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Beyond words : discourse and critical agency in Africa / Andrew Apter.
Table of contents only Available online
View onlineVan Pelt Library GN308.3.A35 A78 2007
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Apter, Andrew H. (Andrew Herman)
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Ethnology--Africa--History.
- Ethnology.
- Ethnology--Africa--Philosophy.
- Discourse analysis--Africa.
- Discourse analysis.
- Culture--Semiotic models.
- Culture.
- Social problems--Africa.
- Social problems.
- Philosophy.
- History.
- Africa--In popular culture.
- Africa.
- Africa--Colonization.
- Colonization.
- Africa--Social conditions.
- Social conditions.
- Africa--Civilization.
- Civilization.
- Physical Description:
- xii, 171 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007.
- Summary:
- Even within anthropology, a discipline that strives to overcome ethnocentric and ideological distortions, colonialist depictions of the so-called Dark Continent run deep. The grand narratives, tribal tropes, exotic images, and "natural" histories that forged the foundations of discourse about Africa remain entrenched. In Beyond Words, Andrew Apter explores how anthropology can come to terms with what V. Y. Mudimbe calls the "colonial library" in order to develop an ethnographic practice that transcends the politics of Africa's imperial past. One way out of the colonial library, Apter argues, is by listening to critical discourses in Africa that reframe the social and political contexts in which they are embedded. To break the cycle of Western illusions in discursive constructions of Africa, he focuses on ritual language genres in ways that are culturally and locally informed. In doing so, Apter develops an illuminating concept of critical agency at the very nexus of language and social transformation.
- Contents:
- Que faire?
- The politics of panegyric
- Rituals against rebellion
- Discourse and its disclosures
- Griaule's legacy
- Decolonizing the text.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [149]-164) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780226023519
- 0226023516
- 9780226023526
- 0226023524
- OCLC:
- 77573179
- Online:
- Contributor biographical information
- Publisher description
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