Bewitching development : witchcraft and the reinvention of development in neoliberal Kenya / James Howard Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, James Howard.

Series:

Chicago studies in practices of meaning.

Chicago studies in practices of meaning

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Taita (African people)--Social life and customs.

Taita (African people).

Taita (African people)--Rites and ceremonies.

Witchcraft--Kenya--Taita Hills.

Witchcraft.

Economic development--Kenya--Taita Hills.

Economic development.

Taita Hills (Kenya)--Economic conditions.

Taita Hills (Kenya).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (287 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

These days, development inspires scant trust in the West. For critics who condemn centralized efforts to plan African societies as latter day imperialism, such plans too closely reflect their roots in colonial rule and neoliberal economics. But proponents of this pessimistic view often ignore how significant this concept has become for Africans themselves. In Bewitching Development, James Howard Smith presents a close ethnographic account of how people in the Taita Hills of Kenya have appropriated and made sense of development thought and practice, focusing on the complex ways that development connects with changing understandings of witchcraft. Similar to magic, development's promise of a better world elicits both hope and suspicion from Wataita. Smith shows that the unforeseen changes wrought by development-greater wealth for some, dashed hopes for many more-foster moral debates that Taita people express in occult terms. By carefully chronicling the beliefs and actions of this diverse community-from frustrated youths to nostalgic seniors, duplicitous preachers to thought-provoking witch doctors-BewitchingDevelopment vividly depicts the social life of formerly foreign ideas and practices in postcolonial Africa.

Contents:

Bewitching development : the disintegration and reinvention of development in Kenya

I still exist! Taita historicity

Development's other : witchcraft as development through the looking glass

"Each household is a kingdom" : development and witchcraft at home

"Dot com will die seriously!" spatiotemporal miscommunication and competing sovereignties in Taita thought and ritual

NGOs, gender, and sovereign child

Democracy victorious: exorcising witchcraft from development

Conclusion: Tempopolitics, or why development should not be defined as the improvement of living standards.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613809513

9781282166448

1282166441

9780226764597

0226764591

OCLC:

804664924