Spirits in Politics: Uncertainties of Power and Healing in African Societies
- ISBN-10
- 3593421011
- ISBN-13
- 9783593421018
- Category
- Power (Social sciences)
- Pages
- 265
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2013
- Authors
- Arne S. Steinforth, Todd Sanders, Stephen Ellis
Description
Geister, Hexen und andere bernatrliche Akteure spielen in vielen afrikanischen Gesellschaften eine wichtige Rolle bei politischen Prozessen, bei der Aushandlung von Machtstrukturen und bei der Beilegung von Kriegen und Konflikten. Die Autoren analysieren dieses Spannungsfeld zwischen Religion und Politik aus dem Blickwinkel unterschiedlicher wissenschaftlicher Disziplinen. In Fallstudien und in vergleichender Perspektive geraten die afrikanische Lebenswelt und ihr Verstnndnis von Moderne in den Blick, ohne dass sie durch eurozentrische Paradigmen verfremdet werden.aInhaltsverzeichnisContents Acknowledgements7 Preface Todd Sanders9 Part I: Assessing Uncertainties of Power and Healing Power and Healing in African Politics: An Introduction Barbara Meier, Victor Igreja & Arne S. Steinforth15 Spirits in Politics: Some Theoretical Reflections Stephen Ellis & Gerrie ter Haar37 Witchcraft and the Colonial Life of the Fetish Florence Bernault49 Part II: Curing Personal Misfortune Remedies of Restoration: Evocation of Potency in Zanzibari Everyday Life Politics Kjersti Larsen73 Spirit Idioms and the Politics of Context Thomas G. Kirsch91 Witchcraft as Subtext: Deep Knowledge and the South African Public Sphere Isak Niehaus115 Part III: Mending Uncertainties of Power The Spirit in the Voting Booth: Democracy and Cosmology in Malawi Arne S. Steinforth135 Spiritual Modernization: Fighting 'Paganism' in Igboland Johannes Harnischfeger157 Part IV: Reconciling Post-Conflict Societies The Politics of Spirits, Justice, and Social Transformation in Mozambique Victor Igreja & Limore Racin181 Poro Spirits and Political Transformation among the K -M?nde of Sierra Leone John M. Combey205 Powerful Spirits and Weak Rulers: Prophets' Authority in Acholi Conflict Barbara Meier223 Appendices Contributors249 Index253 aAuszug aus dem TextFor the African intellectual, of course, the problem is whether-and, if so, how-our cultures are to become modern. What is for the West a fait accompli-indeed, we might define modernity as the characteristic intellectual and social formation of the industrialized world-offers most Africans at best vistas of hope, at worst prospects to fear. But, plainly, the question what it is to be modern is one the Africans and Westerners may ask together. And OC ] neither of us will understand what modernity is until we understand each other (Appiah 1992, 107). Researchers committed to the understanding of current social processes in African societies have ascertained that spirits feature persistently in political, economic and social action-either as subtle subtext or in decidedly apparent ways. Spirits' involvement is evident in divination ceremonies in grassroots environments but also noted to determine interactions at various societal levels including government politics, warfare and peace-making, sports and the media as well as international economic transactions. In response to this observation, this anthology addresses persisting questions social anthropologists, historians, and political scientists working in African societies have been confronted with: Do spirits enter the scene after politics have failed as a relapse into an allegedly non-modern condition-as the concept of the 'failed state' suggests? Or do they precede colonial processes of political transformation, as classic theories of modernization try to establish, thus relegating African societies to a 'pre-modern' stage within this essentially evolutionistic 'Heart of Darkness paradigm'? This book seeks to extend the theoretical reflections on the relationship of religious phenomena in the socio-political sphere in African societies. It does so through case studies from Gabon and the Congo (Bernault), Sierra Leone (Combey), Nigeria (Harnischfeger), Mozambique (Igreja & Racine), Zambia (Kirsch), Zanzibar (Larsen), Uganda (Meier), South Africa (Niehaus), and Malawi (Steinforth) a
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- 2013-09
- 269 pages
- Paperback
- Campus Verlag
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