Impasse of the angels : scenes from a Moroccan space of memory / Stefania Pandolfo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pandolfo, Stefania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--Morocco--Dra Wadi.

Ethnology.

Oral tradition--Morocco--Dra Wadi.

Oral tradition.

Discourse analysis, Narrative--Morocco--Dra Wadi.

Discourse analysis, Narrative.

Ethnopsychology--Morocco--Dra Wadi.

Ethnopsychology.

Dra Wadi (Morocco)--Social life and customs.

Dra Wadi (Morocco).

Morocco--Dra Wadi.

Physical Description:

xi, 389 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [1997]

Summary:

The image of the ethnographer in the field who observes his or her subjects from a distance while copiously taking notes has given way in recent years to a more critical and engaged form of anthropology. Composed as a polyphonic dialogue of texts, Stefania Pandolfo's Impasse of the Angels takes this engagement to its limit by presenting the relationship between observer and observed as one of interacting equals and mutually constituting interlocutors.

Impasse of the Angels explores what it means to be a subject in the historical and poetic imagination of a southern Moroccan society. Passionate and lyrical, ironic and tragic, the book listens to dissonant, often idiosyncratic voices -- poetic texts, legends, social spaces, folktales, conversations -- that elaborate in their own ways the fractures, wounds, and contradictions of the Maghribi postcolonial present. Moving from concrete details in a traditional ethnographic sense to a creative, experiential literary style, Impasse of the Angels is a tale of life and death compellingly addressing readers from anthropology, literature, philosophy, postcolonial criticism, and Middle Eastern studies.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0226645312

0226645320

OCLC:

36640637