Modernity and its malcontents: ritual and power in postcolonial Africa

Description

What role does ritual play in the everyday lives of modern Africans? How are so-called "traditional" cultural forms deployed by people seeking empowerment in a world where "modernity" has failed to deliver on its promises? Some of the essays in Modernity and Its Malcontents address familiar anthropological issues—like witchcraft, myth, and the politics of reproduction—but treat them in fresh ways, situating them amidst the polyphonies of contemporary Africa. Others explore distinctly nontraditional subjects—among them the Nigerian popular press and soul-eating in Niger—in such a way as to confront the conceptual limits of Western social science. Together they demonstrate how ritual may be powerfuly mobilized in the making of history, present, and future. Addressing challenges posed by contemporary African realities, the authors subject such concepts as modernity, ritual, power, and history to renewed critical scrutiny. Writing about a variety of phenomena, they are united by a wish to preserve the diversity and historical specificity of local signs and practices, voices and perspectives. Their work makes a substantial and original contribution toward the historical anthropology of Africa. The contributors, all from the Africanist circle at the University of Chicago, are Adeline Masquelier, Deborah Kaspin, J. Lorand Matory, Ralph A. Austen, Andrew Apter, Misty L. Bastian, Mark Auslander, and Pamela G. Schmoll. Chapter 1: Introduction Jean and John Comaroff Part I: (Re)visions of Power, Ritual (Trans)formations Chapter 2: Narratives of Power, Images of Wealth: The Ritual Economy of Bori in the Market Adeline Masquelier Chapter 3: Chewa Visions and Revisions of Power: Transformations of the Nyau Dance in Central Malawi Deborah Kaspin Chapter 4: Government by Seduction: History and the Tropes of "Mounting" in Oyo-Yoruba Religion J. Lorand Matory Part II: Moral Economics, Modern Politics, Mystical Struggles Chapter 5: The Moral Economy of Witchcraft: An Essay in Comparative History Ralph A. Austen Chapter 6: Attinga Revisited: Yoruba Witchcraft and the Cocoa Economy, 1950-1951 Andrew Apter Chapter 7: Bloodhounds Who Have No Friends: Witchcraft and Locality in the Nigerian Popular Press Misty L. Bastian Chapter 8: "Open the Wombs!": The Symbolic Politics of Modern Ngoni Witchfinding Mark Auslander Chapter 9: Black Stomachs, Beautiful Stones: Soul-eating among Hausa in Niger Pamela G. Schmoll