Dialogue and the Interpretation of Illness - Conversations in a Cameroon Village (Paperback)

The etiology of the Wimbum people in the Western Grassfields of Cameroon is described through an examination of the way in which the meanings of key concepts, used to interpret and explain illness and other forms of misfortune, are continually being produced and reproduced in the praxis of everyday communication. During the course of numerous dialogues, witchcraft, a highly ambivalent force, gradually emerges as the prime mover. As destructive cannibals or respectable elders the witches are the ultimate cause of all significant illness, misfortune and death, and as diviners they are also the ultimate judges who apportion moral responsibility. Even the ancestors and the traditional gods turn out to be fronts behind which the witches hide their activities.The study is on three levels: a medical anthropological exploration of explanations of illness and misfortune; a detailed ethnography of traditional African cosmology and witchcraft; and an examination of recent theoretical issues in anthropology such as the nature of ethnographic fieldwork and the possibility of dialogical or postmodern ethnography.

General

Imprint:	Berg Publishers
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Explorations in Anthropology
Release date:	May 1994
First published:	1994
Authors:	Robert Pool
Dimensions:	216 x 138 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	298
ISBN-13:	978-1-85973-016-4
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology > General Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Human biology & related topics > Medical anthropology Books > Health, Home & Family > Mind, body & spirit > The Occult > Magic, spells & alchemy Books > Health, Home & Family > Mind, body & spirit > The Occult > Witchcraft & Wicca Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > Satanism & demonology Books > Religion & Spirituality > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > Satanism & demonology Books > Mind, Body & Spirit > The Occult > Magic, spells & alchemy Books > Mind, Body & Spirit > The Occult > Witchcraft & Wicca
LSN:	1-85973-016-7
Barcode:	9781859730164

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