Paul Stoller is Professor of Anthropology at West Chester University. He is the author of In Sorcery's Shadow (1987), Fusion of the Worlds (1989), The Taste ofEthnographic Things (1989) and The Cinematic Griot. He is currently conducting research among West African street vendors in New York City.
A study of the West African Hauka - spirits that grotesquely mimic and mock "Europeans" of the colonial epoch. The author considers spirit possession as a set of embodied practices with serious social and cultural consequences. Embodying Colonial Memories is the first in-depth study of the West African Hauka, spirits in the body of (human) mediums which mimic and mock Europeans of the colonial epoch. Paul Stoller, who was initiated into a spirit possession troupe, recounts an insider's tale of the Hauka with respect and "brotherly" deference. He combines narrative deillegalscription, historical analysis, and reflections on the importance of embodiment and mimesis to social theory, with particular reference to the Songhay peoples of the Republic of Niger.
Chapter 1 Prologue Diplomacy On A Dune; Part one Sensing Spirit Possession; Chapter 2 Introduction Sensing Ethnography; Chapter One Spirit Possession; Chapter Two Cultural Memory; Chapter Three Embodied Memories; Part two Confronting Colonialism in West Africa; Chapter 6 Introduction Forms of Confrontation; Chapter Four From First Contacts to Military Part Ition; Chapter Five Colonizing West Africa; Chapter Six Embodied Oppositions; Part three Migrating with the Hauka; Chapter 10 Introduction Thunderous Gods; Chapter Seven Colonizing Niger; Chapter Eight The Birth of the Hauka Movement; Chapter Nine Transgressing to the Gold Coast; Part four Transforming State Power The Hauka Movement in the Postcolony of Niger; Chapter 14 Introduction Crossing Ceremonial Boundaries; Chapter Ten Independence and the Postcolony of Niger; Chapter Eleven Peasant and Hauka in Niger's Postcolony; Chapter Twelve The Hauka and the Government of General Seyni Kountche; Chapter 18 Epilogue Memory, Power, and Spirit Possession;
"...the book should be read for what the Haukas's fascinating history teaches us about the politics of possession and the aesthetics of power." -- ReligiousStudies Review
"This is learning in it's most fundamental form and it would be useful for us to consider the lessons that books such as Embodying Colonial Memories have for the creation of a more encompassing anthropology of education." -- Anthopology & Education Quarterly
A study of the West African Hauka - spirits that grotesquely mimic and mock "Europeans" of the colonial epoch. The author considers spirit possession as a set of embodied practices with serious social and cultural consequences.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Chapter 1 Prologue Diplomacy On A Dune; Part one Sensing Spirit Possession; Chapter 2 Introduction Sensing Ethnography; Chapter One Spirit Possession; Chapter Two Cultural Memory; Chapter Three Embodied Memories; Part two Confronting Colonialism in West Africa; Chapter 6 Introduction Forms of Confrontation; Chapter Four From First Contacts to Military Part Ition; Chapter Five Colonizing West Africa; Chapter Six Embodied Oppositions; Part three Migrating with the Hauka; Chapter 10 Introduction Thunderous Gods; Chapter Seven Colonizing Niger; Chapter Eight The Birth of the Hauka Movement; Chapter Nine Transgressing to the Gold Coast; Part four Transforming State Power The Hauka Movement in the Postcolony of Niger; Chapter 14 Introduction Crossing Ceremonial Boundaries; Chapter Ten Independence and the Postcolony of Niger; Chapter Eleven Peasant and Hauka in Niger's Postcolony; Chapter Twelve The Hauka and the Government of General Seyni Kountche; Chapter 18 Epilogue Memory, Power, and Spirit Possession;
Klappentext
"Embodying Colonial Memories" is the first in-depth study of the West African "Hauka," spirits in the body of (human) mediums which mimic and mock Europeans of the colonial epoch. Paul Stoller, who was initiated into a spirit possession troupe, recounts an insider's tale of the "Hauka" with respect and "brotherly" deference. He combines narrative deillegalscription, historical analysis, and reflections on the importance of embodiment and mimesis to social theory, with particular reference to the Songhay peoples of the Republic of Niger.
Why have the "Hauka" mimicked white men and their colonial behaviors? In this innovative book, Stoller argues that mimicry is about power. To copy something is to master it. Through the "Hauka," the Songhay try to divert the power of the Europeans.
"Embodying Colonial Memories" not only desribes a spirit possession cult; it considers such significant subjects as the cultural sentience of the body, the dynamics of colonial movements of resistance, and the particularly poignant political discourses of West African postcolonies.
