| Description |
xii, 311 pages : 1 map ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Preface to the English Language Edition / Wyatt MacGaffey -- 1. Introduction: Witchcraft as Political Discourse -- 2. A Full Belly: The Maka and the Djambe -- Comparative Interstice 1: The Variable Faces of Sorcery and Witchcraft -- 3. Witchcraft and Local Politics: The Dialectics of Equality and Ambition -- 4. Witchcraft and National Politics: The Paradoxes of the New Elite -- Comparative Interstice 2: The Temptations of Power -- 5. Witchcraft and the Art of Getting Rich: Regional Variations -- 6. The State Attacks: A Judiciary Offensive against Witches -- 7. Balance -- Afterword:The Meanderings of Anthropological Discourse on Witchcraft |
| Summary |
In the Modernity of Witchcraft, Peter Geschiere uses his own experiences among the Maka and in other parts of eastern and southern Cameroon, as well as other anthropological research, to argue that contemporary ideas and practices of witchcraft are more a response to modern exigencies than a lingering cultural custom. The prevalence of witchcraft, especially in African politics and entrepreneurship, demonstrates the unlikely balance it has achieved with the forces of modernity. Geschiere explores why modern techniques and commodities, usually of Western provenance, have become central in rumors of the occult |
| Notes |
Includes index |
|
Translated from the French |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-299) and index |
| Subject |
Maka (African people) -- Politics and government.
|
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Maka (African people) -- Religion.
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Maka (African people) -- Social conditions.
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Witchcraft -- Cameroon.
|
| SUBJECT |
Cameroon -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85019144
|
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Cameroon -- Social conditions. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85019146
|
| LC no. |
96046199 |
| ISBN |
0813917026 (cloth : alk. paper) |
|
0813917034 (paperback: alk. paper) |
|
