Prayer Has Spoiled Everything :Possession, Power, and Identity in an Islamic Town of Niger
Prayer Has Spoiled Everything :Possession, Power, and Identity in an Islamic Town of Niger
paperback
Published:
26 March, 2001
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Description
To explore the role of bori possession in local definitions of history, power, and identity, Masquelier spent a total of two years in Niger, focusing on the diverse ways in which spirit mediums share, transform, and contest a rapidly changing reality, threatened by Muslim hegemony and financial hardship. She explains how the spread of Islam has provoked irreversible change in the area and how prayer-a conspicuous element of daily life that has become virtually synonymous with Islamic practice in this region of west Africa-has thus become equated with the loss of tradition. By focusing on some of the creative and complex ways that bori at once competes with and borrows from Islam, Masquelier reveals how possession nonetheless remains deeply embedded in Mawri culture, representing more than simple resistance to Islam, patriarchy, or the state. Despite a widening gap between former ways of life and the contradictions of the present, it maintains its place as a feature of daily life in which villagers participate with varying degrees of enthusiasm and approval.
Specialists in African studies, in the anthropology of religion, and in the historical transformations of colonial and postcolonial societies will welcome this study.
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780822326397 |
| ISBN10 | 0822326396 |
| Number Of Pages | 368 |
| Item Weight | 735 g |
| Publisher / Reseller | Duke University Press |
| Format | paperback |
Media Reviews
“Masquelier locates cultural production at precise moments of colonial and postcolonial relations. The result is both an intimate, densely textured portrait of bori spirits and an exciting demonstration of how people attempt to formulate and appropriate the forces that have undermined their community.”- Michael Lambek, author of Knowledge and Practice in Mayotte: Local Discourses of Islam, Sorcery, and Spirit Possession “With its rich primary data about bori, its creativity and freshness, Prayer Has Spoiled Everything will be of enormous interest to Africanists and to religion scholars of many types.”-Karen McCarthy Brown, author of Mama Lola: A Voodou Priestess in Brooklyn
Author's Bio
Adeline Maquelier is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Tulane University.