Description
Book SynopsisBori are mischievous and invisible beings that populate the bush. Bori is also the practice of taming these forces in the context of possession ceremonies. This book offers an account of how this phenomenon intervenes in human lives, providing meaning for Mawri peasants confronted with cultural contradictions and socio-economic marginalisation.
Trade Review“Masquelier locates cultural production at precise moments of colonial and postcolonial relations. The result is both an intimate, densely textured portrait of bori spirits and an exciting demonstration of how people attempt to formulate and appropriate the forces that have undermined their community.”—
Michael Lambek, author of
Knowledge and Practice in Mayotte: Local Discourses of Islam, Sorcery, and Spirit Possession“With its rich primary data about bori, its creativity and freshness,
Prayer Has Spoiled Everything will be of enormous interest to Africanists and to religion scholars of many types.”—Karen McCarthy Brown, author of
Mama Lola: A Voodou Priestess in BrooklynTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Terms
Introduction
1. Bori, Power, and Identity in Dogondoutchi
2. Lost Rituals: Changing Topographies of Spirit/Human Interactions
3. Socializing the Spirit
4. The Everyday Life of Bori: Knowledge, Embodiment, and Quotidian Practice
5. Kinesthetic Appropriation and Embodied Knowledge: Babou Spirits and the Making of Value
6. Taking Hold of the
Kasuwa; The Ritual Economy of Bori in the Market
7. The Mirrors of Maria: Sweetness, Sexuality, and Dangerous Consumption
8. Lightning, Death, and the Politics of Truth: The Spirits of Rain
Conclusion: Continuities and Discontinuities in Bori
Notes
Bibliography
Index
