Perspectives on Africa

Roy Richard Grinker, Ph.D. is Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at George Washington University, Director of the GW Institute for Ethnographic Research, and Editor-in-Chief of Anthropological Quarterly.  He is author of four other books, including In the Arms of Africa: The Life of Colin M. Turnbull, Houses in the Rainforest:  Ethnicity and Inequality Among Farmers and Foragers in Central Africa, and Unstrange Minds:  Remapping the World of Autism. Christopher B. Steiner is the Lucy C. McDannel ’22 Professor of Art History and Director of Museum Studies at Connecticut College.  He is the author of the award-winning book African Art in Transit, and co-editor (with Ruth Phillips) of Unpacking Culture:  Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds. Stephen Lubkemann is Associate Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at George Washington University.  He is author of Culture in Chaos: An Anthropology of the Social Condition in War and is associate editor for Anthropological Quarterly and a co-founder of GWU’s Diaspora Research Program.

• Acknowledgments xList of Maps xivList of Figures xvList of Plates xviiList of Tables xviiiIntroduction: Africa in Perspective 1Part I: Representation and Discourse 19Introduction 211 Africa Observed: Discourses of the Imperial Imagination 31Jean and John Comaroff2 The Meaning of Our Work 44Cheikh Anta Diop3 Europe Upside Down: Fallacies of the New Afrocentrism 48Kwame Anthony Appiah4 Discourse of Power and Knowledge of Otherness 55V. Y. MudimbePart II: From Tribe to Ethnicity: Kinship and Social Organization 61Introduction 635 The Nuer: Time and Space 71E. E. Evans-Pritchard6 The Illusion of Tribe 83Aidan W. Southall7 Ethnicity in Southern African History 95Leroy VailPart III: Economics as a Cultural System 109Introduction 1118 Lele Economy Compared with the Bushong 123Mary Douglas9 Research on an African Mode of Production 139Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch10 The Cattle of Money and the Cattle of Girls among the Nuer, 1930–83 151Sharon HutchinsonPart IV: Hunter-Gatherers in Africa 167Introduction 16911 The Lesson of the Pygmies 175Colin M. Turnbull12 Houses in the Rainforest: Gender and Ethnicity among the Lese and Efe in Zaire 184Roy Richard Grinker13 Land Filled with Flies: The Evolution of Illusion 200Edwin N. Wilmsen14 Foragers, Genuine or Spurious? Situating the Kalahari San in History 219Jacqueline S. Solway and Richard B. LeePart V: Witchcraft, Science, and Rationality: The Translation of Culture 237Introduction 23915 Conversations on Rain-making 245David Livingstone16 The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events 249E. E. Evans-Pritchard17 Understanding a Primitive Society 257Peter Winch18 The Moral Economy of Witchcraft: An Essay in Comparative History 270Ralph A. AustenPart VI: Ancestors, Gods, and the Philosophy of Religion 283Introduction 28519 Conversations with Ogotemmêli 291Marcel Griaule20 African Philosophy, Myth and Reality 302Paulin J. Hountondji21 Ancestors as Elders in Africa 314Igor KopytoffPart VII: Arts, Aesthetics, and Heritage 323Introduction 32522 Humorous Masks and Serious Politics among the Afi kpo Igbo 335Simon Ottenberg23 Art, Identity, Boundaries: Postmodernism and Contemporary African Art 348Olu Oguibe24 As Plato Duly Warned: Music, Politics, and Social Change in Coastal East Africa 354Kelly M. Askew25 In Place of Slavery: Fashioning Coastal Identity 372Bayo HolseyPart VIII: Sex and Gender Studies in Africa: Economy and Society 379Introduction 38126 The Economics of Polygamy 389Ester Boserup27 “Sitting on a Man”: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women 399Judith Van Allen28 Virginity Testing: Managing Sexuality in a Maturing HIV/AIDS Epidemic 411Suzanne Leclerc-MadlalaPart IX: Europe in Africa: Colonization 423Introduction 42529 The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa: Methods of Ruling Native Races 431Frederick D. Lugard30 How Europe Underdeveloped Africa 439Walter Rodney31 The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa 450Terence Ranger32 Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary 462Ngugi wa Thiong’oPart X: Nations and Nationalism 471Introduction 47333 Negritude: A Humanism of the Twentieth Century 477Léopold Sédar Senghor34 On National Culture 484Frantz Fanon35 Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Modernity: The Paradox of Mau Mau 498Bruce J. Berman36 The Invisible Face: Masks, Ethnicity, and the State in Côte d’Ivoire 514Christopher B. SteinerPart XI: Violent Transformations: Conflict and Displacement 521Introduction 52337 Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa 531Max Gluckman38 Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth and Resources in Sierra Leone 543Paul Richards39 Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 555Christopher C. Taylor40 Where to Be an Ancestor? Reconstituting Socio-spiritual Worlds among Displaced Mozambicans 569Stephen LubkemannPart XII: Development, Governance, and Globalization 583Introduction 58541 Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt 595James Ferguson42 Development Aid and Structural Violence: The Case of Rwanda 609Peter Uvin43 Nigerian Scams as Political Critique: Globalization, Inequality and 419 616Daniel Jordan Smith44 The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly 629Jean-François Bayart45 “Govern Yourselves!” Democracy and Carnage in Northern Mozambique 644Harry G. West46 Nuer-American Passages 660Dianna ShandyIndex 671