{"product_id":"along-an-african-border-9780812222685","title":"Along an African Border","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe divination baskets of south Central Africa are woven for a specific purpose. The baskets, known as \u003ci\u003elipele\u003c\/i\u003e, contain sixty or so small articles, from seeds, claws, and minuscule horns to wooden carvings. Each article has its own name and symbolic meaning, and collectively they are known as \u003ci\u003ejipelo\u003c\/i\u003e. For the Luvale and related peoples, the \u003ci\u003elipele\u003c\/i\u003e is more than a container of souvenirs; it is a tool, a source of crucial information from the ancestral past and advice for the future.\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eAlong an African Border\u003c\/i\u003e, anthropologist Sónia Silva examines how Angolan refugees living in Zambia use these divination baskets to cope with daily life in a new land. Silva documents the special processes involved in weaving the baskets and transforming them into oracles. She speaks with diviners who make their living interpreting \u003ci\u003elipele\u003c\/i\u003e messages and speaks also with their knowledge-seeking clients. To the Luvale, these baskets are capable of thinking, hearin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Silva's close study makes a valuable addition to the growing repertoire of ethnographic accounts of divination in Africa and the peoples who continue to invoke it as a pivotal cultural institution. . . . It is a tightly woven work that parallels the craftsmanship that Silva details in her study of divinatory baskets.\" * \u003ci\u003eHistory of Religions\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"With great originality, [Silva] accesses the life stories of these human subjects through the material objects with which they (inter-)relate. . . . Silva provides a stimulating model for any researcher hoping to partner with individuals in their efforts to confront the myriad ways they are objectified, whether by circumstances, by the state, or by scholarship.\" * \u003ci\u003eJournal of Religion in Africa\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"In addition to a useful debate between the economics and business awareness approach, or the personification of ritual, this book contains very useful and detailed descriptions of basket divination rituals and Angolan basket weaving techniques that will be useful to the general reader and students of African studies.\" * \u003ci\u003eJournal of American Academy of Religion\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\"A thought-provoking study of the dynamics of divination in a refugee population seeking stability in a disrupted world through an ancient and effective 'way of knowing.' Using the frame of a divination basket's life history from birth to adulthood, Silva provides a rich contextual study of the various paths to understanding presented by the core cultural institution of divination: material culture and art, economic theory, gender relations, the nature of knowledge, ethnography, jurisprudence, and personhood.\" * Philip M. Peek, Drew University *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Birth\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Initiation\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Adulthood\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion: A Way of Living\u003cbr\u003e Glossary\u003cbr\u003e Works Cited\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405701226839,"sku":"9780812222685","price":21.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780812222685.jpg?v=1730493328","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/along-an-african-border-9780812222685","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}