Colonial Transactions

Florence Bernault is Professor of African History at Sciences Po (Paris); Emerita Professor of African History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; author of DÉmocraties ambigÜes en Afrique centrale: Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, 1940–1965; and editor of A History of Prison and Confinement in Africa.

". . .This should be a key text for African studies and certainly for any collection centered on West and Central Africa." - J. R. Kenyon (Choice) "Bernault's ability to trace . . . imaginaries throughout centuries of thought and praxis in both France and Gabon make this book a valuable addition to the historiography of west Africa." - Amanda Ford (International Social Science Review) "Bernault’s book fills a void in many ways, providing an English-speaking audience with one among the very few in-depth studies out there on a nation and its people that certainly merit more attention." - Cheryl Toman (Postcolonial Text) “A well-documented scholarly work enriched with an elegant style…. With this new book, Florence Bernault makes an invaluable contribution to African cultural anthropology by proposing an innovative approach to witchcraft that transcends the nativist paradigm and explores the intersecting third space of mutual influences (colonized/colonizers) from which arose the creolized spiritual landscape of postcolonial Gabon.” - Marc Mvé Bekale (African Studies Review) “Florence Bernault offers an original and refreshing history of European-African colonial encounters in Gabon, Equatorial Africa. She does so by using a wealth of sources.... [Colonial Transactions] will appeal to scholars of colonialism in Africa and beyond, and to anyone interested in African spirituality and modernity.” - Ndubueze L. Mbah (Journal of African History) “Bernault’s conception of colonialism as a transaction . . . does much to reconfigure understandings of power under colonialism. . . . [Colonial Transactions] should be read widely not just by scholars of history and gender but also by anthropologists and others interested in African studies or colonialism, more broadly.” - Avenel Rolfsen (Gender & History) “Colonial Transactions expands our knowledge and refines our understanding of the two themes that stand at its center – witchcraft and colonialism. . . . No future research about witchcraft or about colonial relations will be able to ignore this fascinating and eye-opening book.” - Ruth Ginio (Middle Ground Journal)

• Preface  ixIntroduction  11. A Siren, an Empty Shrine, and a Photograph  272. The Double Life of Charms  693. Carnal Fetishism  964. The Value of People  1185. Cannibal Mirrors  1386. Eating  168Conclusion  194Notes  205Bibliography  293Index  321