Returning life : language, life force, and history in Kilimanjaro /
Knut Christian Myhre.
- New York : Berghahn Books, (c)2017.
- 1 online resource.
- Methodology & history in anthropology ; volume 32 .
Includes bibliographies and index.
Prologue -- Introduction -- Kaa : historical transformations in production and habitation -- Ialika : marrying as a mode of extension -- Horu : channelling bodies and shifting subjects in an engaging world -- Idamira : burial as emplacement and displacement -- Iabisa : cursing as a linguistic and material practice -- Ngakuuriya moo : returning life, affording rain.
A group of Chagga-speaking men descend the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro to butcher animals and pour milk, beer, and blood on the ground, requesting rain for their continued existence. Returning Life explores how this event engages activities where life-force is transferred and transformed to afford and affect beings of different kinds. Historical sources demonstrate how the phenomenon of life-force encompasses coffee cash-cropping, Catholic Christianity, and colonial and post-colonial rule, and features in cognate languages from throughout the area. As this vivid ethnography explores how life projects through beings of different kinds, it brings to life concepts and practices that extend through time and space, transcending established analytics.--Publisher's summary.
9781785336669
2017051665
Chaga (African people)--Social life and customs.--Tanzania Chaga (African people)--Rites and ceremonies.--Tanzania Ethnology--Tanzania--Kilimanjaro Region.