Land Is Dying

Paul Wenzel Geissler teaches social anthropology at the University of Oslo and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He studied medical zoology in Hamburg and Copenhagen (Ph.D. 1998) and social anthropology in Copenhagen and Cambridge (Ph.D. 2003). Since 1993 he has worked in western Kenya, conducting first medical research and then several years of ethnographic fieldwork. Currently he is writing an ethnography of post-colonial scientific research in Kisumu, Kenya.

Awarded the 2010 Amaury Talbot Prize for African Anthropology by the Royal Anthropological Institute“For me this was one of the best ethnographies I have read for many years.”  ·  Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale“…[a]thoughtful and creative book… [It] is an excellent resource and it is a good read: theoretical without being overwhelming, anthropological without being off-putting, serious but amusing. In sum, it is a rare and valuable contribution.”  ·  African Studies Quarterly“While not a light book, this is one for anyone seeking ethnographic understanding based on an equatorial African setting not to overlook…A short review can hardly do justice to the care behind the book or the local flavor it conveys: the accuracy of its translations, the sensitivity and empathy behind its life histories, the candor about research tactics and dilemmas…It is one warmly to be welcomed.”  ·  Anthropos“One of the richest ethnographies of African social life of recent years… As do the best ethnographies, this book communicates the wonder of its authors at touching and being touched deeply across difference.”  ·  JRAI“In addition to [its] broad examination of the intertwining of Africans’ experiences of AIDS and associated social changes, [an important] theme …is[its]extended and sophisticated treatment of morality as an integral aspect not only of the AIDS epidemic, but also of every dimension of the social responses it has produced.”  ·  African Studies Review “The originality of this book lies in its careful exploration of touch and contingency, drawing on Michel de Certeau and Emmanuel Lévinas. The sensitive ethnography and judicious use of other sources make for superb anthropology…Here is a book that provides inspiration as well as beautifully crafted documentation of efforts to maintain the flow of life in specific difficult historical circumstances.”  ·  Mortality

• Table of illustrationsAcknowledgementsChapter 1. Introduction: “Are we still together here?"A community at the end of the worldThe death of todayGrowing relationsBeing togetherGrowthTouchSearching for another social practiceEngaging boundariesHygieneKnowing boundariesChanging perspectives?Coming togetherVisitingChapter 2. Landscapes and historiesReturnsA road in timeKisumuDriving out Bondo DistrictThe lakePiny Luo - ‘Luoland’A ‘tribe’Luo socialityThe reserveReturn to Uhero Yimbo MuthurwaMaking Uhero village(Re-)SettlementBelonging and ownershipA modern Luo village‘Down’ into the village‘Up’ and ‘down’ KaOkothAlternative ‘modernities’: the beach and ‘Jerusalem’KaOgumbaChapter 3. Salvation and Tradition: heaven and earth?Dichotomies in everyday lifeSalvationStrong ChristiansSaved lifeSaved and othersFaith in purityTraditionThe Luo rules‘Born-again’TraditionalismTraditionalism, Christianity and The WestCustomary everyday lifeSearching waysTradition in everyday lifeEveryday ritualThe absence of ritualThe omnipresence of ritualPART ONEChapter 4. ‘Opening the way’: being at home in UheroIntroduction“Our culture says that one must make a home”Relational flows: embedding growth in the homeTom’s new homeMoving forward - directionsOpenings and closuresOrder and sequenceComplementarity and growth: coming together in the houseMaking a houseSharing the gendered houseThe living houseGender, generation and growthStruggling against implicationThe home in heaven‘The rules of the home’Powers of explicationPracticing rulesCementing relationsTraditionalism and other kinds of ethnography5. Growing children: shared persons and permeable bodiesIntroductionSharingSharing or exchange?Sharing foodFood, blood and kinship‘The child is of the mother’Changed foods and relationsSharing and dividing nurtureShared bodiesIllnesses of infancy and their treatmentEvil eye and spiritsMedical pluralism?Herbal medicinesCleanness and dirtSharing namesBeing named afterBeing calledSharing names and naming sharesConclusionPART TWOChapter 6. Order and decomposition: touch around sickness and deathIntroductionOtoyo’s homeThe sickness of a daughterReturn of a daughterKwer and chiraContinuity and contingencyAvoiding the rulesTreating chiraCaringThe death of a husbandExpected death“She should remember her love!”DeathThe funeralThe dead bodyLoving peopleConclusionChapter 7. ‘Life Seen’: touch, vision and speech in the making of sex in UheroIntroductionEarthly ethics and Christian moralityRiwruokRiwruok: outside intentionalityChira: Growth and directionalityChodo and luor: continuity and changeCleanness: Sex and separationThe proliferation of 'Sex'AIDS and chiraThe fight against AIDSPornography - ‘bad things’ConclusionChapter 8. “Our Luo culture is sick”: identity and infection in the debate about widow inheritanceIntroductionTesting positiveBecoming a widowContentious practicesA tough headTeroIndependenceAloneInheritance and infectionPast and present teroFighting teroDeprivation and propertyInheriting HIV - fears about women’s sexuality and social reproductionTurning tero into a businessAmbiguous heritage: Tero as source of identity and infection‘Our Luo culture is sick’‘The most elaborate and solemn ritual’: tero is our cultureSanitising Luo culture?ConclusionPART THREEChapter 9. “How can we drink his tea without killing a bull?” - funerary ceremony and matters of remembranceIntroductionFunerary ceremoniesFunerals in UheroFuneral commensalityReturning to the funeralOsure’s sawoAn Earthly feastRebekkaEating the sawoTraces of the past‘Sides’Baba Winston’s memorialA Christian funerary celebrationDebatesThe serviceRemembranceConclusionChapter 10. “The land is dying” - Traces and monuments in the village landscapeIntroductionCutting the landOwnershipLand, paper and powerLiving on the landGardens and farmsThe bushFencesAt homeTraces and inscriptionsGetting one’s land - finding one’s placeConclusionChapter 11. Contingency, creativity and difference in western KenyaCreative differenceOld and new dealings with hybridity“Are we still together here?”PostscriptKa-Ogumba 2007BibliographyBooks and ArticlesNewspaper articles and electronic mediaMusicIndex