The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa - Hardcover

Geschiere, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813917026 ISBN 13: 9780813917023

Publisher: University of Virginia Press, 1997

Synopsis

In the Modernity of Witchcraft, Peter Geschiere uses his own experiences among the Maka and in other parts of eastern and southern Cameroon, as well as other anthropological research, to argue that contemporary ideas and practices of witchcraft are more a response to modern exigencies than a lingering cultural custom. The prevalence of witchcraft, especially in African politics and entrepreneurship, demonstrates the unlikely balance it has achieved with the forces of modernity. Geschiere explores why modern techniques and commodities, usually of Western provenance, have become central in rumors of the occult.

About this title

Synopsis:

This study suggests that the balance in Africa, between the prevalence of witchcraft and the forces of modernity, stems both from obsession with power and from the increasing feeling of powerlessness among the people. It also gives a parallel with aspects of politics in Western democracies.

About the Author:

Peter Geschiere is Professor of African Anthropology at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. He is the author of Pathways to Accumulation in Cameroon, Old Modes of Production and Capitalist Encroachment, and Village Communties and the State.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Virginia Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0813917026
• ISBN 13: 9780813917023
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 311