In Dante’s Inferno, the lowest circle of Hell is reserved for traitors, those who betrayed their closest companions. In a wide range of literatures and mythologies such intimate aggression is a source of ultimate terror, and in Witchcraft, Intimacy, and Trust, Peter Geschiere masterfully sketches it as a central ember at the core of human relationships, one brutally revealed in the practice of witchcraft. Examining witchcraft in its variety of forms throughout the globe, ...

Decoding conspiracy thinking at the nexus of sexuality, Freemasonry, and the occult.In this book, anthropologists Rogers Orock and Peter Geschiere examine the moral panic over a perceived rise in homosexuality that engulfed Cameroon and Gabon beginning in the early twenty-first century. As they uncover the origins of the conspiratorial narratives that fed this obsession, they argue that the public's fears were grounded in historically situated assumptions about the...

Mais la découverte de ces formes d'accumulation a conduit maints experts -en particulier de la Banque mondiale- à surestimer l'opposition entre l'Etat et la société, et à imputer à la seule corruption des classes politiques ou au dirigisme étatique la crise économique. A partir du cas du Cameroun, cet ouvrage montre que les choses sont plus complexes et ambiguës. Les processus "informels" d'accumulation, bien bien loin de représenter un "autre sentier" qui mènerait au développement, sont e...

What are the fundamental issues, processes, agency and dynamics that shape the political economy of life in modern Africa? In this book, the contributors - experts in anthropology, history, political science, economics, conflict and peace studies, philosophy and language - examine the opportunities and constraints placed on living, livelihoods and sustainable life on the continent. Reflecting on why and how the political economy of life approach is essential for understanding the social pr...

The notion of citizenship has gradually evolved from being simply a legal status or practice to a deep sentiment. Belonging, or feeling at home, has become a requirement. This groundbreaking book analyzes how 'feeling rules' are developed and applied to migrants, who are increasingly expected to express feelings of attachment, belonging, connectedness and loyalty to their new country. More than this, however, it demonstrates how this culturalization of citizenship is a global trend with lo...

First published in 1985. This book is the result of a long series of meetings of the Amsterdam Work-group for Marxist Anthropology, extending over a number of years starting from 1977. It has some changes and expansions from the original Dutch version.