new, unexpected dynamics in the face of codependency; they become more difficult to control than those who entered into such relations could have imagined. Through unusually close ethnographic work in West African migrant communities in Amsterdam, Apostolos Andrikopoulos reveals unseen dynamics of "siblinghood" through shared papers, the tensions of race and gender that develop in mutually beneficial marriages, and the vast, informal networks of people, information, and documentation on which migrants rely. Throughout, Andrikopoulos demonstrates how inequality, exclusionary practices, and the changing policies of an often-violent state demand new forms of kinship to successfully navigate complex migration routes"--

Religion and Development in Southern and Central Africa: Vol 1

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Author :
Publisher : African Books Collective
ISBN 13 : 999606039X
Total Pages : 501 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion and Development in Southern and Central Africa: Vol 1 by : N. Amanze

Download or read book Religion and Development in Southern and Central Africa: Vol 1 written by N. Amanze and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2019-12-09 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a result of a joint conference, which was held from 18th-22nd July 2017 under the theme Religion, Citizenship and Development Southern African Perspectives." The theme of the conference was adopted in order to underline the importance and significance of religion in the socio-economic development of people in the world generally and in Southern and Central Africa in particular. The papers in the book are divided into two volumes. Volume one consists of papers which directly discuss religion and development in one form or another. The second volume contains papers that discuss religion and other pertinent issues related to development. The papers are grouped into sub-themes for ease of reference. These include Citizenship and Development, Migration and Development, Disability and Development, Pentecostal Churches and Development and Religion and Society. All in all, despite a divergence of sub-themes in volume two, all point to issues to do with the role of religion in development in Southern and Central Africa today.

Magical Interpretations, Material Realities

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134575572
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (345 download)

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Book Synopsis Magical Interpretations, Material Realities by : Henrietta L. Moore

Download or read book Magical Interpretations, Material Realities written by Henrietta L. Moore and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Magical Interpretations, Material Realities brings together many of today's best scholars of contemporary Africa. The theme of "witchcraft" has long been associated with exoticizing portraits of a "traditional" Africa, but this volume takes the question of occult as a point of entry into the moral politics of some very modern African realities.' - James Ferguson, University of California, USA 'These essays bear eloquent testimony to the ongoing presence and power of the occult imaginary, and of the intimate connection between global capitalism and local cosmology, in postcolonial Africa. A major contribution to scholarship that aims to rework the divide between modernity and tradition.' - Charles Piot, Duke University, USA This volume sets out recent thinking on witchcraft in Africa, paying particular attention to variations in meanings and practices. It examines the way different people in different contexts are making sense of what 'witchcraft' is and what it might mean. Using recent ethnographic materials from across the continent, the volume explores how witchcraft articulates with particular modern settings for example: the State in Cameroon; Pentecostalism in Malawi; the university system in Nigeria and the IMF in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. The editors provide a timely overview and reconsideration of long-standing anthropological debates about 'African witchcraft', while simultaneously raising broader concerns about the theories of the western social sciences.

Baltic Postcolonial Narratives

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Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1527519465
Total Pages : 126 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (275 download)

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Book Synopsis Baltic Postcolonial Narratives by : Almantas Samalavičius

Download or read book Baltic Postcolonial Narratives written by Almantas Samalavičius and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2023-07-07 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an in-depth discussion of how postcolonialism entered the Baltic cultural and literary domain and what difficulties it had, and often still has, to face while encountering local and international cultural and literary discourses. Initially viewed as entirely alien to the Baltic (as well as Eastern European) academic milieu, postcolonial studies have recently started to overcome previous academic prejudices and take shape in this part of the world. This study provides timely insights into Lithuanian prose writing and analyzes some of Lithuania’s best postcolonial literary texts. The author examines novels written during the last decade of the Soviet period as well as some more recent writings produced in the post-Soviet era. The book will be useful to cultural historians and literary scholars interested in the past and present of Eastern European and Baltic cultures and societies.

Transparency and Conspiracy

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Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 082238485X
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (223 download)

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Book Synopsis Transparency and Conspiracy by : Harry G. West

Download or read book Transparency and Conspiracy written by Harry G. West and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2003-04-17 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transparency has, in recent years, become a watchword for good governance. Policymakers and analysts alike evaluate political and economic institutions—courts, corporations, nation-states—according to the transparency of their operating procedures. With the dawn of the New World Order and the “mutual veil dropping” of the post–Cold War era, many have asserted that power in our contemporary world is more transparent than ever. Yet from the perspective of the relatively less privileged, the operation of power often appears opaque and unpredictable. Through vivid ethnographic analyses, Transparency and Conspiracy examines a vast range of expressions of the popular suspicion of power—including forms of shamanism, sorcery, conspiracy theory, and urban legends—illuminating them as ways of making sense of the world in the midst of tumultuous and uneven processes of modernization. In this collection leading anthropologists reveal the variations and commonalities in conspiratorial thinking or occult cosmologies around the globe—in Korea, Tanzania, Mozambique, New York City, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nigeria, and Orange County, California. The contributors chronicle how people express profound suspicions of the United Nations, the state, political parties, police, courts, international financial institutions, banks, traders and shopkeepers, media, churches, intellectuals, and the wealthy. Rather than focusing on the veracity of these convictions, Transparency and Conspiracy investigates who believes what and why. It makes a compelling argument against the dismissal of conspiracy theories and occult cosmologies as antimodern, irrational oversimplifications, showing how these beliefs render the world more complex by calling attention to its contradictions and proposing alternative ways of understanding it. Contributors. Misty Bastian, Karen McCarthy Brown, Jean Comaroff, John Comaroff, Susan Harding, Daniel Hellinger, Caroline Humphrey, Laurel Kendall, Todd Sanders, Albert Schrauwers, Kathleen Stewart, Harry G. West

COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories

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Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476643210
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

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Book Synopsis COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories by : John Bodner

Download or read book COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories written by John Bodner and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-11-09 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) spread around the world, so did theories, stories, and conspiracy beliefs about it. These theories infected communities from the halls of Congress to Facebook groups, spreading quickly in newspapers, on various social media and between friends. They spurred debate about the origins, treatment options and responses to the virus, creating distrust towards public health workers and suspicion of vaccines. This book examines the most popular Covid-19 theories, connecting current conspiracy beliefs to long-standing fears and urban legends. By examining the vehicles and mechanisms of Covid-19 conspiracy, readers can better understand how theories spread and how to respond to misinformation.

The French Army and Its African Soldiers

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Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 0803299494
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis The French Army and Its African Soldiers by : Ruth Ginio

Download or read book The French Army and Its African Soldiers written by Ruth Ginio and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As part of France's opposition to the independence of its former colonies in the years following World War II, its army remained deeply invested in preventing the decolonization of the territories comprising French West Africa (FWA). Even as late as the 1950s, the French Army clung to the hope that it was possible to retain FWA as a colony, believing that its relations with African soldiers could offer the perfect model for continued ties between France and its West African territories. In The French Army and Its African Soldiers Ruth Ginio examines the French Army's attempts to win the hearts and souls of the local population at a time of turbulence and uncertainty regarding future relations between the colonizer and colony. Through the prism of the army's relationship with its African soldiers, Ginio considers how the army's activities and political position during FWA's decolonization laid the foundation for France's continued active presence in some of these territories after independence. This project is the first thorough examination of the French Army's involvement in West Africa before independence and provides the essential historical background to understanding France's complex postcolonial military relations with its former territories in Africa.

Narrative, Identity and Ethics in Postcolonial Kenya

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350129828
Total Pages : 310 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis Narrative, Identity and Ethics in Postcolonial Kenya by : Eleanor Tiplady Higgs

Download or read book Narrative, Identity and Ethics in Postcolonial Kenya written by Eleanor Tiplady Higgs and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-06-03 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can a Christian organization with colonial roots work towards reproductive justice for Kenyan women and resist sexist interpretations of Christianity? How does a women's organization in Africa navigate controversial ethical dilemmas, while dealing with the pressures of imperialism in international development? Based on a case study of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in Kenya, this book explores the answers to these questions. It also introduces a theoretical framework drawn from postcolonial feminist critique, narrative identity theory and the work of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians: 'everyday Christian ethics'. The book evaluates the theory's implications as a cross-disciplinary theme in feminist studies of religion and theology. Eleanor Tiplady Higgs argues that Kenya YWCA's narratives of its Christian history and constitution sustain a link between its ethical perspective and its identity. The ethical insights that emerge from these practices proclaim the relevance of the value of 'fulfilled lives', as prescribed in the New Testament, for Christian women's experiences of reproductive injustice.

Ghana

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0755601572
Total Pages : 438 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (556 download)

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Book Synopsis Ghana by : Jeffrey Ahlman

Download or read book Ghana written by Jeffrey Ahlman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-10-05 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few African countries have attracted the international attention that Ghana has. In the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the then-colonial Gold Coast emerged as a key political and intellectual hub for British West Africa. Half a century later, when Ghana became the first sub-Saharan state to emerge from European colonial rule, it became a key site for a burgeoning, transnational, African anticolonial politics that drew activists, freedom fighters, and intellectuals from around the world. As the twentieth century came to a close, Ghana also became an international symbol of the putative successes of post-Cold-War African liberalization and democratization projects. Here Jeffrey Ahlman narrates this rich political history stretching from the beginnings of the very idea of the "Gold Coast" to the country's 1992 democratization, which paved the way for the Fourth Republic. At the same time, he offers a rich social history stretching that examines the sometimes overlapping, sometimes divergent nature of what it means to be Ghanaian through discussions of marriage, ethnicity, and migration; of cocoa as a cultural system; of the multiple meanings of chieftaincy; and of other contemporary markers of identity. Throughout it all, Ahlman distills decades of work by other scholars while also drawing on a wide array of archival, oral, journalistic, and governmental sources in order to provide his own fresh insights. For its clear, comprehensive coverage not only of Ghanaian history, but also of the major debates shaping nineteenth- and twentieth-century African politics and society more broadly, Ghana: A Political and Social History is a must-read for students and scholars of African Studies.

Para-States and Medical Science

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Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 082237627X
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (223 download)

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Book Synopsis Para-States and Medical Science by : Paul Wenzel Geissler

Download or read book Para-States and Medical Science written by Paul Wenzel Geissler and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Para-States and Medical Science, P. Wenzel Geissler and the contributors examine how medicine and public health in Africa have been transformed as a result of economic and political liberalization and globalization, intertwined with epidemiological and technological changes. The resulting fragmented medical science landscape is shaped and sustained by transnational flows of expertise and resources. NGOs, universities, pharmaceutical companies and other nonstate actors now play a significant role in medical research and treatment. But as the contributors to this volume argue, these groups have not supplanted the primacy of the nation-state in Africa. Although not necessarily stable or responsive, national governments remain crucial in medical care, both as employers of health care professionals and as sources of regulation, access, and – albeit sometimes counterintuitively - trust for their people. “The state” has morphed into the “para-state” — not a monolithic and predictable source of sovereignty and governance, but a shifting, and at times ephemeral, figure. Tracing the emergence of the “global health” paradigm in Africa in the treatment of HIV, malaria, and leprosy, this book challenges familiar notions of African statehood as weak or illegitimate by elaborating complex new frameworks of governmentality that can be simultaneously functioning and dysfunctional. Contributors. Uli Beisel, Didier Fassin, P. Wenzel Geissler, Rene Gerrets, Ann Kelly, Guillaume Lachenal, John Manton, Lotte Meinert, Vinh-Kim Nguyen, Branwyn Poleykett, Susan Reynolds Whyte

Living with Nkrumahism

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Publisher : Ohio University Press
ISBN 13 : 0821446150
Total Pages : 437 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (214 download)

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Book Synopsis Living with Nkrumahism by : Jeffrey S. Ahlman

Download or read book Living with Nkrumahism written by Jeffrey S. Ahlman and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-16 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1950s, Ghana, under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party, drew the world’s attention as anticolonial activists, intellectuals, and politicians looked to it as a model for Africa’s postcolonial future. Nkrumah was a visionary, a statesman, and one of the key makers of contemporary Africa. In Living with Nkrumahism, Jeffrey S. Ahlman reexamines the infrastructure that organized and consolidated Nkrumah’s philosophy into a political program. Ahlman draws on newly available source material to portray an organizational and cultural history of Nkrumahism. Taking us inside bureaucracies, offices, salary structures, and working routines, he painstakingly reconstructs the political and social milieu of the time and portrays a range of Ghanaians’ relationships to their country’s unique position in the decolonization process. Through fine attunement to the nuances of statecraft, he demonstrates how political and philosophical ideas shape lived experience. Living with Nkrumahism stands at the crossroads of the rapidly growing fields of African decolonization, postcolonial history, and Cold War studies. It provides a much-needed scholarly model through which to reflect on the changing nature of citizenship and political and social participation in Africa and the broader postcolonial world.

Corruption and the Secret of Law

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351948342
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (519 download)

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Book Synopsis Corruption and the Secret of Law by : Gerhard Anders

Download or read book Corruption and the Secret of Law written by Gerhard Anders and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-24 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents an anthropological perspective on the hidden continuities between corruption and law. The authors argue that the two opposites, corruption and law, are inextricably linked - with the possibility of the former already inscribed into the latter. Taking a critical stance towards the normative good governance agenda spearheaded by institutions such as Transparency International and the World Bank, this volume argues that by uncritically depicting corruption as an absolute evil, these anti-corruption programs disregard the close relationship that exists between corruption and state power. Addressing various aspects of a complex and ambivalent phenomenon, Corruption and the Secret of Law draws on studies from different parts of the world including Burundi, China, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico and the USA and provides a valuable resource for students, researchers and policy-makers working in this area.

Is Africa Turning Against the West?

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Author :
Publisher : Ledizioni
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 125 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (56 download)

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Book Synopsis Is Africa Turning Against the West? by : Giovanni Carbone

Download or read book Is Africa Turning Against the West? written by Giovanni Carbone and published by Ledizioni. This book was released on 2023-12-11 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past few years, the evolving global landscape has drawn increasing attention to the positioning of African countries on major international issues. Much emphasis has been placed on African voting and diplomatic stances in international fora, political rhetoric and protests, all seemingly pointing to a shift towards a more critical approach vis à vis traditional Western partners. At the same time, non-alignment, a notion that for some retained a merely historical value, has gained new impetus as a principle guiding a number of countries of the Global South, suggesting a break in the relationship with old and new partners. This report investigates the nature and reasons of the growing anti-Western sentiment in sub Saharan Africa, combining an analysis of the current international context with a look at the long term. Is the gap between Africa and the West really expanding? What are the reasons and the possible consequences? What can be done to turn criticism into a more profound, mutual understanding?

Kwame Nkrumah

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Author :
Publisher : Ohio University Press
ISBN 13 : 0821447394
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (214 download)

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Book Synopsis Kwame Nkrumah by : Jeffrey S. Ahlman

Download or read book Kwame Nkrumah written by Jeffrey S. Ahlman and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-23 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new biography of Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, one of the most influential political figures in twentieth-century African history. As the first prime minister and president of the West African state of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah helped shape the global narrative of African decolonization. After leading Ghana to independence in 1957, Nkrumah articulated a political vision that aimed to free the country and the continent—politically, socially, economically, and culturally—from the vestiges of European colonial rule, laying the groundwork for a future in which Africans had a voice as equals on the international stage. Nkrumah spent his childhood in the maturing Gold Coast colonial state. During the interwar and wartime periods he was studying in the United States. He emerged in the postwar era as one of the foremost activists behind the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress and the demand for an immediate end to colonial rule. Jeffrey Ahlman’s biography plots Nkrumah’s life across several intersecting networks: colonial, postcolonial, diasporic, national, Cold War, and pan-African. In these contexts, Ahlman portrays Nkrumah not only as an influential political leader and thinker but also as a charismatic, dynamic, and complicated individual seeking to make sense of a world in transition.

The Perils of Belonging

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Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226289664
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

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Book Synopsis The Perils of Belonging by : Peter Geschiere

Download or read book The Perils of Belonging written by Peter Geschiere and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite being told that we now live in a cosmopolitan world, more and more people have begun to assert their identities in ways that are deeply rooted in the local. These claims of autochthony—meaning “born from the soil”—seek to establish an irrefutable, primordial right to belong and are often employed in politically charged attempts to exclude outsiders. In The Perils of Belonging, Peter Geschiere traces the concept of autochthony back to the classical period and incisively explores the idea in two very different contexts: Cameroon and the Netherlands. In both countries, the momentous economic and political changes following the end of the cold war fostered anxiety over migration. For Cameroonians, the question of who belongs where rises to the fore in political struggles between different tribes, while the Dutch invoke autochthony in fierce debates over the integration of immigrants. This fascinating comparative perspective allows Geschiere to examine the emotional appeal of autochthony—as well as its dubious historical basis—and to shed light on a range of important issues, such as multiculturalism, national citizenship, and migration.

Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust

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Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022604775X
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (26 download)

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Book Synopsis Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust by : Peter Geschiere

Download or read book Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust written by Peter Geschiere and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-08-09 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Dante’s Inferno, the lowest circle of Hell is reserved for traitors, those who betrayed their closest companions. In a wide range of literatures and mythologies such intimate aggression is a source of ultimate terror, and in Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust, Peter Geschiere masterfully sketches it as a central ember at the core of human relationships, one brutally revealed in the practice of witchcraft. Examining witchcraft in its variety of forms throughout the globe, he shows how this often misunderstood practice is deeply structured by intimacy and the powers it affords. In doing so, he offers not only a comprehensive look at contemporary witchcraft but also a fresh—if troubling—new way to think about intimacy itself. Geschiere begins in the forests of southeast Cameroon with the Maka, who fear “witchcraft of the house” above all else. Drawing a variety of local conceptions of intimacy into a global arc, he tracks notions of the home and family—and witchcraft’s transgression of them—throughout Africa, Europe, Brazil, and Oceania, showing that witchcraft provides powerful ways of addressing issues that are crucial to social relationships. Indeed, by uncovering the link between intimacy and witchcraft in so many parts of the world, he paints a provocative picture of human sociality that scrutinizes some of the most prevalent views held by contemporary social science. One of the few books to situate witchcraft in a global context, Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust is at once a theoretical tour de force and an empirically rich and lucid take on a difficult-to-understand spiritual practice and the private spaces throughout the world it so greatly affects.