The pot-king : the body and technologies of power / by Jean-Pierre Warnier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Warnier, Jean-Pierre.

Series:

African social studies series ; v. 17.

African social studies series, 1568-1203 ; v. 17

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mankon (African people)--Rites and ceremonies.

Mankon (African people).

Power (Social sciences)--Cameroon--Mankon.

Power (Social sciences).

Mankon (Cameroon)--Kings and rulers.

Mankon (Cameroon).

Mankon (Cameroon)--Social life and customs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (335 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The king of Mankon, in the western highlands of Cameroon, is an agricultural engineer by training, a businessman, and a prominent politician on the national stage. He partakes in the “return of the kings” in the forefront of an African public space. This book analyses the principles of the sacred kingship which lie at the core of the king’s different roles. While showing that the king’s body acts as a container of bodily substances transformed into unifying ancestral life-essence by appropriate means, and bestowed upon its subjects, it develops an innovative approach to bodily and material cultures as an essential component of the technologies of power. In so doing, it departs significantly from previous approaches to sacred kingship.

Contents:

Preliminary material / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter One. The human flesh / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Two. The subjects as containers / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Three. The skin-citizens / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Four. \'Smoke must be kept inside the house\' / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Five. The gifts of the dead monarchs / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Six. The closure of the country / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Seven. The king’s three bodies / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Eight. The royal excrement / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Nine. Unbreakable vital piggy-banks / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Ten. De-sexualised bachelors / J.-P. Warnier

Chapter Eleven. Theoretical questions, in bodily/material cultures / J.-P. Warnier

Bibliography / J.-P. Warnier

The mankon language and its transcription / J.-P. Warnier

Mankon glossary / J.-P. Warnier

Indices / J.-P. Warnier.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-309) and indexes.

ISBN:

1-281-92609-4

9786611926090

90-474-2270-8

OCLC:

646789015

Publisher Number:

10.1163/ej.9789004152175.i-325 DOI