Description
Book SynopsisWhat role does ritual play in the lives of modern Africans? How are traditional cultural forms deployed by people seeking empowerment in a world where modernity has failed to deliver. In this collection of essays, the authors address such concepts as modernity, ritual, power and history.
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction Jean and John Comaroff Part I: (Re)visions of Power, Ritual (Trans)formations Chapter 2: Narratives of Power, Images of Wealth: The Ritual Economy of Bori in the Market Adeline Masquelier Chapter 3: Chewa Visions and Revisions of Power: Transformations of the Nyau Dance in Central Malawi Deborah Kaspin Chapter 4: Government by Seduction: History and the Tropes of "Mounting" in Oyo-Yoruba Religion J. Lorand Matory Part II: Moral Economics, Modern Politics, Mystical Struggles Chapter 5: The Moral Economy of Witchcraft: An Essay in Comparative History Ralph A. Austen Chapter 6: Attinga Revisited: Yoruba Witchcraft and the Cocoa Economy, 1950-1951 Andrew Apter Chapter 7: Bloodhounds Who Have No Friends: Witchcraft and Locality in the Nigerian Popular Press Misty L. Bastian Chapter 8: "Open the Wombs!": The Symbolic Politics of Modern Ngoni Witchfinding Mark Auslander Chapter 9: Black Stomachs, Beautiful Stones: Soul-eating among Hausa in Niger Pamela G. Schmoll
