Modern Sovereign by Joseph Tonda

Modern Sovereign by Joseph Tonda

The “Modern Sovereign,” a notion indebted both to Hobbes’s Leviathan and Marx’s conception of capital, refers to the power that governed the African multitudes from the earliest colonial days to the post-colonial era. It is an internalized power, responsible for the multiform violence exerted on bodies and imaginations. Joseph Tonda contends that in Central Africa—and particularly in Gabon and the Congo—the body is at the heart of political, religious, sexual, economic, and ritual power. This, he argues, is confirmed by the strong link between corporeal and political matters, and by the ostentatious display of bodies in African life. The body of power asserts itself as both matter and spirit, and it incorporates the seductive force of money, commodities, sex, and knowledge. Tonda’s incisive analysis reveals how this sovereign power is a social relation, historically constituted by the violence of the African cultural Imaginary and the realities of State, Market, and Church. It is to be understood, he asserts, through a generalized theory economic, political, and religious fetishism. By introducing this crucial critical voice from contemporary Africa into the English language, The Modern Sovereign makes a significant contribution to field of anthropology, political science, and African studies.

“Tonda offers a fascinating insight into ‘the imaginary power’ and ‘power of the imagination’ in Central AfricaThis analysis highlights the essential place occupied by the body and the structuring role of violence and fetishism at once religious, political, economic and sexual." * L'Homme *

Joseph Tonda is professor of sociology at Omar Bongo University, Libreville, Gabon. He is also a regular visiting instructor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Chris Turner is a translator and writer living in Birmingham, UK. He has translated more than eighty books from French and German.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780857426888
ISBN 10	0857426885
Titel	Modern Sovereign
Autor	Joseph Tonda
Serie	The Africa List
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Hardback
Verlag	Seagull Books London Ltd
Erscheinungsjahr	2021-04-30
Seitenanzahl	456
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar