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Product Identifiers

PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press

ISBN-10022604761X

ISBN-139780226047614

eBay Product ID (ePID)6038277513

Product Key Features

Number of Pages328 Pages

Publication NameWitchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust : Africa in Comparison

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2013

SubjectWitchcraft (See Also Religion / Wicca), General, Ethnic & Tribal, Anthropology / Cultural & Social

TypeTextbook

AuthorPeter Geschiere

Subject AreaFamily & Relationships, Body, Mind & Spirit, Religion, Social Science, Psychology

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.1 in

Item Weight19.3 Oz

Item Length0.9 in

Item Width0.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2013-007997

Dewey Edition23

ReviewsPeter Geschiere presents a sensitive interpretation of witchcraft as both a discourse and a lived reality, zooming into his fine-grained fieldwork material and then zooming back out to give historical, sociological, and political-economic context. As in The Perils of Belonging , he takes what might seem to be exceptional African circumstances and puts them in conversation with comparable cases from other parts of the world, allowing him to clarify what is really at stake-not only in Africa, but all over the globe., Peter Geschiere presents a sensitive interpretation of witchcraft as both a discourse and a lived reality, zooming into his fine-grained fieldwork material and then zooming back out to give historical, sociological, and political-economic context. As in The Perils of Belonging , he takes what might seem to be exceptional African circumstances and puts them in conversation with comparable cases from other parts of the world, allowing him to clarify what is really at stake--not only in Africa, but all over the globe., Peter Geschiere presents a sensitive interpretation of witchcraft as both a discourse and a lived reality, zooming into his fine-grained fieldwork material and then zooming back out to give historical, sociological, and political-economic context. As in Perils of Belonging , he takes what might seem to be exceptional African circumstances and puts them in conversation with comparable cases from other parts of the world, allowing him to clarify what is really at stake-not only in Africa, but all over the globe., Just when we thought there was little more anthropologists had to say about witchcraft and sorcery, Peter Geschiere has uncannily done it again. Working with a large canvas, moving across space and time, drawing not only on his long experience in Cameroon but also on the work of others in Europe, Brazil, Melanesia, and beyond, as well as on unexpected sources-Freud, Simmel, Lauren Berlant-Geschiere paints a brilliant and unsettling portrait of the perils of intimacy at the heart of witchcraft imaginaries. A work that will change the field once more., "This thoughtful work reminds readers of the complexity of the subject. It is a refreshing addition to the study of witchcraft in anthropology, and one that will move forward the debate and understanding in the field far beyond Africa." , Witchcraft--as a theme--always risks carrying a sort of pejorative or even racist undercurrent of meaning: it cannot help but evoke the backward, the irrational, the pre-political. This began to change in the 1990s, owing in large part to the work of Peter Geschiere, whose book The Modernity of Witchcraft showed that concepts of the occult are dynamic and changing instead of static and timeless, and that they bear directly on people's experiences of capitalism, politics, and the state. In his newest book Geschiere takes this project a step further, setting out to show that the anxieties that many Africans express through the idiom of witchcraft are not at all unique or 'other.' Once we strip away the trope it becomes clear that witchcraft hinges on a rather general human experience: the disturbing realisation that intimacy is always intrinsically dangerous--that the most threatening aggression comes from within families and among neighbours., This thoughtful work reminds readers of the complexity of the subject. It is a refreshing addition to the study of witchcraft in anthropology, and one that will move forward the debate and understanding in the field far beyond Africa., Just when we thought there was little more anthropologists had to say about witchcraft and sorcery, Peter Geschiere has uncannily done it again. Working with a large canvas, moving across space and time, drawing not only on his long experience in Cameroon but also on the work of others in Europe, Brazil, Melanesia, and beyond, as well as on unexpected sources--Freud, Simmel, Lauren Berlant--Geschiere paints a brilliant and unsettling portrait of the perils of intimacy at the heart of witchcraft imaginaries. A work that will change the field once more., Peter Geschiere presents a sensitive interpretation of witchcraft as both a discourse and a lived reality, zooming into his fine-grained fieldwork material and then zooming back out to give historical, sociological, and political-economic context. As in The Perils of Belonging , he takes what might seem to be exceptional African circumstances and puts them in conversation with comparable cases from other parts of the world, allowing him to clarify what is really at stake--not only in Africa, but all over the globe., Witchcraft, Intimacy and Trust: Africa in Comparison is a great read in which Geschiere manages to de-exoticise the notion of witchcraft and show its universal dimension. In his search for answers, he poses many fascinating questions that open up new areas for research on the topic., Situating witchcraft anxieties within a fundamental human experience of intimacy as ambiguous, this lucidly written, engaging book breaks new, exciting ground for the study of witchcraft in Africa and beyond. Peter Geschiere not only powerfully rejects exoticizing readings of African concerns with the occult, he convincingly pleads that we redirect our anthropological inquiries toward core human concerns, such as the genesis of trust., Geschiere provides a new understanding of witchcraft and valuable keys that help to explain the persistence of the occult in contemporary Africa and elsewhere. . . . Representing a huge step for the anthropology of witchcraft, this study offers new analytical and methodological tools. It emphasizes the need for comparative and historical approaches that are fundamental not only for studies of the occult elsewhere, but also for anthropology at large., Witchcraft-as a theme-always risks carrying a sort of pejorative or even racist undercurrent of meaning: it cannot help but evoke the backward, the irrational, the pre-political. This began to change in the 1990s, owing in large part to the work of Peter Geschiere, whose book The Modernity of Witchcraft showed that concepts of the occult are dynamic and changing instead of static and timeless, and that they bear directly on people's experiences of capitalism, politics, and the state. In his newest book Geschiere takes this project a step further, setting out to show that the anxieties that many Africans express through the idiom of witchcraft are not at all unique or 'other.' Once we strip away the trope it becomes clear that witchcraft hinges on a rather general human experience: the disturbing realisation that intimacy is always intrinsically dangerous-that the most threatening aggression comes from within families and among neighbours.

Dewey Decimal133.4309

Table Of ContentPrologue Issues Chapters Chapter 1 Introduction: The Dangers of Home--Ethnographical and Conceptual Explorations Witchcraft: The pitfalls of a notion Academic discourse and the dangers of a panacea notion Witchcraft and the dangers within Continuity and new beginnings Intimacy and the uncanny The struggle over trust Chapter 2 Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Changing Perceptions of Distance: African Examples Changing parameters of intimacy and distance An urban elite attacked by witchcraft Urban witchcraft attacks the village Witchcraft brings the village to the city Witchcraft, distance, and the post-cold war crisis Feymen and their magic money: Beyond kinship? "Bushfallers," transcontinental migration, and the stretching of kinship/witchcraft Intimacy and new distances Chapter 3 To Trust a Witch Trust: Rational, ontological, or historical? Trust and doubt: The recourse to the nganga (healer) Ambiguities of the nganga Modern nganga and the fear of charlatans A new solution: God's work as the basis for ultimate trust Everyday ways of coping Chapter 4 Comparative Perspectives I: Witches, Neighbors, and the Closure of "the House" in Europe Historians and anthropologists on witchcraft: Rapprochements and distancing Witchcraft and state formation: Europe and Africa Witchcraft, proximity, and kinship in early modern Europe An African reading The dangers of intimacy: Neighbors or family? Favret-Saada on the Bocage: Désorceleurs denouncing neighbors Closing or stretching "the house" Chapter 5 Comparative Perspectives II: Candomblé de Bahia--Between Witchcraft and Religion Candomblé: Commonalities with and Differences from Africa History: From witchcraft to religion--The struggle for purity National identity and regional politics Feiticaria versus purity Candomblé on the frontier: Everyday struggles against evil Candomblé: The occult as a basis for trust? Interlude Further Comparisons: Melanesia and Java--Ontological Differences or Aphasia before "the Uncanny"? Africa and Melanesia: Different Ontologies? Java: "Post-Suharto Witches" and the Uncanny Chapter 6 Back to Trust: New Distances, New Challenges Witchcraft on screen: Changing parameters of intimacy and trust Pentecostalism, the devil, and the scaling up of witchcraft Child witches in Kinshasa: Transformations of witchcraft and kinship Satan and the spirits in Islamic Africa Mediation, increase of scale, and trust: African specificities Une didactique contre la sorcellerie? Notes References Index

SynopsisIn Dante's Inferno , the lowest circle of Hell is reserved for traitors, those who betrayed their closest companions. In a wide range of literatures and mythologies such intimate aggression is a source of ultimate terror, and in Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust , Peter Geschiere masterfully sketches it as a central ember at the core of human relationships, one brutally revealed in the practice of witchcraft. Examining witchcraft in its variety of forms throughout the globe, he shows how this often misunderstood practice is deeply structured by intimacy and the powers it affords. In doing so, he offers not only a comprehensive look at contemporary witchcraft but also a fresh--if troubling--new way to think about intimacy itself. Geschiere begins in the forests of southeast Cameroon with the Maka, who fear "witchcraft of the house" above all else. Drawing a variety of local conceptions of intimacy into a global arc, he tracks notions of the home and family--and witchcraft's transgression of them--throughout Africa, Europe, Brazil, and Oceania, showing that witchcraft provides powerful ways of addressing issues that are crucial to social relationships. Indeed, by uncovering the link between intimacy and witchcraft in so many parts of the world, he paints a provocative picture of human sociality that scrutinizes some of the most prevalent views held by contemporary social science. One of the few books to situate witchcraft in a global context, Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust is at once a theoretical tour de force and an empirically rich and lucid take on a difficult-to-understand spiritual practice and the private spaces throughout the world it so greatly affects., In Dante s Inferno , the lowest circle of Hell is reserved for traitors, those who betrayed their closest companions. In a wide range of literatures and mythologies such intimate aggression is a source of ultimate terror, and in Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust , Peter Geschiere masterfully sketches it as a central ember at the core of human relationships, one brutally revealed in the practice of witchcraft. Examining witchcraft in its variety of forms throughout the globe, he shows how this often misunderstood practice is deeply structured by intimacy and the powers it affords. In doing so, he offers not only a comprehensive look at contemporary witchcraft but also a fresh if troubling new way to think about intimacy itself. Geschiere begins in the forests of southeast Cameroon with the Maka, who fear witchcraft of the house above all else. Drawing a variety of local conceptions of intimacy into a global arc, he tracks notions of the home and family and witchcraft s transgression of them throughout Africa, Europe, Brazil, and Oceania, showing that witchcraft provides powerful ways of addressing issues that are crucial to social relationships. Indeed, by uncovering the link between intimacy and witchcraft in so many parts of the world, he paints a provocative picture of human sociality that scrutinizes some of the most prevalent views held by contemporary social science. One of the few books to situate witchcraft in a global context, Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust is at once a theoretical tour de force and an empirically rich and lucid take on a difficult-to-understand spiritual practice and the private spaces throughout the world it so greatly affects. "

LC Classification NumberBF1584.A35G47 2013