Medicinal Rule

A Historical Anthropology of Kingship in East and Central Africa

Nonfiction, History, Africa, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology
Cover of the book Medicinal Rule by Koen Stroeken, Berghahn Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Koen Stroeken ISBN: 9781785339851
Publisher: Berghahn Books Publication: September 7, 2018
Imprint: Berghahn Books Language: English
Author: Koen Stroeken
ISBN: 9781785339851
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Publication: September 7, 2018
Imprint: Berghahn Books
Language: English

As soon as Europeans set foot on African soil, they looked for the equivalents of their kings – and found them. The resulting misunderstandings last until this day. Based on ethnography-driven regional comparison and a critical re-examination of classic monographs on some forty cultural groups, this volume makes the arresting claim that across equatorial Africa the model of rule has been medicine – and not the colonizer’s despotic administrator, the missionary’s divine king, or Vansina’s big man. In a wide area populated by speakers of Bantu and other languages of the Niger-Congo cluster, both cult and dynastic clan draw on the fertility shrine, rainmaking charm and drum they inherit.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

As soon as Europeans set foot on African soil, they looked for the equivalents of their kings – and found them. The resulting misunderstandings last until this day. Based on ethnography-driven regional comparison and a critical re-examination of classic monographs on some forty cultural groups, this volume makes the arresting claim that across equatorial Africa the model of rule has been medicine – and not the colonizer’s despotic administrator, the missionary’s divine king, or Vansina’s big man. In a wide area populated by speakers of Bantu and other languages of the Niger-Congo cluster, both cult and dynastic clan draw on the fertility shrine, rainmaking charm and drum they inherit.

More books from Berghahn Books

Cover of the book State and Minorities in Communist East Germany by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Crude Domination by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book When Things Become Property by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book The Imaginary Revolution by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book The Legacies of a Hawaiian Generation by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Youth Gangs and Street Children by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Post-communist Nostalgia by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Politics of Innocence by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Postwall German Cinema by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Terror From the Sky by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book How Enemies Are Made by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book The Mirror of the Medieval by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Kinship and Beyond by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Affective States by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book The Man from the Third Row by Koen Stroeken
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy