Description

Book Synopsis
The second edition of Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation is both an introduction to the cultures of Africa and a history of the interpretations of those cultures. Key essays explore the major issues and debates through a combination of classic articles and the newest research in the field.
  • Explores the dynamic processes by and through which scholars have described and understood African history and culture
  • Includes selections from anthropologists, historians, philosophers, and critics who collectively reveal the interpenetration of ideas and concepts within and across disciplines, regions, and historical periods
  • Offers a combined focus on ethnography and theory, giving students the means to link theory with data and perspective with practice
  • Newly revised and updated edition of this popular text with 14 brand new chapters and two new sections: Conflict and Violent Transformations; and Development, Governa

    Table of Contents

    Acknowledgments x

    List of Maps xiv

    List of Figures xv

    List of Plates xvii

    List of Tables xviii

    Introduction: Africa in Perspective 1

    Part I: Representation and Discourse 19

    Introduction 21

    1 Africa Observed: Discourses of the Imperial Imagination 31

    Jean and John Comaroff

    2 The Meaning of Our Work 44

    Cheikh Anta Diop

    3 Europe Upside Down: Fallacies of the New Afrocentrism 48

    Kwame Anthony Appiah

    4 Discourse of Power and Knowledge of Otherness 55

    V. Y. Mudimbe

    Part II: From Tribe to Ethnicity: Kinship and Social Organization 61

    Introduction 63

    5 The Nuer: Time and Space 71

    E. E. Evans-Pritchard

    6 The Illusion of Tribe 83

    Aidan W. Southall

    7 Ethnicity in Southern African History 95

    Leroy Vail

    Part III: Economics as a Cultural System 109

    Introduction 111

    8 Lele Economy Compared with the Bushong 123

    Mary Douglas

    9 Research on an African Mode of Production 139

    Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch

    10 The Cattle of Money and the Cattle of Girls among the Nuer, 1930–83 151

    Sharon Hutchinson

    Part IV: Hunter-Gatherers in Africa 167

    Introduction 169

    11 The Lesson of the Pygmies 175

    Colin M. Turnbull

    12 Houses in the Rainforest: Gender and Ethnicity among the Lese and Efe in Zaire 184

    Roy Richard Grinker

    13 Land Filled with Flies: The Evolution of Illusion 200

    Edwin N. Wilmsen

    14 Foragers, Genuine or Spurious? Situating the Kalahari San in History 219

    Jacqueline S. Solway and Richard B. Lee

    Part V: Witchcraft, Science, and Rationality: The Translation of Culture 237

    Introduction 239

    15 Conversations on Rain-making 245

    David Livingstone

    16 The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events 249

    E. E. Evans-Pritchard

    17 Understanding a Primitive Society 257

    Peter Winch

    18 The Moral Economy of Witchcraft: An Essay in Comparative History 270

    Ralph A. Austen

    Part VI: Ancestors, Gods, and the Philosophy of Religion 283

    Introduction 285

    19 Conversations with Ogotemmêli 291

    Marcel Griaule

    20 African Philosophy, Myth and Reality 302

    Paulin J. Hountondji

    21 Ancestors as Elders in Africa 314

    Igor Kopytoff

    Part VII: Arts, Aesthetics, and Heritage 323

    Introduction 325

    22 Humorous Masks and Serious Politics among the Afi kpo Igbo 335

    Simon Ottenberg

    23 Art, Identity, Boundaries: Postmodernism and Contemporary African Art 348

    Olu Oguibe

    24 As Plato Duly Warned: Music, Politics, and Social Change in Coastal East Africa 354

    Kelly M. Askew

    25 In Place of Slavery: Fashioning Coastal Identity 372

    Bayo Holsey

    Part VIII: Sex and Gender Studies in Africa: Economy and Society 379

    Introduction 381

    26 The Economics of Polygamy 389

    Ester Boserup

    27 “Sitting on a Man”: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women 399

    Judith Van Allen

    28 Virginity Testing: Managing Sexuality in a Maturing HIV/AIDS Epidemic 411

    Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala

    Part IX: Europe in Africa: Colonization 423

    Introduction 425

    29 The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa: Methods of Ruling Native Races 431

    Frederick D. Lugard

    30 How Europe Underdeveloped Africa 439

    Walter Rodney

    31 The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa 450

    Terence Ranger

    32 Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary 462

    Ngugi wa Thiong’o

    Part X: Nations and Nationalism 471

    Introduction 473

    33 Negritude: A Humanism of the Twentieth Century 477

    Léopold Sédar Senghor

    34 On National Culture 484

    Frantz Fanon

    35 Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Modernity: The Paradox of Mau Mau 498

    Bruce J. Berman

    36 The Invisible Face: Masks, Ethnicity, and the State in Côte d’Ivoire 514

    Christopher B. Steiner

    Part XI: Violent Transformations: Conflict and Displacement 521

    Introduction 523

    37 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 531

    Max Gluckman

    38 Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth and Resources in Sierra Leone 543

    Paul Richards

    39 Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 555

    Christopher C. Taylor

    40 Where to Be an Ancestor? Reconstituting Socio-spiritual Worlds among Displaced Mozambicans 569

    Stephen Lubkemann

    Part XII: Development, Governance, and Globalization 583

    Introduction 585

    41 Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt 595

    James Ferguson

    42 Development Aid and Structural Violence: The Case of Rwanda 609

    Peter Uvin

    43 Nigerian Scams as Political Critique: Globalization, Inequality and 419 616

    Daniel Jordan Smith

    44 The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly 629

    Jean-François Bayart

    45 “Govern Yourselves!” Democracy and Carnage in Northern Mozambique 644

    Harry G. West

    46 Nuer-American Passages 660

    Dianna Shandy

    Index 671

Perspectives on Africa

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    A Hardback by Roy Richard Grinker, Stephen C. Lubkemann, Christopher B. Steiner

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      Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
      Publication Date: 23/04/2010
      ISBN13: 9781444335224, 978-1444335224
      ISBN10: 1444335227
      Also in:
      African history Anthropology

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      The second edition of Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation is both an introduction to the cultures of Africa and a history of the interpretations of those cultures. Key essays explore the major issues and debates through a combination of classic articles and the newest research in the field.
      • Explores the dynamic processes by and through which scholars have described and understood African history and culture
      • Includes selections from anthropologists, historians, philosophers, and critics who collectively reveal the interpenetration of ideas and concepts within and across disciplines, regions, and historical periods
      • Offers a combined focus on ethnography and theory, giving students the means to link theory with data and perspective with practice
      • Newly revised and updated edition of this popular text with 14 brand new chapters and two new sections: Conflict and Violent Transformations; and Development, Governa

        Table of Contents

        Acknowledgments x

        List of Maps xiv

        List of Figures xv

        List of Plates xvii

        List of Tables xviii

        Introduction: Africa in Perspective 1

        Part I: Representation and Discourse 19

        Introduction 21

        1 Africa Observed: Discourses of the Imperial Imagination 31

        Jean and John Comaroff

        2 The Meaning of Our Work 44

        Cheikh Anta Diop

        3 Europe Upside Down: Fallacies of the New Afrocentrism 48

        Kwame Anthony Appiah

        4 Discourse of Power and Knowledge of Otherness 55

        V. Y. Mudimbe

        Part II: From Tribe to Ethnicity: Kinship and Social Organization 61

        Introduction 63

        5 The Nuer: Time and Space 71

        E. E. Evans-Pritchard

        6 The Illusion of Tribe 83

        Aidan W. Southall

        7 Ethnicity in Southern African History 95

        Leroy Vail

        Part III: Economics as a Cultural System 109

        Introduction 111

        8 Lele Economy Compared with the Bushong 123

        Mary Douglas

        9 Research on an African Mode of Production 139

        Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch

        10 The Cattle of Money and the Cattle of Girls among the Nuer, 1930–83 151

        Sharon Hutchinson

        Part IV: Hunter-Gatherers in Africa 167

        Introduction 169

        11 The Lesson of the Pygmies 175

        Colin M. Turnbull

        12 Houses in the Rainforest: Gender and Ethnicity among the Lese and Efe in Zaire 184

        Roy Richard Grinker

        13 Land Filled with Flies: The Evolution of Illusion 200

        Edwin N. Wilmsen

        14 Foragers, Genuine or Spurious? Situating the Kalahari San in History 219

        Jacqueline S. Solway and Richard B. Lee

        Part V: Witchcraft, Science, and Rationality: The Translation of Culture 237

        Introduction 239

        15 Conversations on Rain-making 245

        David Livingstone

        16 The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events 249

        E. E. Evans-Pritchard

        17 Understanding a Primitive Society 257

        Peter Winch

        18 The Moral Economy of Witchcraft: An Essay in Comparative History 270

        Ralph A. Austen

        Part VI: Ancestors, Gods, and the Philosophy of Religion 283

        Introduction 285

        19 Conversations with Ogotemmêli 291

        Marcel Griaule

        20 African Philosophy, Myth and Reality 302

        Paulin J. Hountondji

        21 Ancestors as Elders in Africa 314

        Igor Kopytoff

        Part VII: Arts, Aesthetics, and Heritage 323

        Introduction 325

        22 Humorous Masks and Serious Politics among the Afi kpo Igbo 335

        Simon Ottenberg

        23 Art, Identity, Boundaries: Postmodernism and Contemporary African Art 348

        Olu Oguibe

        24 As Plato Duly Warned: Music, Politics, and Social Change in Coastal East Africa 354

        Kelly M. Askew

        25 In Place of Slavery: Fashioning Coastal Identity 372

        Bayo Holsey

        Part VIII: Sex and Gender Studies in Africa: Economy and Society 379

        Introduction 381

        26 The Economics of Polygamy 389

        Ester Boserup

        27 “Sitting on a Man”: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women 399

        Judith Van Allen

        28 Virginity Testing: Managing Sexuality in a Maturing HIV/AIDS Epidemic 411

        Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala

        Part IX: Europe in Africa: Colonization 423

        Introduction 425

        29 The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa: Methods of Ruling Native Races 431

        Frederick D. Lugard

        30 How Europe Underdeveloped Africa 439

        Walter Rodney

        31 The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa 450

        Terence Ranger

        32 Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary 462

        Ngugi wa Thiong’o

        Part X: Nations and Nationalism 471

        Introduction 473

        33 Negritude: A Humanism of the Twentieth Century 477

        Léopold Sédar Senghor

        34 On National Culture 484

        Frantz Fanon

        35 Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Modernity: The Paradox of Mau Mau 498

        Bruce J. Berman

        36 The Invisible Face: Masks, Ethnicity, and the State in Côte d’Ivoire 514

        Christopher B. Steiner

        Part XI: Violent Transformations: Conflict and Displacement 521

        Introduction 523

        37 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 531

        Max Gluckman

        38 Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth and Resources in Sierra Leone 543

        Paul Richards

        39 Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 555

        Christopher C. Taylor

        40 Where to Be an Ancestor? Reconstituting Socio-spiritual Worlds among Displaced Mozambicans 569

        Stephen Lubkemann

        Part XII: Development, Governance, and Globalization 583

        Introduction 585

        41 Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt 595

        James Ferguson

        42 Development Aid and Structural Violence: The Case of Rwanda 609

        Peter Uvin

        43 Nigerian Scams as Political Critique: Globalization, Inequality and 419 616

        Daniel Jordan Smith

        44 The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly 629

        Jean-François Bayart

        45 “Govern Yourselves!” Democracy and Carnage in Northern Mozambique 644

        Harry G. West

        46 Nuer-American Passages 660

        Dianna Shandy

        Index 671

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