In Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger - Softcover

Stoller, Paul; Olkes, Cheryl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226775437 ISBN 13: 9780226775432

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1989

Synopsis

The tale of Paul Stoller's sojourn among sorcerors in the Republic of Niger is a story of growth and change, of mutual respect and understanding that will challenge all who read it to plunge deeply into an alien world.

About this title

About the Author

Paul Stoller is professor of anthropology at West Chester University. He is also a research associate in the department of anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution. Cheryl Olkes is director of Harmattan, a gallery of African arts in Washington, D.C.

From Library Journal

In the last decade, anthropologists have allowed personal concerns to become an acknowledged part of their ethnographic work. In this vein, Stoller "learned much about Songhay sorcery as an initiated apprentice," and consequently his book is more "memoir" than standard ethnography. Still, the account contains incisive information about fieldwork in Niger and about Songhay sorcerythe incantations, power attributed to plants, antagonisms between sorcerers, and details of daily life that both he and, later, Olkes collected. A good presentation of many of the ethical dilemmas anthropologists face when doing fieldwork for informed laypersons and specialists. Schneebaum's book is again more autobiography than ethnography, but in contrast to Stoller's, it contains sketchy ethnographic information. Though Schneebaum incessantly interviewed the Asmat during his four years in New Guinea, little of that information is conveyed. The book is more a search for identity: Schneebaum knew the Asmat as no other ethnographer has (or would admit to); as "an exchange friend" he developed intimate bonds with male friends. The lack of detailed cultural information is therefore the more regrettable. The book does, however, give us clear descriptions of Schneebaum's anthropological encounter and subsequent personal questions. Winifred Lambrecht, Brown Univ., Providence, R.I.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0226775437
• ISBN 13: 9780226775432
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 252