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Demons and development : the struggle for community in a Sri Lankan village / James Brow.
Penn Museum Library GN635.S72 B76 1996
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Brow, James.
- Series:
- Hegemony and experience
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Ethnology--Sri Lanka--Anuradhapura (District).
- Ethnology.
- Vedda (Sri Lankan people)--Social conditions.
- Vedda (Sri Lankan people).
- Sri Lanka--Anuradhapura (District).
- Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka : District)--Social conditions.
- Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka : District).
- Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka : District)--Religious life and customs.
- Communities.
- Nationalism--Sri Lanka.
- Nationalism.
- Sri Lanka.
- Physical Description:
- xviii, 218 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.
- Place of Publication:
- Tucson : University of Arizona Press, [1996]
- Summary:
- In contemporary Sri Lanka, long-established modes of rural life are being disrupted by progress. As this occurs, instances of "demonic possession" have been known to take place - incidents that may both express the conflicts that result and attempt to resolve them. When residents of the village of Kukulewa were promised sixty new houses, a factional rift arose between those who benefited from the project and those who did not. The breach between what became in effect two separate villages resulted in both divisive accusations of sorcery and spirit-inspired appeals for cooperation. James Brow witnessed these possession trances and sorcery accusations as they occurred, enabling him to convey this richly textured story interweaving political factionalism and troubled spirits. Official projects of development have proceeded apace in Sri Lanka, but until now there have been few accounts of their tendency to tear apart the fabric of rural society. Demons and Development combines an engaging narrative of how development was experienced in one particular village with an original contribution to theories of hegemony, the social anthropology of South Asia, the ethnography of nationalism, and the sociology of development.
- Contents:
- Ceremony in Samadigama
- Orientations
- Of savages and kings
- The village community confronts the market
- Party politics and nationalist rhetoric
- The awakening village
- The rise of the Fernandos
- Life in Samadigama
- Gods and demons
- Offerings to the gods
- Private practice
- Reflections.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-211) and index.
- ISBN:
- 0816516383
- 0816516391
- OCLC:
- 34319599
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