Sacred Void: Spatial Images of Work and Ritual among the Giriama of Kenya: 80 (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Series Number 80) - Softcover

Parkin, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521024986 ISBN 13: 9780521024983

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

In this innovative study, David Parkin shows how indigenous African rites and beliefs may be reworked to accommodate a variety of economic systems, new spatial and ecological relations between communities, and the locally variable influences of Islam and Christianity. The Giriama people of Kenya include pastoralists living in the hinterland; farmers, who work land closer to the coast; and migrants, who earn money as labourers or fishermen on the coast itself. Wherever they live, they revere an ancient and formerly fortified capital, located in the pastoralist hinterland, which few of them ever see or visit. Their different perspectives sometimes conflict, but together provide a shifting idea of the sacred place. As the site of occasional large-scale ceremonies, moreover, the settlement becomes especially important at times of national crisis. It then acts as a moral core of Giriama society, and a symbolic defence against total domination and assimilation.

About this title

Review

'Parkin's knowledge of East African societies is second to none ... As with his previous works, it contributes significantly to our understanding of the complexities of change in modern Africa.' Man

Book Description

In this innovative study, David Parkin shows how indigenous African rites and beliefs may be reworked to accommodate a variety of economic systems, new spatial and ecological relations between communities, and the locally variable influences of Islam and Christianity.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521024986
• ISBN 13: 9780521024983
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 284