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Neighbors, Strangers, Witches, and Culture-Heroes Ritual Powers of Smith/Artisans in Tuareg Society and Beyond Susan Rasmussen

Catalog Data

Author:
Rasmussen, Susan J. 1949-  Search this
Physical description:
xxiv, 138 pages 24 cm
Type:
Books
Place:
Africa, West
Afrique occidentale
West Africa
Date:
2013
Notes:
Purchased from the Warren M. Robbins Library Endowment
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 Tezma Power and Tuareg Inaden Smith/Artisans -- ch. 2 Inaden Origins, Histories, and Professional Practices -- ch. 3 Powers, Tensions, and Mediations -- ch. 4 Q'alb Power and Amhara Buda/Tayb Smith/Artisans -- ch. 5 Echar Power and Bidan M'Allemin Smith/Artisans -- ch. 6 Beshengu Power and Kapsiki Rerhe Smith/Artisans -- ch. 7 Nyama Power and Mande Nyamakala Smith/Artisans
Summary:
"This book examines alleged "superhuman" powers predominantly associated with smith/artisans in five African societies. It discusses their ritual and social roles, mythico-histories, symbols surrounding their art, and changing relationships between these specialists and their patrons. Needed but also feared, these smith/artisans work in traditionally hereditary occupations and in stratified but negotiable relationships with their rural patron families. Many of them now also work for new customers in an expanding market economy, which is still characterized by personal, face-to-face interactions. Rasmussen maintains that a framework integrating anthropological theories of witchcraft, alterity, symbolism, and power is fundamental to understanding local accusations and tensions in these relationships. She also argues that it is critical to deconstruct and disentangle guilt, blame, and envy—concepts that are often conflated in anthropology at the expense of falsely accused "witch" figures. The first portion of this book is an ethnographic analysis of smith/artisans in Tuareg society, and draws on primary source data from this author’s long-term social/cultural anthropological field research in Tuareg (Kel Tamajaq) communities of northern Niger and Mali. The latter portion of the book is a cross-cultural comparison, and it re-analyzes the Tuareg case, drawing on secondary data on ritual powers and smith/artisans in four other African societies: the Amhara of Ethiopia, the Bidan (Moors) of Mauritania, the Kapsiki of Cameroon, and the Mande of southern Mali. In the concluding analysis, there is discussion of similarities and differences between these cases, the social consequences of ritual knowledge and power in each community, and their wider implications for anthropology of religion, human rights, and African studies." --From publisher's description
Topic:
Tuaregs  Search this
Ethnology  Search this
Blacksmiths  Search this
Witchcraft  Search this
Touaregs  Search this
Amhara (Peuple d'Afrique)  Search this
Maures (Peuple d'Afrique)  Search this
Mandingue (Peuple d'Afrique)  Search this
Kapsiki (Peuple d'Afrique)  Search this
Ethnologie  Search this
Sorcellerie  Search this
Amhara (African people)  Search this
Kamwe (African people)  Search this
Mandingo (African people)  Search this
Maure (African people)  Search this
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_1155616