Description:
Displacing the State illustrates the nature of religion's ambivalent power in Africa while suggesting new directions in the study of religion, conflict, and peace studies.
Brief description:
James Howard Smith is associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis.
Review Quotes:
"Displacing the State: Religion and Conflict in Neoliberal Africa is an excellent collection of essays grounded in extensive ethnographic work and a critical, historical, and contemporary analysis that brings theory to bear on sociopolitical and religious realities in Africa. The editors, James Howard Smith and Rosalind Hackett, are to be commended for putting together an engaging and riveting text with essays that are grounded historically but, more importantly, focus on contemporary religious communities such as Mungiki in Kenya and the Masowe prophets in Zimbabwe. The compelling analysis of contemporary issues explores attempts at peace building, making this book essential reading for scholars of religion and a requirement for courses on religion and the state." --Elias Kifon Bongmba, Rice University