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 Nature of the Miracle Years by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book The Spirit of the Laws by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Creativity in Transition by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Roma Activism by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Divided, But Not Disconnected by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Mussolini's Dream Factory by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Hierarchy by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Democracy in Modern Europe by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Space and Spatiality in Modern German-Jewish History by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Stories Make the World by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Luso-Tropicalism and Its Discontents by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book War, Technology, Anthropology by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book France and the Construction of Europe, 1944-2007 by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Centralizing Fieldwork by Koen Stroeken
Cover of the book Between Mass Death and Individual Loss 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