The Sacred Void by David Parkin
In this innovative study, David Parkin shows how indigenous African rites and beliefs may be reworked to accommodate a variety of economic systems, new spatial and ecological relations between communities, and the locally variable influences of Islam and Christianity. The Giriama people of Kenya include pastoralists living in the hinterland; farmers, who work land closer to the coast; and migrants, who earn money as labourers or fishermen on the coast itself. Wherever they live, they revere an ancient and formerly fortified capital, located in the pastoralist hinterland, which few of them ever see or visit. Their different perspectives sometimes conflict, but together provide a shifting idea of the sacred place. As the site of occasional large-scale ceremonies, moreover, the settlement becomes especially important at times of national crisis. It then acts as a moral core of Giriama society, and a symbolic defence against total domination and assimilation.-
Outline of a Theory of Practice
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Kinship and Marriage
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The Anthropology of Numbers
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Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity
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Production and Reproduction
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Muslim Society
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The Architecture of Memory
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Kinship and Class in the West Indies
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World Conqueror and World Renouncer
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Power and Intimacy in the Christian Philippines
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Contesting Culture
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Spirits of Protest
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The Roads of Chinese Childhood
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Resources and Population
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Mangrove Man
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The Trading Crowd
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Mass Culture and Modernism in Egypt
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The Making of the Modern Greek Family
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Power and Religiosity in a Post-Colonial Setting
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Social Inequality in a Portuguese Hamlet
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People and the State
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Individual and Society in Guiana
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Priests, Witches and Power
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Religion and Custom in a Muslim Society
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Tradition as Truth and Communication
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Bartered Brides
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Hunters and Herders of Southern Africa
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Spirit Possession and Personhood among the Kel Ewey Tuareg
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Varieties of Javanese Religion
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Strategies and Norms in a Changing Matrilineal Society
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The New Racism in Europe
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South Coast New Guinea Cultures
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Overlooking Nazareth
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The Fish People
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Identity through History
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A Place of their Own
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Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean
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Stealing People's Names
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Casting out Anger
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Elite Politics in Rural India
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The Making of the Basque Nation
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The Abandoned Narcotic
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People of the Zongo
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Native Lords of Quito in the Age of the Incas
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The Bedouin of Cyrenaica
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Women and Property in Morocco
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Revise Nursing
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Kinship and Family
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Kinship
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Holistic Anthropology
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The Nose That Nobody Picked
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The Politics of Cultural Performance
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Neighbours and Nationals in an African City Ward
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The Transformative Materiality of Meaning-Making
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Town and Country in Central and Eastern Africa
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Transformations of African Marriage
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The Status of Birds in Britain and Ireland
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The Anthropology of Evil
'Parkin's knowledge of East African societies is second to none As with his previous works, it contributes significantly to our understanding of the complexities of change in modern Africa' Man
David Parkin is Emeritus Professor at Oxford University and Honorary Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He has carried out a number of years' fieldwork among different peoples and in different ecologies: the Luo of western Kenya, the Giriama of eastern Kenya, and Swahili-speakers in Zanzibar and Mombasa on Islam, cultural politics, healing?and?cross-cultural semantics. Parkin is former chairman of the International African Institute and of the Association of Social Anthropologists, elected fellow of the British Academy, and since 2009 has been research professor at the Max Planck Institute for Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Goettingen, Germany, focusing on medical and sociolinguistic processes of diversification.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780521404662 |
| ISBN 10 | 0521404665 |
| Title | The Sacred Void |
| Author | David Parkin |
| Series | Cambridge Studies In Social And Cultural Anthropology |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 1991-07-26 |
| Number of pages | 284 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |