Description:
BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
A Companion to the Anthropology of Africa
A Companion to the Anthropology of Africa is a collection of insightful essays covering key questions and critical research in the contemporary anthropology of Africa. Written and edited by a team of leading cultural anthropologists, it is a thorough introduction to a wide range of interdisciplinary topics such as public health, environmentalism, economic policy, gender and sexuality studies, decolonization and postcolonial experience, and humanitarian aid. The contributors trace the development of current anthropological debates about long-standing themes, including kinship, witchcraft, illness, and healing, that have come to be theorized in vastly different ways in recent years. Chapters on trauma, social justice, and the politics of representation, among others, focus on issues that became prominent in the aftermath of colonialism and independence. With broad representation of the diverse thinking and research in the study of African cultures today, A Companion to the Anthropology of Africa is an ideal resource for teaching and research in anthropology and related fields.
Review Quotes: Anyone who teaches the Anthropology of Africa, or indeed Anthropology in general, will want to add this volume to their library without replacing either of those earlier ones. Qualitatively speaking, it is a valuable addition. ... This volume offers a compelling Companion to topics in Africanist Anthropology, past and present - and a well-founded argument for the continued value of the discipline. Amidst all the heated debate about the present and future of anthropology, about who should do it and how it should be done, ... the Companion proves that there is still a great deal to be said for what critical ethnography, securely situated in its historical context and adequately theorized, can and should do.
John Comaroff, Hugh K. Foster Professor of African and African American Studies and of Anthropology, Harvard University