The Land Is Dying - Contingency, Creativity and Conflict in Western Kenya (Paperback)

Based on several years of ethnographic fieldwork, the book explores life in and around a Luo-speaking village in western Kenya during a time of death. The epidemic of HIV/AIDS affects every aspect of sociality and pervades villagers' debates about the past, the future and the ethics of everyday life. Central to such debates is a discussion of touch in the broad sense of concrete, material contact between persons. In mundane practices and in ritual acts, touch is considered to be key to the creation of bodily life as well as social continuity. Underlying the significance of material contact is its connection with growth - of persons and groups, animals, plants and the land - and the forward movement of life more generally. Under the pressure of illness and death, economic hardship and land scarcity, as well as bitter struggles about the relevance and application of Christianity and 'Luo tradition' in daily life, people find it difficult to agree about the role of touch in engendering growth, or indeed about the aims of growth itself.

General

Imprint:	Berghahn Books
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Epistemologies of Healing
Release date:	December 2012
First published:	November 2012
Authors:	Paul Wenzel Geissler • Ruth Jane Prince
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 24mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	444
ISBN-13:	978-0-85745-793-6
Categories:	Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Human biology & related topics > Medical anthropology Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Illness & addiction: social aspects > AIDS: social aspects
LSN:	0-85745-793-4
Barcode:	9780857457936

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