"This ethnography is more like a film than a book, so well does Stoller evoke the color, sight, sounds, and movements of Songhay possession ceremonies."— Choice"Stoller brilliantly recreates the reality of spirit presence; hosts are what they mediate, and spirits become flesh and blood in the 'fusion' with human existence. . . . An excellent demonstration of the benefits of a new genre of ethnographic writing. It expands our understanding of the harsh world of Songhay mediu...

Paul Stoller has been writing a popular blog for the Huffington Post since 2011. Blogging, says Stoller, allows him to bring an anthropological perspective to contemporary debates, but it also makes him a better writer: snappier, more concise, and more focused on the connection he wants to make with readers. In this collection of selected blog posts, Stoller models good writing while sharing his insights on politics (including the emergence of "Trumpism" and the impact of ignoranc...

Yaya’s Story is a book about Yaya Harouna*,* a Songhay trader originally from Niger who found a path to America. It is also a book about Paul Stoller—its author—an American anthropologist who found his own path to Africa. Separated by ethnicity, language, profession, and culture, these two men’s lives couldn’t be more different. But when they were both threatened by a grave illness—cancer—those differences evaporated, and the two were brought to profound existential convergence, a...

Wisdom From the Edge describes what anthropologists can do to contribute to the social and cultural changes that shape a social future of wellbeing and viability. Paul Stoller shows how anthropologists can develop sensuously described ethnographic narratives to communicate powerfully their insights to a wide range of audiences. These insights are filled with wisdom about how respect for nature is central to the future of humankind. Stoller demonst...

A study of the West African Hauka - spirits that grotesquely mimic and mock "Europeans" of the colonial epoch. The author considers spirit possession as a set of embodied practices with serious social and cultural consequences. Embodying Colonial Memories is the first in-depth study of the West African Hauka, spirits in the body of (human) mediums which mimic and mock Europeans of the colonial epoch. Paul Stoller, who was initiated into a spirit possessio...

This book emerges from the author's 35 years of research and thought about the Songhay people of Niger. This ethnographic novel follows the life of Omar Dia, the oldest son of a West African sorcerer. When his father falls ill and dies, the great sorcerer vomits a small metal chain onto his chest. Following the path of his ancestors, Omar swallows the chain, becoming his father's successor, which means that he takes on the sorcerer's burden. The book also describes how custodians of tradit...

The tale of Paul Stoller's sojourn among sorcerors in the Republic of Niger is a story of growth and change, of mutual respect and understanding that will challenge all who read it to plunge deeply into an alien world.

El libro que tiene el lector en sus manos no es un texto biográfico, es un análisis sobre los temas principales de investigación de Paul Stoller, en el que se abordan sus aportaciones en torno al pensamiento reflexivo y crítico, a la experiencia de campo y la escritura etnográfica, su crítica de la "observación participante", sus desarrollos en la antropología de los sentidos, el cuerpo y la po sesión; así como su experiencia etnográfica de aprendiz de hechicero en Níger y los problemas de...

When his son was killed in a train accident in 2007, Dr. Stoller discovered the effectiveness of hormone oxytocin in treating Pathological grief. Now, you can benefit from his personal experience, extensive research, and the sharing of this vital and life-changing information.

Climbing The Mountain is a user’s guide to the cancer experience. In it, the authors present a narrative of a cancer patient who used preparation (research), practice (exercise and activity), and a variety of social supports to live well within the parameters that cancer imposes. They consider how the scope and texture of preparation, practice, and social support changes along cancer s trail. Accordingly, they consider how to cope with the stresses and strains of diagnosis, first trea...

This volume presents the latest explorations of the literary turn in ethnographic work by many of the leading people in the area. Centering on autoethnography, personal narrative, ethnographic performance, and the blending of social science and the arts, the articles collected here emphasize embodiment, experiential understanding, participatory ways of knowing, sensuous engagement, and intimate encounter. Drawing from disciplines as diverse as sociology, philosophy, performance studies, co...

Discover the hidden energetic framework that guides every human experience in this groundbreaking spiritual guide. Universal Primer reveals the ancient wisdom of universal laws governing our existence in modern, accessible language. This illuminating text explores how seven fundamental energetic patterns—from the Law of Cause & Effect to the Law of Universal Mind—shape our reality and personal development. Through an innovative mapping of these laws to the chakra system, readers gain profo...