Alltägliche Zauberei

Über Sinn und Symbolik magischen Handelns bei den Hausa in Niger

Author: Markus Verne.

1999
135 pp.
1 map
Text language(s): German
Format: 150 x 210 mm
240 g
Paperback
€ 29.80

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This study is concerned with the meaning and symbolism of using magic among the inhabitants of Zinder (Republic of Niger), a West African city bordering the Sahel region. It is based on ethnographic material collected by the author among the Hausa in Zinder during a nine-month stay in 1995. The book argues that the interpretation of sorcery as ‘ritual’ – i.e. as symbolic action, discussing social, political, economical or whatever dynamics of Hausa culture in an ‘expressive’ manner – is an inadequate reduction of the topic. Instead, when the question of ‘why they do it’ is raised, the explicit intentions of the actors must not be ignored, without reducing sorcery to an effective means to achieve desired results.

Starting with a historical survey of the scientific opinions regarding magic, the author critically follows the two major lines of the discussion: both, the ‘literal’ approach with its concern for the logics of human action, and the ‘ritualist’ approach using subordinated aspects of society as frames of reference for its interpretations, are unwilling to take into account the complexity of action in the daily life context – the focus chosen in this book.

In the second part, sorcery is therefore analysed from an ethnographical perspective, using the description of a specific magical ritual to open up an approach close to the concerns and preoccupations of the people participating in and interacting with the ritual. The closing chapter contains a symbolistic discussion of ritual actions, again with special emphasis on an approach concerned with the individual’s experience, yet well integrated into a sound scientific analysis.

Under these links you will find further studies of the Hausa culture and language, on alternative healing practices, as well as on Berber languages and cultures in Niger:

Accompanying material:

• Dealing with Disorder (ISBN 978-3-89645-082-1)
• Dialoge, Prosa und Liedtexte aus dem Lehrbuch der Hausa-Sprache (Audio-CD) (ISBN 978-3-89645-007-4)
• Ein Heilungsritual der Dama, Südwestafrika/Namibia (ISBN 978-3-89645-351-8)
• From Oral Literature to Video (ISBN 978-3-89645-579-6)
• Hausa and the Chadic Language Family (ISBN 978-3-927620-36-0)
• Hausa Comparative Dictionary (ISBN 978-3-927620-53-7)
• Hexenjagd und Aufklärung in Ghana (ISBN 978-3-89645-909-1)
• Khoisan Medicine in History and Practice (ISBN 978-3-89645-148-4)
• Lehrbuch der Hausa-Sprache (ISBN 978-3-89645-006-7)
• Lehrbuch der Hausa-Sprache mit Audio-CD (ISBN 978-3-89645-008-1)
• Medicine Experts of the |Xam San (ISBN 978-3-89645-147-7)
• The |Xam and the Rain (ISBN 978-3-89645-866-7)
• Voices of Affliction (ISBN 978-3-89645-245-0)

Cross-reference:

• A Grammar of Ayer Tuareg (Niger) (ISBN 978-3-89645-930-5)
• Aspects of the Aesthetics of Hausa Verbal Art (ISBN 978-3-89645-264-1)
• Brunnen und Felder (ISBN 978-3-89645-895-7)
• Das Dogma der Partizipation (ISBN 978-3-89645-820-9)
• L’Histoire du Niger, transcrit du touareg de l’Ayr (ISBN 978-3-89645-953-4)
• Le tetserret, langue berbère du Niger (ISBN 978-3-89645-938-1)

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