pt. 1. Technological style and the making of culture -- Magical iron technology in the Cameroon Grassfields -- When nomads settle -- Ceramics from the Upemba Depression -- Objects and people -- pt. 2. Sticks, self, and society in Booran Oromo -- Material narratives and the negotiation of identities through objects in Malian theatre -- The consumption of an African modernity -- Household objects and the philosophy of Igbo social space -- Hoes and clothes in a Luo household -- pt. 3. The passive object and the tribal paradigm -- Art, politics and the transformation of meaning -- Mami Wata shrines -- Zaïrian popular painting as commodity and as communication
