Stoller, Paul (1989) The Taste of Ethnographic Things. The Senses in Anthropology PDF

The Taste of
Ethnographic Thi ngs

University of Pennsylvania Press
Contemporary Ethnography Series
Dan Rose and Paul Stoller, General Editors

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domble. 1991.
THE TASTE OF
ETHNOGRAPHIC
THINGS
The Senses
in Anthropology
Paul Stoller
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS Philadelphia

Jacket illustration: "Spice Bazaar." Photo by Cheryl Olkes
Frontispiece: "A Lamb Roast i n Mehanna, N i ger." Photo by the author
Figures 2, 9 , photos by Cheryl Olkes . All other figures photos by the au thor
Portions of Chapter 8 from Discourse and the Social Life of Meaning, ed.
P. Chock and J. Wyman . Copyright 1 986 by the Smi thsonian Institut ion .
Reprinted by permission .
Copyright 1 989 by the University of Pennsylvania Press

A l l rights reserved
Pri nted in the U n i ted Sta tes of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publ ica tion Data
Stol ler, Paul .

The taste o f ethnographic thi ngs : the senses i n anthropology I
Pau l Stol ler.
p. cm.-( U n i versity of Pennsy l vania Press contemporary
ethnography series)
Bibl iography: p.
Includes i ndex .
ISBN 0-8 1 22-8 1 86- 1 .-ISBN 0-8 1 22- 1 292-4 (pbk .)
I. Songhai (African people) 2. Sense and sensa tion-Cross
cul tural studies. 3. Ethnology- N i ger-Field work . I . Title.
I I . Series .
DT547 .4S .S65S765 1 989
306' .096626-dc20 89-33670
CIP
Thi rd paperback printing 1 992
For Cheryl
Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: A Return to the Senses 3
PART I
Tastes in Anthropology
1 T he Taste of Ethnographic Things 15

CO-AUTHORED BY CHERYL OLKES
PART II
Visions in the Field
2 Eye, Mind, and Word in Anthropology 37
3 "Gazing" at the Space of Songhay Politics 56
4 Signs in the Social Order: Riding a Songhay Bush Taxi 69
5 Son of Rouch: Songhay Visions of the Other 84
PART III
Sounds in Cultural Experience
6 Sound in Songhay Possession 101

x Contents
7 Sound in Songhay Sorcery 113
PART IV
The Senses in Anthropology
8 The Reconstruction of Ethnography 125
9 Detours 142
Notes 157
References Cited 167
Films Cited 178
Index 179
Illustrations
Frontispiece : A lamb roast in Mehanna
1 Preparation of"kilshi" at market in Mehanna 16
2 Spice bazaar 18
3 Gazing at space in Mehanna 38
4 The Friday mosque in Mehanna 55
5 Distribution of fields in Mehanna 58
6 Distribution of compounds in Mehanna 60
7 Exceptions to the normative distribution of Songhay space 61
8 A Songhay bush taxi on the Dosul to Markoy route 70
9 "Son of Rouch" in Niamey, Niger, 1976 85
10 Musicians at a possession ceremony in Mehanna, 1977 102
11 A possession ceremony in Mehanna, 1977 107
12 Sorko Djibo Mounmouni reciting an incantation over a

sacrificial chicken 114
13 Sorko Djibo Mounmouni , master of words 126
14 Sohanci Adamu Jenitongo , master of"detours" 143

Acknowledgments
This book is the result of the col lec t i ve efforts of many people and many
inst i t u t ions . I could not have traveled to Niger over the years wi thout gen
erous support from foundations and U .S . Govern ment Agencies . Fie l dwork
in 1 976-77 was financed through grants from the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral
Dissertation Program (G00-76-03659) and from the Wenner-Gren Founda
t ion for Anthropological Research (No. 3 1 75). Research in N i ger in 1 979-80
was made possible through a NATO Postdoctoral Fel lowship i n Sc ience . My
work in N iger i n 1 98 1 and 1 982-83 was made possible through grants from
the A merican Phi losophical Society and West Chester U n i versi ty. Grants
from the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and West
Chester Univers i ty made possible field studies i n the summer of 1 984.
Further grants from West Chester U n i versity enabled me to conduct re
search in N i ger in 1 985-86 and 1 987 .
The perspective of this boo k has been inf l uenced greatly by my gradu
ate studies in soc iolinguist ics at Georgetown U n i versity and in l i nguistic
anthropology at the U n i versity of Texas at Austi n . At Georgetown Roger
Shuy taught me a great deal about the relation between language and
soc iety, and Joan Rubin i n t roduced me to anthropology. At the U n i versity
of Texas a t Austin the intel lectual guidance offered me by Annette B. Weiner
and Joel Sherzer has been i nvaluable . At the M usee de ! ' Homme in Pa ris,
Jean Rouch pa tiently poi n ted a near-sigh ted student in the right d i rection .
In Niger, I must honor t h e memory o f the late Seyni Kountche , President of
the Repu b l i c , who gran ted me numerous au thori za tions to conduct eth
nographic field research in his country. At the Institut de Recherches en
Sciences Humaines I have received warm encouragement and support
xiv Acknowledgments
from Djoulde Laya, Dj ibo Haman i , and Hamidou Arouna Sidikou , past
direc tors , and Boube Gado, the present director. After mon ths in the Ni
gerien bush, Jean-Fran<;ois Berger, Tom and Barbara Hale, J i m and Heidi
Lowentha l , Tom Price, the Dji bo fami ly, and Kath leen Heffron invited me
into their homes and recei ved me w i th grac iousness and ki ndness .
Many people have commented on the various chapters in this book . In
part icular I acknowledge the insightful commentary of Jeanne Favret
Saada, Jean-Marie Gi bbal , Mart i n Murphy, Dan Rose , Judith Gleason , John
Chernoff , Smadar Lavie, Ph i l i p K i l bride, and Norman Wh i t ten , J r. Mem
bers of the staff of the Un iversity of Pennsylvania Press, part icularly Pa
tricia S m i t h , have worked with grea t dedication to transform this project
into a fine book . I thank them for their considerable effort s .
I would also like to acknow ledge three other people whose work and
efforts on my behalf have con tribu ted grea tly to the birth of this book . The
first is James Fernandez , who has been a con tinuous source of intellectual
suppor t , guidance, and encourageme n t . The second is Paul Riesma n , who
died suddenly i n 1 988 . Pau l 's field s i te among the Fulani of Burkina Faso
was a few hundred ki lometers wes t of mine in Niger. Early on, Paul Ries
man saw some thing in my work that others fa i led to see . He encouraged me
during frust ra t i ng t imes with his unforget table warm th and ki ndness . His
was an important voice i n the anthropological com muni ty, and I hope this
volume is i n a small way a testamen t to h i s sense of anthropology. Cheryl
Olkes has been involved i n my work from its beginning. We have shared
many joys in the field and the office . It is through her considerable efforts
that this book is readable and coheren t .
Lastly, I would l ike t o acknowledge the wisdom o f m y Songhay teach
er, Sohanci Adamu Jeni tongo, who died in 1 988 at the age of 1 06 . I was
privileged to have known him and learned from h i m . He taught me not
only a grea t deal about Songhay, but a grea t deal about anthropology as
wel l .
*
Much of this book consists of previously publ ished material that has been
expanded, revised , and upda ted . An earl ier version of Chapter I was pub
l i shed as " Bad Sauce , Good Ethnography " i n Cultural Anthropology I: 336-
52 . Chapter 2, " Eye , Mind , and Word in Anthropology, " was revised from an
article pub l i shed in the French journal L'Homme 24: 93- 1 1 4 . " ' Gazi ng' at
the Space of Songhay Pol i t ics" was fash ioned from two prev iously pub
lished articles, "The Negotiation of Songhay Space : Phenomenology in the
Heart of Darkness , " American Ethnologist 7: 4 1 9-3 1 , and " Re l a t i v i ty and
the Anthropologist 's Gaze , " Anthropology and Human ism Quarterly 7(4) : 2-
1 0 . Chapter 4 is a revised version of an article that originally appeared in
Acknowledgmen ts xv
the American Ethnologist 9 : 7 50-62 . Material in Chapter 5 was revised from

an article that appeared in Anthropology Quarterly 60: 1 1 4-24 . Chapters 6
and 7 were fashioned- w i th the i nclusion of much new information-from
one article, " Sound in Songhay Cul tural Experience , " publ ished in Ameri
ca n Eth nologist 1 1 : 559-70. Chapter 8 is also a revision of a previously
publ i shed article. " The Reconstruction of Ethnography " was first del iv
ered as a lecture to the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1 983 and
then appeared in P. Chock and J. Wyman's edi ted volume, Discourse and the
Social Life of Mean ing (pp. 5 1 -75), publ ished for the Anthropological So
ciety of Washington by the S m i thsonian Insti tution Press . The material i n
Chapter 9 h a s n o t been previously publ ished .
Today you are learning abou t us, but to understand us you w i l l have to
grow old with us .
Adamu Jeni tongo , zima of T i l laberi , Niger
I real ly do think with my pen , because my head often knows nothing

about what my hand is wri t i n g .
Wit tgenstein
Introduction: A Return to the
Senses
In the summer of 1 969 I went to the Republ i c of N iger for the first t i me. As a
recently recrui ted English teacher, I spent my first two weeks there as a
guest of the governmen t . They housed me i n a spacious v i l l a and provided
me a government chef who had been trained i n Paris . My p lush a i r
condi t ioned quarters protected me from the hea t , mosqui toes, and dust of
sum mer in N i ger.
This luxurious arrangement i n i tially diverted me from the sensua l
rea l i t ies o f u rban N i ger: naked c h i ldren defecating into t h e d i tches which
carried the c i t y 's sewage ; clouds of aromatic smoke rising from gri lls on
which butchers roasted mouth-watering s l i ces of m u tton ; d i rt roads ren
dered i mpassible by ra t-infested h i l l s of rott i n g garbage ; gen t l e w i nds
carrying the pungent sme l l of freshly pounded ginger; skeletal lepers
thrusting their stump-hands in people's faces-their way of asking for
money; port ly men wrapped in elaborately embroidered b l ue damask
robes, e merging from their Mercedes sedans; b l i nd and crippled beggars ,
dressed in grimy rags, singing for their mea l s .
After a two-week dream hol iday, I walked i nto t h a t world a n d re
mained there for two years . What did I experience ? At first I dove i n to the
sensual world of t he ci ty. I was particularly struck by the m isery of the
" have-nots" juxtaposed with the i nsouciance of the " haves ." The misery of
the " have-nots" was a t once horrifying and fascinating. I t was horrifying
because nothing i n my twenty- two years of l i fe had prepared me for such
human deprivation . I t was fascinating for the same reason that makes
motorists slow down or stop at the scene of a gruesome automobile acci
den t . The i nsouciance of the " haves" was also horrifying and fasc i nating.
4 Introduction
How could people with so much be blind to those with so l i ttle? At first
Africa assailed my senses. I smel led and tasted eth nographic thi ngs and
was both repel led by and a t t racted to a new spectrum of odors, flavors,
sights, and sounds .
My sensual openness, however, was short l i ved . I quickly lost touch
with those scenes of abject depri vat ion which blended i n to those of i nsensi
tive consumption . I soon lost scent of the nose-cri nkling stench of the open
sewer that gave way to the aromatic aromas of roast i ng mea t . My ears soon
deafened to the moans of a sick child that were overwhelmed by the happy
laughter of a heal thy one . I had become an experience-hardened Africa
hand . My i mmersion i n Niger, in Africa, had bee n , i n short , distanciated ,
i n tel lectual i zed-taken out of the rea l m of sensual sen t i men t . The world of
ethnographic thi ngs had lost i ts tastes .
My i n tel lectualist vi sion compelled me to write about my early experi
ence in N i ger for a variety of publicat ions in the U n i ted Sta tes . It also
propel led me toward graduate study, first in l inguistics and then in social
anthropology. I wan ted to master N iger-Africa-by understanding her
deeply. My graduate studies sharpened my intellectualist vision and nar
rowed my sensual horizons. One does fieldwor k , I learned , to gather " data"
from i n forman ts. One collects these data, brings them " home " and then ,
from an objec tive distance , analyzes the m . The analysis focuses on an
in tel lectual problem-kinship, sociocul tural change, symbolic meaning
the solu t ion to which refines social theory. The underlying premise of this
epistemology is fundamen tal : one can separa te thought from feeling and
action .
So I believed when I returned to N iger in 1 976 to conduct my doctoral
research . My projec t was to assess the impact of ritual language on local
pol i t ics among the Songhay. My methods consisted of an assortment of
research i nterventions: a language a t t i tude survey, a census , and tape
recorded l i nguistic data of everyday in terac tions and religious ceremon ies .
My findings would then be used to make a con tribut ion to theory in l i nguis
tic anthropology.
In the field , as most anthropologists know,
The best laid schemes o' mice and men

Gang aft a-gley.'
There is nothing wrong with the conventional research met hods I used, but
they fai led , nonetheless , because most Songhay refused to coo perate w i th
me . They scarcely knew this man who had the temeri ty to ask strange
questions and wri te down t he responses . In fac t , my gaze was so narrow ly
focused i n 1 976-77 that I m i ssed much of what " went on " during my first
year in the fiel d . I had made a number of friends during that pe riod . friends
Introduction 5
who were i mpressed by my command of the Songhay language , but despite

my l i nguistic fac i l i ty they revealed l i t t le of themsel ves to me . When i t came
t i me for me to leave , I prom ised to return , but I don ' t think many of my
friends bel ieved me . For them . one must demonstra te friendsh i p over a
long period of t i m e . The n , and only then , do the seeds of trust germinate .
I returned to Niger in 1979-80, 1981, 1982-83 , 1 984, 1 985-86, 198 7 ,
a n d 1 98 8 . On each successive t r i p budd ing relat ionsh i ps grew i n t o ful l y
rooted friendsh ips, friendsh ips t h a t bore t h e frui t of trust . Some people
admit ted to having told me on ly parts of their stories . Other people asked
me to join their fam i l ies as a " fic t i ve son ." Ada mu Jeni tongo , who became
my Songhay " father" and my pri ncipal teacher, bui l t me a sma l l mudbrick
house i n his compound . A few people came to trust me deeply because , in
the words of Amadu Zi ma, an old possession pries t , t hey " l i ked me, l i ked
me a lot ." When I traveled to N iger in March of 1 988 to at tend Adamu
Jeni tongo 's funera l , the members of his fam i l y were deeply moved .
" You came a l l this way to see Baba ? " one of his wives asked .
" Love , " I answered, " i s something" (Bakasine hyfo no).
In fac t , it is the play of personal i t ies, the presentat ion of self. and the
presence of sen t i ment-not only the soundness of conven t ional research
methods- that have become the reasons for my deep i m mersion i n to the
Songhay worl d . Slowly, I uncovered an i m portant ru le : one cannot sepa
ra te though t from feel i n g and act ion ; they are i nex tricably l inked .
This rea lization opened my senses once again to the world of eth
nographic things, to N i ger. In 1 969 my senses were tuned to the otherness ,
to the squalor of N iger; my senses of taste , smel l , heari ng, and sight entered
into Nigerien set t ings . Now I let the sigh ts, sounds , sme l l s , and tastes of
N iger flow into me .2 This fundamental ru le in epistemological hum i l i ty
taugh t me that taste, sme l l , and hearing are often more i mportant for the
Songhay than sigh t , the privi leged sense of the Wes t . In Songhay one can
taste kinship, sme l l wi tches , and hear the ancestors .
T H E S T U DY A N D REST U DY OF S O N G HAY
The Songhay are a peop le proud of their pas t , trac i n g their origins to the
eighth century and the com ing of the legendary A l i aman Za to the N iger
River basin near the presen t-day city of Gao , i n Mal i . Along the banks of the
Niger, Za founded the first Songhay dynasty, the Zas ; it remai ned in tact
u n t i l the fourteenth cen tury, when Ali Kolon , who had freed Songhay from
the yoke of the Mali Empire, dec lared a second dynasty, the Son n i s . The
Sonn i dynasty reached the zen i t h of i ts power with the reign of Sonni A l i
B e r ( 1 463-9 1 ) . Sonni A l i B e r expanded t h e i n fl uence a n d power o f Songhay
duri ng h is epoch . His successor, Askia Mohammed Toure ( 1493- 1 528), who
founded the third and final Songhay dynasty, the Askiad, bureaucratized
6 Introduction
the Empire and extended i ts borders . After the reign of Askia Moham med
the i nfluence and power of the Empire waned . In 1 59 1 , the arm ies of the
Moroccan , El Mansur, defea ted Songhay and ended the i ndependent ru le of
what had been a great Sahelian empire .
In t h e wake of t h i s calami tous defea t , Songhay nobles fled t o t h e south
and establ ished a southern empire , wh ich , because of i nternecine confl icts,
was soon balkanized i n to five principa l i t ies . These pol i ties maintained
their autonomy until the com ing of French armies during the last decade of
the n ineteenth century.
The Songhay s t i l l l i ve along the N iger River basin in western Niger,
eastern Mal i , and northern Ben i n . As in the pas t , they farm m i l let in most
regions and cul t i vate rice in riverine areas . The society is divided into three
general groups of unequal status: the nobles , who trace their descent
patri l i neal ly to Askia Mohammed Toure; former slaves, who trace their
descent patril i neally to prisoners of precolonial wars; and foreigners , peo
ples who have migrated i n to Songhay country in the distant or recen t pas t .
T h i s summary of t h e historic p a s t a n d t h e social present is the result o f
m y study o f Songhay society. It is based o n both l ibrary a n d fi e l d research
in 1 976-77 . My restudies, conducted in 1 979-80, 1 98 1 , 1 982-83 , 1 984,
1 985-86, and 1 987 have revealed a grea t deal more . The tripart i te pattern
of Songhay social organization has recently been underm ined , not by the
excesses of colon ialism and i ndependence , but by incessan t drought , fam
ine, and urban migration . Haunted by dry skies , dusty soi l , and barren
fields, many Songhay have left the countryside , abandoning i n the dust
some of their cultural trad i t ions . I n the face of this sociocultural dessica
tion , the Songhay nonetheless remember their proud past and maintain
their distinc t cultural identi ty.
Besides giving me the perspective to assess social change , long term
study of Songhay has plunged me i n to the Songhay worlds of sorcery and
possession , worlds the wisdom of which is closed to outsiders-even Song
hay outsiders . My insistence on long term study forced me to confront the
interpretative errors of earlier visi ts. Restudying Songhay also enabled me
to get a bit closer to " getting it right ." But I have just begun to walk my
pat h . As Adamu Jeni tongo once told me , "Today you are learn i ng about us,
but to understand us, you will have to grow old with us."
Al though restudy has long been a research methodology among French
ethnologists, many Anglo-American anthropologists have been content to
visit the field one , two, or perhaps three t i mes during their academic
careers . This tendency is me thodologically disastrous . Like the essays i n
George Foster's volume Long Term Field Research i n Social Anthropology, the
chapters of this book reflect the methodological and intellectual rewards of
long term study i n anthropology. This book suggests that one can discover a
Introduction 7
great many "ethnographic facts" i n one year of fieldwork, but it takes years ,
no matter the perspicacity of the observer, to develop a deep comp rehen
sion of others .
Ongoing study of Songhay has also compelled me to tune my senses to
the frequencies of Songhay sens i b i l i ties . Had I l i m i ted my fieldwork i n
Songhay t o one year or two, I would have produced i n te llectualist tracts,
just l i ke the summary above of Songhay history and social organization , i n
which individual Songhay are "edi ted out " o f the d iscourse, a n d i n which
the sense of sight is prior to those of smell , taste, and sound . Returning to
N i ger year after year taught me that Songhay use senses other than sight to
ca tegorize thei r soc iocultural experience . If a nthropologists are to produce
knowledge , how can they ignore how their own sensual b iases affect the
information they produce ? This book demonstrates why a nthropologists
should open their senses to the worlds of their others .
T H E S E N S E S A N D ETH N O G RAPHIC WRITIN G

My rediscovery o f t h e sensual aspects o f Songhay social l i fe is unfortu
nately the exception rather than the rule in the Western academy. For us,
dry first principles are genera l l y more important than mouth-watering
aromas. It was not always this way, however. In sixteenth-century France
savants only rarely used visual metaphors to exp lain natura l phenomena.
In fac t a number of scholars bel ieve that prior to the eighteenth century the
sense of sight was far less developed, cogni tively speaking, than those of
touch , smel l , or heari n g .
A case i n poi n t brought forward by D a v i d Howes concerns t h e medi
eval adjudication of c l a i ms that a person died a sain t .
Exhum i n g h i s body about a year after burial , people discovered i n every case
that a sweet fragrance rose from the sai n t 's tom b . The flesh had largely van
ished from the bones; and the redolence that remained indicated the absence of
putrefact ion . The pleasing aroma, cal led the odor of sanctity, proved that the
sai n t had miraculously exuviated his flesh . Possessed therefore of a n excamate
form rendering him i mpervious both to desires and to the sins of the flesh , the
sa int received divine power.3
As Howes argues, here is an analysis based on an olfactory as opposed to a

visual bias .4
This sensualism stood in stark contrast to the ethos of the Middle Ages,
throughout which sensual ists were considered b lasphemers . W i th the En
l ightenme n t , Suzanne Langer wrote, " the senses, long despised and at
tributed to the i nteresting but i mproper domai n of the devi l , were rec
ognized as man 's most valuable servants, and were rescued from their
classical disgrace to wai t on him i n his new venture."5 Sense data, espe-
8 Introduction
cially visua l , became all-i mportant to the emerging scien t i fic cul ture . Em
piricism ecl i psed rationalism . The emphasis on empi rical observation
raised sight to a privileged position , soon rep lacing the bias of the " lower
senses" (especially sme l l and touch).
In medicine, as Foucau l t rem inds us, the coronat ion of sight occurred
i n the late eigh teen th century. Prior to the emergence of cli nical medicine,
physicians believed that odor could i ndicate as well as spread disease .
With the advent of anatomy, the body was for the first time "opened up" to
the observing eyes of physicians who began to spatialize and categorize
tissues , bones , and organs.6
In philosophy, Kan t 's seminal Critique ofJudgment, pub lished in 1 790 ,
was the pioneering effort in the distanciation of observer from observed .
In his Critique Kant intel lectua l i zed and i magined priori ties among the
senses, relegating sme l l , taste , and touch to the level of brute as opposed to
aesthetic sensa tion . Combined with the visual i n tel lectua l i sm of the En
l ightenment thi nkers , the i n fl uence of Kant removed Western observers
from the arena of sensual i ty, consequently expunging the so-called lower
senses from our discourse, resul t i n g in what Suzanne Langer might have
cal led " reason 's disgrace."
Anthropological wri ters have become fu ll partners in " reason 's dis
grace ." In 1 922 Mal i nowski established the goal of ethnographic wri t i n g : to
write a document that gi ves the reader a sense of what it is l i ke to l i ve i n the
lands of others . Al though Malinowski 's wri ting was ful l of dense ethno
graphic deta i l , it also fea tured many sensual passages that described the
sights and sounds of Trobriand social l i fe on land and sea.
Occasionally a wave leaps up and above the platform , and the canoe-un
wieldy, square craft as it seems at first-heaves lengthways and crossways ,
mounting the furrows with graceful agi l i ty. When the sai l is hoisted , its heavy,
stiff folds of golden ma tting unroll w i t h a charac teristic swish ing and crackling
noise , and the canoe begi ns to make way ; when the water rushes away below
with a hiss, and the yellow sai l glows against the i n tense blue of sea and sky
then indeed the romance of sa i l ing seems to open through a new vista.?
S i nce Malinowski 's t i m e , however, anthropology has become more and

more scientistic . Vivid descri pt ions of the sensoria of e thnographic s i t
uations have been largely overshadowed by a dry, analytical prose . In
problem-oriented ethnography, da ta-excluding i n large measure the non
visual senses-are used to refine aspec ts of social theory. Los t on this dry
steppe of i n tellectualized prose are charac terizations of others as they lead
their social l ives . Such a trend has unfortunately narrowed the readership
for most ethnograph ies , and has made anthropology a disc i p l i ne in which
practitioners i ncreasingly speak only to each ot her- not to mult iple au
diences . One path out of this morass , as I argue i n this book, is to write
Introduction 9
ethnographies that describe the sensual aspects of the fi e l d . Such a tack

w i l l make us more cri t ically aware of our sensual biases and force us to
write e thnographies that combine the strengths of science w i t h the re
wards of the human it ies .
But " sensua l " means more t han describing the way t h ings look or
smell i n the land of the others . The l i ngeri ng i n fl uence of Kant has rein
forced our visual orientation to the world . Such visualism , as I have men
t ioned , can be a Eurocent ric mist ake for cross-cultural studies of societies
i n which the senses of taste or sme l l are more i mportant than vision .
Accordi ngly, several chapters in t h i s book discuss taste , smel l , and sou n d . I
suggest that consideri ng t he senses of taste, sme l l , and hearing as much as
pri v i leged sight w i l l not only make ethnography more vivid and more
accessible, but w i l l render our accoun ts of others more fai thfu l to the
rea l i t ies of the field-account s which will then be more, rather than less ,
scientifi c .
It is also i m portan t , however, to redefine o u r orientat ion to sigh t , for
anthropologist s must learn to assess crit ically their ow n gazes. The chap
ters i n Part II, "Visions i n the Fiel d , " speak to t he i mportance of crit ical
reflect ion in t he field and i n the office . A crit ical doub t reveals to us our
percept ual delusions , the source of many of the profound misi nterpreta
t ions that undermine so many ant h ropological represen tat ions of others .8
The works of James C l i fford and George Marcus, among ot hers , have
cast a cri tical doubt on anthropological and et hnographic praxi s . This
body of work has forced anthropologists to consider the representation of
others as a major disc i p l i nary probl e m .9 This wri t i n g , however, often suf
fers from discombobulation . Cri t ical wri ters consi der the rarefied prob
lems of phi losophy and aesthet ics in t he human sciences w i t h l i m i ted
reference to real people in real situations- i n our case , the play of prob
lems i n t he fiel d . 10 The chapters i n t h i s book i l l ust rate t he benefi ts of
grounding our theoret ical ru mi nat ions in descript i ve eth nography. In this
way theory-science- is not repudiated , but is reduced to a non-reified
too l wh ich helps to unravel the tangled c u l tural mysteries of other so
cieties.
A FOU R COU RSE MEAL

This book is d i v i ded i nto four parts . Part I, " Tastes , " consists of one chapter,
" The Taste of Ethnographic Th ings , " an essay on taste and sme l l , elements
of sensual experience which are genera l l y ignored i n et hnographic dis
course . Here I demonstr ate not only how taste and smel l are central i ngre
dients in the reci pe of Songhay social rela tions, but also why most Western
writers wou l d consider t hese et hnographic spices tasteless addit ions to t he
sauce of Songhay eth nography.
Part I I , "Visions in the Fiel d , " the longest section of t he book , consists
10 Introduction
of four chap ters on my percept ion of the Songhay and their perception of
me . In Chapter 2, " Eye, Mind , and Word in An thropology," I discuss how
and why Wes tern " intellectua l ism" has i mpoverished our visual percep
tion . I call on anthropologists to adopt " the pain ter's gaze ." " 'Gazing' at the
Space of Songhay Pol i t ics," Chapter 3, considers how the privileged sense
of vision influenced my perception of things Songhay, prompting me on
numerous occasions to see social pat terns that did not exist . My abi l i ty to
" read" Songhay i n teraction is considered in Chapter 4 , " Signs in the Social
Order: Riding a Songhay Bush Tax i ." If ethnographers want to be able to
"see" the deep significance of everyday i n teract ion , I argue , they must
return to the field year after year. In Chapter 5, " Son of Rouch : Songhay
Visions of the Other," the ethnographic world of vision is turned upside
dow n . Here, Songhay images of the ethnographer-as-European are high
lighted .
Part III, " Sounds in Cul tural Experience ," consists of two chapters .
The role of sound as a vi tal force in Songhay possession ceremonies is
probed i n Chapter 6 , " Sound i n Songhay Possession ." Here the conse
quences of taki ng an audi tory as opposed to a visual orientation to the
world are considered in the ethnographic context of Songhay possession .
In Chapter 7 the same auditory orientation is used to examine the physical
power of words in Songhay sorcery.
There are but two chapters in Part IV, " The Senses in Anthropology." In
Chapter 8 , 'The Reconst ruct ion of Ethnography," I consider the philosoph
ical underp i n n ings of the anthropological "episteme" and demonstrate
how the decaying pri nciples of the Western metaphysic have shaped what
we see , how we think, what we say and how we write. Chapter 9 , " Detours ,"
advocates the phenomenological return to things themselves-to poetry, to
conversat ions w i th others as we ll as oursel ves .
*
Taken together, the chap ters in this book speak to two important and
integra ted issues germane to the fu ture course of anthropological research
and represen tat ion . The first is methodologica l . The book demonstrates the
consi derable scie n t i fic rewards of the long term study of one society. Break
throughs in the apprehension of Songhay space and real i zations of the
importance of sound and taste in Songhay cul tural categorizat ion occurred
only after repeated visits to N i ger over a period of years . Breakthroughs
occurred because I mastered the language during those years and estab
l ished lasting friendships bui l t on a foundation of mutual trust .
Long term study of the Songhay also revealed t o me epistemological
biases which produced serious errors of in terpretat ion and representation .
Recog n i t ion of these errors led me to the second issue i l l ustrated in this
Introduction 11
book : the sensualization of my approach to the study and representation of

Songhay. This book represents the intel lectual context for my ethnographic
work (In Sorcery's Shadow [ 1 987] and Fusion ofthe Worlds [ 1 989]), i n which
I t ry to represent faithfu l l y the complexities-sensual and otherwise-of
Songhay society and cul ture . As a complex , this work strives to real ize the
simple but ever- d i fficu l t goal that Malinowski long ago set for our disci
p l i ne : to produce an ethnographic l i terature that gives readers a taste of
ethnographic t hings .
PA R T I
Tastes in Anthropology
Some books are to be tasted , others to be swallowed , some few to be

chewed and digested .
F. Bacon
The Taste of Ethnographic
1 Things
CO - AUTHO R ED B Y CH E RY L O L K E S
A l l meats that can endure i t I l i ke rare , and I l ike them high , even to the poin t of
sme l l i n g bad i n many cases . 1
Montaigne
Like other peoples in Sahel ian West Africa, the Songhay take great pride in
their hospitali ty. "A guest is God i n your house , " goes the Songhay adage ,
and so when strangers are accepted as guests i n most Songhay compounds
they receive the best of what their hosts can alford to offer. The host
displaces his own kin from one of his houses and gives it to the gues t . He
removes the mattress from h is bed and gives it to the guest . And then he
orders the kinswoman who prepares the fam i ly meals to make her best
sauces for the gues t .
In 1 984 Paul S tol ler, a n anthropologist, a n d Cheryl O lkes , a sociologist ,
traveled to N i ger to conduct a study of the medicinal properties of plants
used in Songhay ethnomedicine. S i nce both Stoller and Olkes were sea
soned fieldworkers among the Songhay, they had experienced the p leasures
of Songhay hospi t a l ity. And so when t hey came to the compound of Adamu
Jeni tongo , in T i l l aberi , they were not surprised when Moussa, one of Ad
amu Jeni tongo's sons, insisted that they stay in his mudbrick house . They
were not surprised when Adamu Jeni tongo , an old healer whom S toller had
known for fifteen years , gave them h i s best straw mattresses. " You w i l l
sleep wel l o n these , " h e t o l d them . They were n o t surprised when t h e old
healer told Djebo, the w i fe of h is younger son , Moru , to prepare fine sauces
for the m .
Stol ler a n d Olkes h a d come t o T i l laberi t o discuss the medicinal prop-
16 Tastes i n Anthropology
Figure 1: Preparat ion of " ki lshi " at the marke t i n Mehanna, N i ger
erties of plants with Adamu Jeni tongo , perhaps the most knowledgeable
healer in all of western N i ger. They planned to stay i n T i l l aberi for two
weeks and them move on to Mehanna and Wanzerbe , two v i l lages i n which
Stoller had won the confidence of healers . Duri ng the two weeks in T i l l a
beri , Stoller and Olkes ate a variety of foods and sauces . Some days they ate
rice with black sauce (hoy bi) for lunch and rice with a toma to-based sauce
fl avored w i th red pepper and sorrel for dinner. Some days they ate rice
cooked i n a tomato sauce (suruundu) for lunch and m i l let paste w i t h pea nut
sauce for di nner. All of these sauces contained mea t , a rare ingredient i n
most Songhay meal s . When Songhay entertain Europeans-Stoller and
Olkes , for example- the staples of the diet do not change , but the qua l i ty of
the sauces does . Europeans are guests in Songhay compounds ; people do
not prepare tasteless sauces for them !
People in the neighborhood had the same percept ion : " They have come
The Taste of Eth nograph ic Th ings 17
to visit Adamu Jeni tongo aga i n . There w i l l be good food i n the compound."
In good ti mes a host spares no expense . In bad t i mes Stoller and Olkes
quietly slipped Adamu Jenitongo money so he could ful fi l l his ideal be
havior.
The arri val of Stoller and Olkes i n Til laberi that year, i n fact , was a
bright beacon that attracted swarms of the " un i n v i ted" i n search of savory
sauces. At lunch and d i nner t i me visi tors would arrive and linger, knowing
ful l well that the head of a Songhay household is obl i ged to feed people who
happen to show up at meal t i mes.
The " men who came to d inner" were so many that poor Djebo had to
double the amou n t of food she normal l y prepared . Djebo was a med iocre
cook , but the uninvited guests d i d n ' t seem to m i n d as t hey stuffed their
mouths with rice , mea t , and sauce .
There was one part icular guest , whom everyone called Gao Bora ( l i ter
ally " the man from Gao"), who unabashed ly came to breakfast , lunch , and
d i n ner every day of Stoller and O l kes' visi t . This man , a refugee (or was it a
fug i t i ve?) from Gao, in the Republic of Mal i , had been l iving hand-to
mouth i n T i l l aberi for four months . He had perfected a terrific ren t scam to
cut his expenses . In T i l l aberi , landlords will let their properties to a nyone
who promises to pay the ren t money at the end of the mon t h . Paying at the
end of the first month is a matter of Songhay honor. At the t i me of our visi t ,
Gao Bora was o n h i s third house . When a landlord would come for his
money, Gao Bora would say he was broke . The owner would throw h i m out ,
and Gao Bora would find another unsuspecting landlord . Stoller and Olkes
soon real i zed the d i rect relat ionshi p between Gao Bora 's neighborl iness
he l i ved 50 meters from Adamu Jeni tongo's compound-and his abil i ty to
stretch his food budget .
Most people in the compound were reasonably happy with the food i n
1 984 . Ad amu Jeni tongo's wives-Jemma a n d Hadjo-did complain about
the toughness of the mea t . So d id Adamu Jeni tongo. The problem, of
course , was that Djebo refused to tenderize the meat-which had come
from local stock-before cooking it i n the sauce . Olkes suggested that
Djebo mari nate the mea t . Djebo smi led a t O l kes and ignored her ad vice .
The toughness of the mea t notwi thstand i n g , everyone ate Djebo's sauces
until the last day of Stoller and Olkes' visi t , when Djebo served bad sauce .
The last day in Til laberi had been exhaus t i n g . Stoller had had two long
sessions with Ada mu Jeni tongo during which they discussed the medicinal
properties of plants and the Songhay phi losophy of hea l i n g . Olkes had seen
people i n town and at t he marke t . She had walked a good eight ki lometers
under the relent less Sahelian sun . At dusk , they each washed in the bath
house : a three-foot- high square mud brick enclosure equipped with a stool ,
18 Tastes in Anthropology
Figure 2: Spice bazaar (photo by Chery l Olkes)
a five-l i ter bucke t , soap, and a plastic mug . Refreshed, they sat on one of
their straw mattresses and wai ted for Djebo. S m i l i ng , she brought them a
large casserole of rice and a s m a l l one of sauce, set them at their feet , and
gave them two spoons . W hen Stoller opened the small casserole, a sou r
odor overwhel med them . Stol ler s a w t h e nightly procession o f u n i n v i ted
guests sau nteri ng i n to the compou n d . Ol kes wrinkled her nose .
" What is i t ?"
" I t 's {ukko hoy [a sauce made by boi l i ng the leaves of the fu kko p lant] , "
Stol ler said .
" Fukko hoy?"
Stol ler sti rred t h e sauce with h i s spoon ; i t w a s mea tless. " Shine you r
flashlight o n t h e sauce , w i l l you ?" Stoller asked Olkes .
Olkes' flashl ight revealed a viscou s green l i qu i d . " You can take the fir st
taste , " O l kes told Stol ler.
" W a i t a m i nu te ." Stol ler picked u p the s m a l l casserole and pou red
The Taste of Ethnographic Th ings 19
some of the fukko hoy over the rice . H e put a spoonfu l of the rice and sauce
into his mouth . " I t 's the worst damn sauce I 've ever eaten , " he told O l kes .
" Straight fukko hoy seasoned w i t h sal t a n d nothing else ! "
Olkes tasted the rice and sauce . " I t 's absolutely awfu l ."
Like d iplomats, O l kes and S toller ate a l i ttle b i t of the meal before
push ing the casseroles away. Other people in the compound were less
pol i t e . Saying the sauce smelled and tasted l ike bird droppings , Morn ,
Djebo's husband , took his rice and sauce and dumped i t i n the compound
garbage p i t , a two-foot-deep hole about six feet in diameter that was
l i t tered w i t h date palm pits, orange rinds , gristle, bones , and trash . " Let
the goa ts eat this crap, " he sai d .
Jemma, one o f Adamu Jeni tongo's t w o w i ves, said : "This sauce shames
us . Djebo has brought great shame upon this compound." Hadjo, Adamu
Jeni tongo 's other wife , echoed Jemma's com ment s . " How cou l d anyone
prepare so horrib le a sauce for the guests i n our compound ? "
Gao Bora, the refugee-fugitive from Mali , arrived for h i s nightly " Euro
pea n " mea l . He took one taste of the bad sauce , stood up and declared : " I
refuse t o eat sauce that i s not fit for a n ani mal . I ' m going t o H a l i dou 's for my
dinner tonight ." From everyone 's perspective, the bad sauce was in bad
taste.
T H E ETI O LOGY OF BAD SAUCE

Djebo, a young Fu lan ( Peul) woma n , came to l i ve in Adamu Jeni tongo's
compound in the summer of 1 98 2 .2 She had formed an attachment to Morn ,
a dru m mer in the possession cul t , and had spent months fol lowing h i m to
possession ceremonies . Eventual ly, she moved in w i t h him-shameless
behav ior for a never-married IS -year-old girl . S t i l l considered too young for
marriage ( most Songhay men do not marry unt i l they are 30) 2 1 -year-old
Morn was a musician whose earnings were erra t i c . When he did have
money it flew from his hands, which were a lways open to his " friends."
Morn and Djebo brought much shame to Adamu Jeni tongo's compound .
A l though first-t i me brides are not expected to be v i rgins, they are expected
to avoid shaming their fam i l ies. Adamu Jeni tongo could have asked Djebo
to leave, but he did not . By the t i me S tol ler arrived i n December 1 98 2 ,
Djebo was visibly pregna n t . Now, a l l t h e neighbors coul d see t h a t Djebo and
Morn had been l i v i n g in sin. What to do? One option was abortion , a
longstanding though unpopular Songhay practice . Another option was to
send Djebo home to have her " fa therless" chi l d , the usual Songhay practice .
The final option was , of course , marriage . No one wanted an abortion . Morn
wan ted to marry his love . Adamu Jeni tongo and h i s w i ves wanted the
pregnant girl to return to her mother's compound .
During Stoller's visi t , there were many arguments in the compound
about Moru and Djebo.
" What would you do with her?" Adamu Jeni tongo asked Stol ler.
" You 're asking me ? "
" Morn should marry a Songhay woma n , " Adamu Jeni tongo sta ted . " He
should marry one of the girls from our home near Si m i ri . If he marries one of
our people, everyone w i l l be h appy. Do you not agree ? " he asked S tol ler.
Concealing his uneasiness, S toller said that he agreed .
Morn , who had been inside his hut, overheard the d iscussion between
Stol ler and his fa ther and ran ou t to confron t the m .
"And w h a t abou t me, Baba ? Doesn't anyone a s k me , Morn , about my
fee l i ngs ? I want Djebo. I want to marry her. I want her to have my chi l d . "
Adamu Jeni tongo scoffed at Morn . "Marry h e r ! Fi rs t you bring t h i s
Fulan woman into my compound . Then you make h e r pregnan t , and now
you want to marry the worthless b i tch ." Adamu Jeni tongo turned to Stol
ler. " What is this world coming to? The young people have no respect . " He
turned now to Morn . " You l i ve in my household , you eat my food , you learn
from me our heri tage , but you have no heart and no mind. You are s t i l l a
child."
Morn s tormed off to his hu t , fuming. Jemma, his mother, re turn d
from the market with meat and spices . Hadjo, her co-wife , informed her of
the most recen t confrontation in the compound . Jemma looked at S tol ler.
" Don 't you think it is wrong for that worth less Fu lan woman to be
here ? Look at her, " she said loudly, pointing at the girl , who was s i t ting on
the threshold of Morn 's hu t . " She's pregna n t , but she 's here with u s . Preg
nan t women must l i ve with their mothers so they give birth to healthy
babies . Does that worthless Fu lan do this ? No! She sits here . She fol lows
Morn to possession dances . Somet i mes she walks for hours-she and the
baby i n her belly."
" Is this bad ? " Stoller asked Jemma.
" They say that a mother who wanders with a baby in her bel l y w i l l
produce a monster ch i l d . That worth less Fu lan is breed ing a monster. I a m
certain o f i t . "
" She shou l d b e with h e r mother, " Hadjo rei terated .
Duri ng Stoller's visit there were also daily arguments between Jemma,
Morn 's mother, and Ramatu, Djebo's mother. On one occasion Ramatu
at tempted to drag her daughter back to her compound . Djebo broke her
mother's grip and cursed her. Jemma cursed Djebo for cursing her mother.
And Ramatu cursed Jemma for cursing her daughter. As the two older
women traded ethnic slurs in Songhay, Fu lan , and Hausa, a sobbing Djebo
told Morn , her love , that she was walking into the bush to die. Si nce no one
took Djebo at her word , they watched her walk toward the mountain .
Ramatu returned to her compound, Jemma got back to her food prepara
tions , and Morn went into his hu t .
The Taste of Eth nographic Th ings 21
Two hours passed and Djebo had not returned . Moru entered Stol ler's
hut. " Shoul d we go and look for her ? "
" I think so , Moru ."
Stoller and Moru left to search for Djebo. They returned with her two
hours later. Everyone in the compound scolded the young girl .
" You are a hardheaded b i tch , " Jemma sai d .
" You are a worth less Fulan , w h o brings u s heartache , " Adamu Jeni
tongo sai d .
Djebo cried a n d Moru fol lowed her i n to h i s hut .
When Stoller and Olkes returned to Adamu Jeni tongo's compound in
1 984 , a child no more than a year and a half old waddled over to them .
Lateri te dust powdered her body. Mucus had caked on her upper lip.
" That's my daughter, Ja m i l la," Moru proc l a i med .
Ja m i l la burst i n to tears when Olkes approached her.
" She's not used to white people , " Jemma sai d .
" She's a monster chi l d , " Hadjo declared .
The term " monster chi l d " swept Stoller back to his previous visit and
the long discussions that had raged about women who wander when they
are pregna n t . Had the predict ion come true ?
"And n o wonder, " said Jemma, " w ith a mother who wandered the
countryside with a child in her bel l y."
Moru told Stoller that he and Djebo were married short ly after his
departure the previous year.
"And you didn't write ? " Stoller joked .
Moru shrugged . Djebo pounded m i l let next to the compound 's second
mud brick house , which Moru had bui l t for his fam i ly. " Djebo , " Moru cal led
to his w i fe , " prepare a fine meal for them . They are tired from their trip, and
we must honor them ."
Adamu Jeni tongo gave Djebo money and told her to go to the market
and buy good spices and a good cut of mea t . Djebo took the money and
frowned . When she had left . Moussa (Adamu J eni tongo's other son), J e m ma,
and Moru complained abou t her. She was lazy. She was quarrelsome . They
didn't t rust her. She didn't know how to cook-probably because she
hadn't l istened to her mother long enough to learn . When she prepared
meat it was so tough that even Moru couldn't chew i t . The sauces were
tasteless even though Adamu Jeni tongo gave her money to buy the best
spices . But no one had done anything to i mprove the domestic situat ion .
" Why don ' t you teach her how to cook ? " O l kes asked .
" Ha h , " Jemma snorted . " She doesn't want to learn ."
" Why don 't you show her the right sp ices to buy ? " O l kes persisted .
" She doesn't care . She doesn ' t care , " Jemma answere d .
Olkes fel t sorry for Djebo. S h e was , after a l l , a teenager l iving among
people who seemed set against her and who bore longstanding prejudice
against her ethnic group. As the youngest affine in the compound, more
over, Djebo was expected not only to cook, but to buy food in the marke t ,
take care o f h e r i nf a n t , fe tch water from a neighborhood pump, clean pots
and pans, and do the laundry. From dawn to dusk , Djebo performed these
tasks as lemma and Hadjo sat in front of their huts and criticized her.
Olkes decided to befriend Djebo. She accompan ied Djebo to the pump
and to the marke t . On market day, Olkes bough t Djebo a black shawl , the
current rage i n T i l l aberi . For whatever reason-cul ture , age , or personal
i ty-Djebo did not respond to these overtures. She socialized outside of the
compou nd and did not participa te i n the rambling conversa tions of the
early eveni n g .
O n e d a y before S toller a n d Olkes' departure , Djebo prepared a wonder
ful sauce for the noon mea l . She made a locust bean sauce fla vored with
peanut flour. Olkes and S toller ate with abandon . When Djebo came to
the i r house to col lect the empty cassero les , Olkes compl i mented her on the
mea l .
Stoller raised h i s arms skyward and sa i d : " Praise b e t o God ."
Saying nothi ng, Djebo smi led and left their house . Thirty minutes
l ater, Djebo returned to see Stoller and Olkes-her first social v i s i t in two
weeks . Saying l i ttle, she looked over their thi ngs . She opened the lid of
their non-fa t dry m i l k and tasted some . She touched their camera, and ran
her fingers over their tape recorder. Olkes and Stoller had seen this kind of
behavior before . A person in N i ger rarely asks for money d i rec tly; ra ther, he
or she l ingers in the donor's house and says nothing. Djebo l i n gered in
Stoller and O l kes' house for thi rty m i nu tes and left .
" Do you understand t h e reason for that scrumpt ious mea l ? " Olkes
asked Stol ler.
S tol ler nodded . " She isn 't sa t isfied w i th the black shaw l ? "
" I guess not ."
" Damn her! We can 't give her money. We have to give money to Adamu
Jeni tongo."
" She does n ' t want to fol low the rules of custom , does she ? "
" I just bet that she has been pocketing some o f the money gi ven t o her
for foo d , " Stoller sa i d . " Tha t 's why the sauces have been med iocre ."
That night Djebo's horri ble fukko hoy expressed sensua l ly her anger, an
anger formed from a complex of c i rcu mstances . She wanted her sauce to be
disgus t i n g .
THE ETIOLOGY OF TA STE

Djebo prepared a sauce to be rejec ted , cast away, spi t ou t . Put another way,
Djebo's sauce was the symbolic equi valent of vom i t , something that ou r
bod ies rejec t . In the most l i teral sense Djebo 's sauce was distastefu l .
The Taste of Ethnograph ic Th ings 23
How does Djebo's sour sauce-her calculated distastefu lness-fi t with

the conception of Taste i n the Western phi losophical trad i t ion ? I n a word , it
is differe n t ; i t is non-theore t ical .
One of the earl iest writers on taste was Seneca. In his Epistulae morales
he wrote that food not only nourishes our bodies, but also
nourishes our h igher nature ,-we shou l d see to i t that whatever we have ab
sorbed should not be a l lowed to remain unchanged, or it w i l l be no part of us .
We must digest i t ; otherw ise it w i l l merely en ter memory and not the reasoni n g
power. L e t us loyal l y welcome such foods and m a k e them o u r own , s o t h a t
something that is o n e m a y be formed out of m a n y elements.3
Seneca was a mong the first of the classical phi losophers to write of judg
ment with digesti ve metaphors . " For Seneca, the proper digestion of re
c e i ved i deas both educates and is the resu l t of an i ndependent faculty of
judgme n t , and this in turn is the precondit ion of righ t action ."4 These
metaphors stem from the c l assical notion that the mouth and tongue
enable us to " i nges t " the outside worl d . Physical tasting is extended to
mental tasting, the classical notion of judgment .5
In his Critique of Judgment, Kant rej ects the classical notion that the
faculty of taste can be extended to social , pol i t ic a l , or scientific matters . In
fac t , he removes taste entirely from the domain of science , preferring to
consider i t a purely aesthetic sense .
In order to disti nguish whether anything is beau t i fu l or not , we refer the

represen tat ion , not by the understanding to the object for cogn i t ion , but by
i magination (perhaps in conjunct ion w i t h the understanding) to the subject
and its fee l i ng of pleasure and pai n . The judgment of taste i s therefore not a
judgment of cogn i t ion , and is consequently not logical but aesthetica l , by
which we understand that those determ i n i n g grounds can be no other than
subjective.o
Kan t 's passage suggests that the faculty of taste should be restricted to the
apprehension of objects of beau ty. Following the pub l ic ation of the Critique
ofJudgment in 1790 , taste was no longer considered an appropriate concept
in the c l assically approved domains of pol i t ic s , society and science-do
mains that were restricted to the logical , objec t ive, and scientific reflect ion
of the Enl igh tenmen t .
The Etymology of'Taste in English

Ray mond W i l l iams writes that the word taste came into the English lan
guage around the thirteenth cen tury, but that i ts earliest meaning was
closer to " touch" or " feel ."7 " Taste " comes to us from the O l d Frenc h taster,
and from the Italian tastare, whic h t ranslates to " fee l , handle, or touc h ."
" Good taast " in the sense of good u nderstanding was recorded in 1 42 5 .s But
the metaphoric extensions of the word became confused in the latter part of
the seventeenth century and the eigh teen th century, when it was associated
w i t h general rules . In Engl ish , then , the sensual aspects of taste were
gradua l l y replaced by the more genera l and rule-governed not ion . Perhaps
due to the Kant ian influence , the meanings of taste and good taste are even
today far removed from their sensual at tributes. Djebo's sense of taste is
sensual and subjective; Kan t 's sense of Taste is rarefied and objec t i ve.
The Sensual Tastes of Monta igne

Djebo's non-theoretical sense of taste is similar to Mon taigne's . The final
section of his Essa is, entit led " Of Experience , " is a compendium of Mon
taigne 's physical tastes : what he l i kes to eat , how often he l i kes to ea t , how
much he l i kes to eat . In this final book , Montaigne discusses his sleeping
habits, his kidney stones , his medicines, his squeamishness , his hatred of
sweets as a child and his love of sweets as an adu l t , his d igest ion , his
indigestion , and even h i s bowel movemen ts. On the subjec t of bowels ,
Montaigne also writes that " both Ki ngs and philosophers defeca te, and
ladies too. . . . Wherefore I w i l l say this about that action : that we should
relegate i t to certain prescribed noctu rnal hours, and force and subject
oursel ves to them by habi t , as I have done ."9 Mon taigne 's " father ha ted a l l
kinds of sauces; I love them a l l . Ea ting too much bothers me ; b u t I have as
yet no rea l l y certain knowledge that any kind of food intri nsica l l y disagrees
with me." 1 0 Alas, Montaigne never ate Djebo 's {ukko hoy.
Derrida's Dregs
Mon taigne 's sensuality has had a m i n i mal influence on Western though t ,
however. More prevalent today are t h e rarefied Enligh tenment metaphors
of composi tion and construction . In Hegel 's construct i ve syste m , for exam
ple, " the material of idea l i ty is l ight and sound . Voice , in the relat ion to
heari ng (the most sublime sense), ani mates sound , perm i t ting the passage
from more sensi ble existence to the representat ional existence of the con
cept ." I I Sight and hearing are theoret ical senses that represent the at tempt
of the En I igh ten men t philosophers to crea te from the c haos of appearances
constructed systems of " rea l i ty, " wherein one might Taste the Truth .
In sharp con trast to historical and modern masters of phi losophy,
Derrida stands for sensu a l i ty as opposed to rarefac tion, for dec onstru ction
ism as opposed to construc t ionism , for decomposition as opposed to Taste .
In O{ Grammatology and in Glas, Derrida ind ica tes a philosoph ic a l system
based upon such non-t heoretica l senses as taste (also smell and touc h)
which depend upon a part of the body, the tongue , wh ic h is primary in
speech product ion :
The dividing membrane w h i c h i s cal led t h e soft palate, fixed b y i t s upper edge
to the border of the roof. floats freely, at i t s lower end, above the base of the
tongue . Its two lateral s i des ( i t i s a quadri lateral) are cal led " p i llars." In the
m i ddle of the floating end, at the entrance to the throa t , hangs the fleshy
appendage of the uvula, l i ke a small grape . The text is spit out . It i s l ike a
discourse in which the u n i t ies model themselves after an excrement , a secre
tion . And because it has to do here w i t h a glot t i c gesture , the tongue working on
i tself, saliva is the elemen t which st icks the u n i t ies together. 1 2
As U l mer suggests, Derrida's texts condemn Hegel 's assertion that odor and
taste "are use less for artistic pleasure , given that esthetic contemplation
requires objectivity wi t hout reference to desire or w i l l , whereas ' things
present themsel ves to smell only to the degree in which they are con
sti tuted by a process , in which they dissolve i n to the air with practical
effects .' " 1 3 For Derrida there shou l d be no separation of the intel l igible
from the sensible . S i nce Kan t , he argues , Taste has been an objec tive ,
rarefied distanci ng from a n object o f art . Using the sensual Mon taigne as
one of his model s , Derrida opposes gustus with disgust and taste with
distaste . The key concept of Dcrrida's wri t i ng on taste is le vomi, " which
explicitly engages not the ' objective ' senses of hearing and sigh t , nor even
touch , which Kant descri bes as ' mechanica l , ' all three of which involve
percept ion of or at surfaces, but the ' subjecivc ' or ' chemica l ' senses of taste
and smel l ." 1 4 For Derrida, then, Djebo's {ukko hoy shou l d not only be spit
out into an ethnographic tex t , but should be done so with sensual vivid
ness , for Djebo's bad sauce is gloriously d isgusting; it reeks with meaning.
Taste in A n thropology
Beyond the sensual descript ions in anthropological cookbooks , most an
thropologists have fol lowed Hege l 's lead i n separating the i n t e l l igible from
the sensi b l e . This Hegelian tendency is evident from even a cursory exam
inat ion of ethnographic wri t ing. Like most wri ters , most ethnographers
tac i t l y conform to a set of conven t ions that col leagues use to judge a work .
Marcus and Cushman have suggested that convent ions governing eth
nographic represen tation devolve from rea l i s m . They argue that rea l ist
ethnographic d i scourse seeks the rea l i ty of the whole of a given society, and
that " realist ethnographies are wri t ten to al lude to the whole by means of
parts or foci of analytical at tention which constantly evoke a social and
cul tural totali ty." 1 5 In an article in L'Homme, S tol ler desc ri bes the philo
soph ical development of realism in ethnography. 1 6 That development
eventually resul ted i n a set of convent ions that Marcus and Cushman have
analyzed :
I. a narrat ive s t ructure which devolves from cul tura l , func tiona l i s t , or
s t ructuralist analytical ca tegories to achieve a total ethnograph y ;
2 . a third person n arra tive voice which distinguishes rea list ethnogra
phies from travel accounts;
3. a manner of presentat ion i n which i n di v iduals among the people stud
ied rem a i n nameless , charac terless ;
4 . a section of text , usua l l y a Preface or Afterword , which describes the
context of i n vestigat ion ;
5 . a focus on everyday l i fe con texts represe n t i ng the Other's rea l i ty to
justify the fit of the analytical fra mework to the ethnographic si tua
t ion ;
6 . an assertion that the ethnography represents the native's poi n t of
view ;
7 . a general izing style i n which events are rarely described idiosyncra t
ical ly, but as typical man i festat ions of marriage , ki nsh ip, ritual , etc . ;
8 . a use of jargon w h i c h signals t h a t t h e t e x t is, i ndeed , an ethnography a s
opposed t o a travel accou n t ;
9 . a reticence by authors to discuss t h e i r competence i n t h e Other's
language . 1 7
Wh i le mos t ethnographers rel igiously fol lowed these con ventions of rea list
representation i n the pas t , there are a growi n g nu mber of scholars who are
worried about the epistemological and pol i t ical ra m i fica tions of ethno
graphic rea l i s m . Directly and i n d i rec tly, their ethnographic and t heoret
ical wri t i ngs reflect these phi losoph ic issues . 1 8 Fab ian wri tes of h i s concern
about anthropology's i n tel lectual i m peria l i s m : " Perhaps I failed to make i t
clear t h a t I wan ted language and com munication to b e understood as a
kind of praxis i n which the Knower cannot clai m ascendency over the
Known (nor, for that mat ter, one Knower over another). As I see it now, the
anthropologist and his i n terlocu ters on ly ' know ' when they meet each
other in one and the same con tempora l i t y." ' 9
Al though the new "experi mental " works have b een provocative, most
of them consider typical anthropological subjects of study, alb e i t through
part ially al tered conve n t ions of representat ion . How could it be otherwise ,
when discip l i n ary constra i n ts force most wri ters to concentrate on certa i n
ki nds of subjects : t h e theory o f Taste i nstead o f t h e taste of b a d sauce , t h e
theory of the fam i l y instead of texts t h a t fa m i l iarize t h e reader w i t h fam i l y
members, t h e theory o f experi men tal ethnography i n s tead c.f experi men tal
eth nographies . How can i t be otherwise, when d i sc i p l i nary constraints
i m pose form and order on what is published . Take , for example, the Ab
stracts of the Annual [A nthropology} Meetings:
Name, insti tution, and t i tle of paper or fi l m must precede narra t i ve portion: Pu t
last name fi rs t ; use capi tal let ters for author's last name and t i t le of paper; do
The Taste of Ethnographic Th ings 27
n o t include ' u n i vers i t y ' o r ' col lege ' w i t h institution name given in parenthe
ses . . . . Write the text i n complete sen tences . U se the present tense; use only
t h i rd person. 2 0
In addi tion, the American Anthropological Association gives prospective

participants some usefu l tips on writing a " good abstrac t " :
A " good" abstract shou l d b e an inform a t i ve summary o f a longer work . I t

should state t h e cen t ral topic a t t h e beginning; i t shoul d clearly indicate the
nature and extent of the data on which it is based; it should out l ine the nature of
the problem or issue and del i neate the relevant scientific argumen t ; and it
shou ld show how the content relates to the existing l i terature . Where helpfu l ,
citat ions may be used. The abstract must be typed double spaced, and i t must fi t
with in t h e box p rov i ded below. 2 '
This prescription may be a fine model for terse scientific wri t i n g , but i t
discourages unconventional i ty i n ethnographic writing w i t h the message
it sends to potential Annual Meeting part icipants : " We are a scientific
organ izat ion . We sponsor scient i fic papers i n our scientific program ." Good
or " beautifu l " abstrac ts, in the sense of Kant and Hegel , are written in the
present tense (the ethnographic prese n t ?) and i n the third person (a marker
of objecti v i ty ?) Even today, Hegel 's Esthetics casts a long shadow over
anthropological representation .
Despi te the difficul ties prec i p i tated by a long entrenched philosophi
cal tradi tion , i t is a l together certai n that the pioneering and courageous
efforts of contemporary ethnographers have forced anthropologists to pon
der the nature of both their scholarship and their bei n g . But do these
writers take us far enough ? Are there other d imensions of e thnographic
discourse , other conven tions of representation which may carry anthropol
ogy deeper i n to the being of the others ? Are t here other modes of represen
tat ion that better solve the fundamental problems of realist ethnographic
representation : voice , authori ty, and authenticity?
TASTEFU L ETH N O G RAPHY

How does a piece of ethnographic writing get publ ished ? Here the digesti ve
metaphors are particularly relevant . An au thor sub m i ts her or his manu
script to a publ i sher or to a journal . Edi tors i ngest the manuscript . If the
material fal l s w i t h i n the conven t ions of representation of a discipl i n e , the
edi tors are l ikely to digest what they have taken i n and the manuscript w i l l
eventua l l y b e publ ished . If t h e material violates those conventions, the
edi tors may well find the piece hard to swallow and the manuscript is
returned to the author, a case of Derrida's vomi. Indee d , when editors wri te
comments to au thors of rejected (vomi ted) manuscripts, they often suggest
how the author might transform his or her piece from d isgusting vom i t i n to
digestible food for though t . Examples of these comments from Stoller's

files i l l ustrate how readers and edi tors reinforce convent ional anthropo
logica l tastes .
Example I [ Let ter from acquisitions edi tor to Stol ler] . ! have just recei ved two
reviews of your manuscrip t , and I 'm sorry to have to tell you that these have not
been sufficien tly encouraging for me to feel able to offer to consider the work
further. Both reviewers though t that the scri pt con tai ned some in teresting data,
but fel t that the theoretical argument was insufficiently wel l developed .
Example 2 [Com ments from Stoller to anonymous author] . The author of this
article suggests that anthropologists consider music more seriousl y, less tan
gen tial ly, i n their analyses of sociocultura l systems. Merri man made more or
less the same statement i n his pioneering Anthropology o( Music ( 1 964). which
the author unfortunately does not c i te . . . . The author leads one to bel ieve that
we should consider the sociocul tural aspects of music seriously. I ful l y agree .
After reading the piece, however, ! feel the author has fal len into the t rap he/she
says other anthropologists have fa l len i n to. Music is not the central concern of
this article; i t is of secondary or perhaps tert iary i m portance when compared
w i t h the author's overriding concern with subsistence and the materialist per
spect i ve . . . . In short the author fai l s to highlight the importance of music in the
cul tural scheme of thi ngs . . . .
Example 3 [Comments of Stoller to anonymous au thor] . I n this piece the reader

is treated to a plethora of exce l lent eth nography in which the author develops
the sociological con text of x 's name change . But the author does not blend this
rich material wi th other studies i n Africa or elsewhere which are on s i m i lar
topics . . . . What kind of con tribution does this piece make to ethnological
theory, method , compared to other works on the topic? . . .
Example 4 [ Reader's com ments to Stol ler] . I sympathize with the author's
desi re to go beyond the l i m i ts of posi t i v ism and enter i n to the mental set of the
people he studies , though he might take note that this is the poi nt of departure
espoused by such di verse scholars as Boas, Mal i nowsk i , and Rad i n , among
others . My objec tion to the work is not in his effort to seek an i nside viewpo i n t ,
but i n his fai lure to demonstrate i ts v a l u e , and , above a l l , i n his fa i l ure to meet
the canons of academic evidence. One must presume that the young man i n his
narrative was h i msel f-but his unwi l l i ngness to communica te in the scien t i fic
mode and to adhere to the Songhay ru les, depri ves us of d i rect evidence for this
insight and makes us wonder at the source and character of his information .
Example 5 [ Reader's com ments to Stol ler] . Th is is basically a sui table article for
the . . . , si nce i t has an i n teres ting and sign ificant poi n t to make concern ing the
need to recogn i ze the i m portance of sound in many societies. I feel . however,
that many readers would not be gripped enough at the beg i n n i n g of the article
[a narrative with dia logue] . . . to see i t through to the end . . . . My personal
preference i s for less human istic and subjective language .
Example 6 [ Reader's comments on Stoller's manuscript] . . . . There is no ques

tion that the subject mat ter is i m portant and underrepresented i n the l i tera-
ture , or that the author has some very valuable field data in hand . It would be
quite usefu l to have a good study of Songhay rel igion and c u l ture . . . . While
there is some i n teresting descript ion of possession rituals , and of Songhay
rel igion and history, if I have to judge it frankly I must say that at this poi n t it is
a half-baked manuscrip t .
The weakness o f i ts theoret ical grounding leads to t h e lack o f a n y real
i n tegration of the descrip tive material beyond the repeated (and u l t i mately
somewhat boring) assertion that the cults are forms of cultura l resi stance . . . . I
t h i n k there are two central poi nts of weakness , which the author gl ides over a t
t h e beginning where he casua l l y dismisses psychological a n d functional ac
cou n t s : he shows no evidence of having read the work of V ictor Turner . . . and
he shows no evidence of fa m i l iarity with the recent studies of the psycho
physiology of trance which have made such rapid advances i n our understand
ing of these phenomena . . . .
And so i t goes in the modern era of anthropology, an era that i n many

ways is past i ts shel tl i fe .2 2 One way of freei ng ou rse l ves from the con
straints of Taste in Anthropology is to engage fu l l y in a tasteful ethnogra
phy. Freed from the social , pol itica l , and epis temological constraints of
rea l i s m , a tastefu l ethnography wou ld take u s beyond the mind's eye and
into the domain of the senses of smell and tas t e . Such an excu rsion into
sensu a l i ty wou l d complement the rarefied Hegelian senses of sight and
sou n d .
Tasteful Fieldwork
In tastefu l fieldwork , anthropologists wou ld not only investigate kinship,
exchange , and symbol i s m , bu t also describe with l i terary vivi dness the
sme l l s , tastes , and tex tu res of the land , the people, and the food . Rather
than looking for deep-sea ted h i dden t ru ths, the tastefu l field worker u n der
stands, fol lowing Foucau l t , " that the deep hidden mean ing, the u nreach
ab le heights of tru th , the mu rky i n teriors of consciou sness are all shams."2 3
From the sensu a l tastefu l vantage , the fieldworker invest igates the l i fe
stories of individu a l Songhay, Nuer, or Trobrianders as opposed to total
ized investigations of the Songhay, the Nuer, or the Trobriander. This
recording of the complex i t ies of the individu a l 's social experience lends
textu re to the landscape of the fieldworker's notes . In this way, seemingly
i nsign i ficant i ncidents as being served bad sauce become as i mportant as
sit ting with a nameless informan t and record ing genea logies-da ta-that
eventu a l l y b ecome components i n a system of kinsh i p . In this way eth
nographic research crea tes voice , au thori ty, and an au ra of au then tici ty.
Tasteful Writing
There are probably many anthropologists who do engage in tastefu l field
work . Despite their scien tific ob jec t i ves , they become sensu a l ly i m mersed
in their field surroundi ngs . These i mpressions, however, are usua l l y cast
aside-becomi n g vomi t - i n their pu b l i shed theoretical and ethnographic
wri t ings . Like Djebo 's bad sauce , con ventions of representation govern ing
genre selection cou l d be thrown i n to a t rash p i t .
Acknowledging t h e d iverse col lection o f refuse , t h e tasteful writer u ses
the notion of melange as his or her guiding metaphor for producing tastefu l
ethnographic wri t i n g .
In Derrida's Glas, t h e wri ting on t h e pages is arranged in two columns.
In the left-hand colu mn is prose representing Hegel (rarefaction , Taste, the
Enli gh tenment and i ts theoretical senses). In the righ t-hand colum n , by
contrast , is prose representing Genet (sensu a l i ty, taste , post-modern ism
and i ts non- theoretical senses). W i t h i n this revolu tionary styl istics is a
powerful indirect chal lenge to the fu n damental me taphors of the Western
phi losophic trad i t ion . Derrida's Glas is in bad Taste . Bu t Derrida's bad
Taste-his vom i t-provides a poi nt of reference for tasteful ethnographic
wri t i n g that incorpora tes the non-theoretical senses .
Consider first an exa mple from James Agee 's Let Us Now Praise Famous
Men, in which he descri bes the odors of a tenant farm house in Alabama.
These are i ts i ngredients. The odor of pine lumber, w i de t h i n cards of it, heated
i n the sun, in no way doubled or insulated, in closed and darkened air. The odor
of woodsmoke, the fuel being again mainly pine, but in part also, hickory, oak
and cedar. The odors of cook i n g . Among these , most strongly, the odors of fried
salt pork and of fried and boi led pork lard , and secon d, the odor of cooked corn .
The odors of sweat in many s tages of age and freshness , this sweat being a
d i s t i l l a tion of pork , lard , corn , woodsmoke, pine and am monia. The odors of
sleep, of bedding and of brea thing, for the ven t i l a t ion is poor. The odors of all
the d i rt that i n the course of t i me can accu mulate in a q u i l t and mattress. Odors
of staleness from clothes hung or stored away, not washed . I shou ld further
describe the odor of corn : i n swea t , or on the teeth and the breath , when it is
eaten as much as they eat it, it is of a part icular sweet stuffy fetor, to which the
nearest parallel i s the odor of the yel low excrement of a baby. . . . 24
Consi der next an example from John Chernoff's African Rhythm and African
Sensibility, i n which he describes how mu sic and African social l i fe in ter
penetra te.
A t the begi n n i ng of each year the hannattan winds blow a fine dust from the
Sahara Desert across the Sudan and over the coastal areas of the Gulf of Gui nea.
In Bamako, capital of Mal i , you might observe the evening t raffic as if through a
reddish brown fi l ter which softens and mutes the sights and sounds of the
crowded streets. The a tmosphere i s tranq ui l , and standing on the long bri dge
over the N i ger Ri ver, w i t h cars passing just a few feet beh i n d you , you might
look a t a lone fisherman i n h i s gracefu l canoe and feel that only the lovely
melodies of the harp- l i ke kora cou l d capture and convey the unity of the scene .
At night the temperature drops u n t i l you might wonder why you ever thought
you missed w i n ter, and i f by chance you found yourself i n an isolated v i l lage a t
t h e r i g h t t i me and you looked up a t t h e m u l t i tude of stars, you might hear the
music of xylophones through the crisp air and bel ieve that the clarity of the
music was perhaps more than superfic ially appropriate to the s t i l l ness of the
n i gh t . 2 5
Consider finally an example from Levi-Strauss's Tristes tropiques, " which ,

though i t is very far from being a great anthropology book, or even an
especial ly good one , is surely one of the finest books ever written by an
anthropologist ."26 The example is an exegesis on the South A merican
equiva lent of bad sauce.
There had been no rai n for five mon ths and a l l the game had vanished . We were
lucky if we managed to shoo t an emaciated parrot or capture a large tupinambis
l i zard to boi l in our rice, or managed to roast in their she l l s a land tortoise or an
armadi l lo with black, oily flesh . More often than not , we had to be content with
xarque, the same dried meat prepared mon ths prev iously by a butcher in
Cuiaba and the thick worm-infested layers of which we unrol led every morning
i n the sun, i n order to make them less noxious, a l t hough they were usual l y i n the
same state the next day. Once , however, someone k i l led a w i l d p i g ; its lightly
cooked flesh seemed to us more i n toxicating than wine: each of us devoured
more than a pound of i t , and at that moment I understood the a l l eged gluttony
of savages , which is ment ioned by so many travel lers as proof of their u ncouth
ness . One on ly had to share their diet to experience s i m i l a r pangs of hunger; to
eat one 's fill i n such c i rcumstances produces not merely a feeling of repletion
but a posi tve sensa tion of bl iss.27
These examples are only a slice of the l ife that l ives in the tasteful ethnogra
phies of Agee , Chernoff, and Lev i-Strauss . In a l l the examples, t he writers
season their prose with the non-theoretical senses to evoke a worl d . Agee
masterfu l l y uses a mel ange of sme l l s to evoke t he habi tus of southern
tenan t farmers- their fa tty die t , their fi l thy clothes, their stuffy houses,
their abject m isery. In one smelly paragraph we have a memorable portrait
of the l ives of these peopl e . Chernoff records the interpenetra t ion of sound
and sight in African social l ife . This paragraph evokes an African world in
which " participa tory " music gives shape to a people's system of values as
wel l as to their manner of l iv ing-in-the-wor l d . With Levi-Strauss we come
b ack to the sensual notion of taste . In one vivid paragraph he ru m inates on
the l i n k between deprivat ion of diet and glut tony in the Amazon . Even
European intel lec tua ls can descend into gluttony!
Should t h is kind of writing be exc ised from the ethnographic manu
scripts of the future ? Aren ' t expositions on odors , sounds, and tastes extra
neous to the ethnographic message ? What can these details reveal about a
sociocultural system ? In terms of systema t ic analysis, these kinds of evoca
tive details do not uncover a system of ki nship or exchange or symbolis m ;
hence Geertz 's critique of Tristes tropiques as not even a good anthropology
book . Tasteful anthropology books are analytic , theoret ical , and ephem
era l ; tasteful ethnographies are descriptive, non-theoretical , and memora
ble . Wri ters of tasteful ethnograph ies mix an assort ment of ingredients
dialogue, description , metaphor, metonomy, synecdoche , irony, smells,
sights, and sounds- to create a narrative that savors the world of the
Other. And just as Chernoff's drumming in Ghana once inspired members
of an audience to say : " ' Oh , the way you played ! It moved me . It was
swee t , ' " so a well constructed narrative moves the listener or the reader to
say : " Can I tell you a terri fic story ? " Indeed , there is l i fe in the words of a
good story ; there is l i fe in the prose of a tasteful eth nography.
In his monumental essay L'Oeil et /'esprit, Merleau- Ponty states that we
lose much of the substance of l i fe-i n-the-world by thinking opera tional ly,
by defining ra ther than experienci ng the reality of th ings .
Science manipulates thi ngs and gi ves up l i v ing in the m . It makes its own
l i m i ted models of things; operating upon these indices or variables to effect
whatever transformations are perm i t ted by their definition; it comes face to
face w i th the rea l world only at rare i n terva l s . Science is and always has been
that admirably active, i ngenious , and bold way of thinking whose fundamental
bias is to treat everything as though i t were an object-in- general-as though it
meant nothing to us and yet was predesti ned for our own use .2"
An ethnographic di scourse that " comes face to face with the real world only
at rare intervals" is usua l l y so turgid that i t is digestible by only a few
dedicated specialists-a discourse that w i l l soon be forgotten . A tasteful
ethnographic d iscourse that takes the notion of melange as i ts foundat ion
would encourage wri ters to blend the i ngredients of a world so that bad
sauces might be transformed i n to delic ious prose .
O N E MONTH OF BAD SAUCE AMONG THE SONGHAY

Stoller returned to Songhay and Ada mu Jeni tongo 's compound in June of
1 987 . Ja m i l l a had died in 1 98 5 , having drowned in a garbage pit fil led w i th
water after a torrential rai n . Soon thereafter Djebo was pregnant with
Hamadu , who in 1 987 was about 1 8 mon ths old .
In 1 984 Moussa, Ada mu Jeni tongo 's elder son , worked as a tai lor; his
atel ier was i n his father's compound . But business was slack because the
Jeni tongo compound was far from the center of Til laberi . In 1 985 he found
a suitable atelier i n Baghdad, a bustling section of Tillaberi . Moussa wou ld
leave his father's compound early in the morning, return for lunch , and
leave agai n to complete the afternoon tasks at his tai lor shop. Since he soon
had more work than he cou ld handle hi mse l f. he hired an appren tice .
By the time Stoller arrived i n June of 1 98 7 , Moussa was spend ing
The Taste of Eth nograph ic Th ings 33
much of his time at his tai lor shop. He took his lunches there ; for d i n ner, he
somet i mes ate small mea ls at the Baghdad bars : s teak and french fries ,
green beans , omelet tes . After Stoller's arrival , to ful fi l l the requ i rements of
Songhay hospi ta l i ty, Moussa made sure to return home to eat his meals.
The qua l i ty of the sauces hadn ' t changed . Djebo d i d not serve fukko
hoy, but on occasion she refused to prepare meals, forcing Moussa, Stoller,
and Adamu Jeni tongo to eat meals of bread and sardines in soy o i l .
" T h i ngs are better now that you have come , " Moussa told Stoller.
"Weeks go by and she does n ' t prepare mea l s . Baba is o l d ; he needs to eat
better, but she doesn 't care . My brother Moru does n ' t care . And Baba, he
chews kola and tobacco."
" Bad sauces are better than no sauces , " Stol ler said .
After one week of sauces the q ua l i t y of which ranged from mediocre to
bad , Stoller suffered a violent case of diarrhea. He quickly lost weigh t .
Moussa suggested a n al ternative .
" Le t 's eat our lunches with Madame . She is a n excel lent cook ." Ma
dame was the daughter of Adamu Jeni tongo 's sister, Kedibo.
Moussa and Stoller began to eat lunch at Madame 's house . The sauces
were tasty: fine gombo, sesame, and squash sauces a l l of which were spiced
de l icately with permutat ions of garl i c , ginger, locust bea n , and hot pepper.
Moussa and Stoller stuffed themselves, know i ng that the eve n i ng fare
wou l d be much worse : taste less rice paste drowned with watery tomato
sauces all of which were spiced wi thout i maginat ion . There was m i l let in
the compound , but Djebo refused to prepare i t .
When i t became apparen t that Stoller was taking h i s meals at Ma
dame 's house , Djebo protested . Jemma, Djebo's mother-in-law, scowled .
" Why do you insist on your European sauces ? " Jemma asked h i m .
"Why don 't you e a t the sauces w e prepare for you ? "
Stoller d i d n o t respond directly ; rather, h e forced h i mself t o e a t two
mea ls at lunch and one at di nner. Even with this increased consumption ,
Stoller lost more weigh t . His diarrhea con tinued .
Shamed by the bad sauces in his concession , Moussa confron ted his
younger brother Moru before an audience of visi tors to the compoun d .
" How c a n anyone l i ve in this compound with your lazy wife , who,
when she lowers hersel f to prepare food for us, produces sauces that our
ch ickens won ' t eat."
" Now hold on , older brother. How can you . . . "
" Shut up, you ignora n t peasant . I feel l i ke a stranger in my own home .
Why re turn to a place where I 'm not wanted ? "
Moru wagged h i s forefinger at Moussa. " You donkey. Worth less person .
Come closer and insult my w i fe . I ' l l tear your eyes out . A man who does n ' t
even have a wife deserves to eat shi t ."
" Be t ter to be single than to be a slave to a bi tch , " Moussa retorted. ' T t l
eat my sauces elsewhere."
Moru 's wife and mother restrained h i m .
Stoller restrained Moussa.
Adamu Jeni tongo called for peace . " We shame oursel ves in front of
strangers ."
Moru and Moussa are half-brothers . In the Songhay language they are
bab 'izey, which has two translations : "half-brothers" and " rivals." In Song
hay bab 'izey frequently have relationships the major i ngredient of which is
jealousy and bad feel ings bui l t up over a l i fetime. This problem has poi
soned the relationships between Moru and Moussa. As men , they have very
d i fferent kinds of temperaments. Moru is hot-headed and prone to verbal
and even physical confron tation . Moussa is even-tempered and keeps his
emotions more to hi msel f. Moru is a musician who somet i mes works as a
laborer. Moussa is a tai lor who works steadi ly. To add more sal t to an open
wound, both Moussa and Moru covet the powerful secre ts of their fa ther,
one of the most powerful sorcerers (sohanci) i n N i ger.
In h i s old age Sohanci Adamu Jeni tongo h i n ted that he would pass on
his secrets to both Moussa and Moru . But only one of them would receive
his chain of power and his sacred rings . To Moru , Jemma, and Djebo, the al
liance of the younger son , i t was painfully obvious that Adamu Jeni tongo
had chosen his eldest son Moussa to succeed h i m . Moussa had the relatively
cal m disposi tion requ i red for receiving grea t power. Moussa also had pow
erful allies: Kedibo, Adamu Jeni tongo 's youngest sister, favored Moussa
because Moussa's mother, Hadjo, was the sister of her late husband. Each
t i me she visi ted her brother, Ked i bo extolled the vi rtues of her " nephew."
Moussa's steady d isposition and his strategic pos i t ion in the fami l y kin
ship network made Moru 's s i tuat ion hopeless . Being powerless to change
the course of events, Moru , Djebo, and Jemma chose to make l i fe m iserable
for Moussa, h i s mother Hadjo, and Adamu Jeni tongo. As the recipient of
power, Moussa would soon reap considerable social rewards . He would
soon become the sohanci of T i l laberi ; people would fear and respect h i m .
Moru wanted t h e fear a n d respec t that h i s older brother was soon t o receive.
Powerless, Moru , Jemma, and Djebo used sauce to express the i r frustra
tions . Moussa must eat bad sauces and suffer i n exchange for his good
fortune .
Sauce had again become the major i ngredient i n the s tew of (Songhay)
social relations , something which Montaigne had rea l i zed long before
Djebo had produced her fi rst (though certainly not her last) bowl of fukko
hoy.
PA R T I I
Visions in the Field
The empiricist . . . t h inks he bel ieves what he sees, but he is much

bet ter at believing than at see i n g .
Santayana
Eye, M ind, and Word in
2 Anthropology
Nature is on the inside .

Cezanne
To know nature is to know the texture of i nner space , for, as Merleau-Ponty

wrote , " quali ty, l i g h t , color, and depth which are there before us are there
only because they awaken an echo i n our body and because the body
welcomes them ." 1
Cezanne and his admirer Merleau-Ponty were heretics. They dared to
chal lenge the Aristotelian pre m i se that nature is on the outside . How can
we know i f we cannot see , touc h , or smell the phenomenon ? How can we
know if we cannot test experi mentally that which we observe? How can we
know i f we do not have a theoretical orientation which gives form and
substance to brute experien tial data ? Despite their i n tel lectual heresy,
Cezanne and Merleau-Ponty rea l i zed that the world consists of much more
than observed objective rea l i ty and the hypotheses , theorems, and laws
which scientists ex trac t from their observations.
As ment ioned earlier, Merleau-Ponty bel ieved that we lose much of the
substance of l i fe-in-the-world by thi nking opera t ional ly, by defining rather
than experiencing the rea l i ty of t h i ngs . Despite the hegemony of science in
Western though t , Merleau-Ponty did not despair, for he envisaged the
pai n ter as the pathfinder on the road back to what he cal led the " there is."
The pa i nter, Merleau-Pon ty writes, appreciates the life that resides in
objects. The painter recogn i zes forces the " reverbera tions" of which can
create sent i ments i n the eye and mind of the person who experiences the
worl d . 2
38 Visions in the Field
Figure 3: Gazing at space in Mehanna
Bu t how can the pai n ter lead us to a vantage from which we can
apprec iate more profoundly the l i fe which resides in objects or i n other
peopl e ? For Cezanne, Merleau-Pon ty, and others , painters are pathfinders
to the " there is" because they give their bod ies to the world . For the painter
there is no Cartesian distinction between subjective data gathering and
objec tive data analysis. " Indeed , we cannot imagine how a mind could
pa i n t . I t is by lending his body to the world that the artist changes the
world i n to pai n t i ngs."J
And so, in the act of painting we have a metaphor for seeing and
thinking in the world , a seeing-thinking from the inside . As Klee has wri t
ten :
In a forest I have fel t many t i mes over that it was not I who looked at the forest .
Some days I fel t that the trees were looki ng a t me. I was there, l istening . . . . I
think the painter must be penet rated by the uni verse and not penetrate i t . .I . .
expec t to be inwardly submerged . buried . Perhaps I pai n t to break out .4
If anthropologists take a sensual turn , they, too, can " open up." U n l ike
pain ters , we are not necessari l y submerged under an avalanche of brute
data which penetrate our senses ; rather, we are buried under the sed i ment
of centuries of cul tural empiricism-our senses penetrate brute data. Ours
is the " gaze , " to borrow the apt term of M ichel Foucau l t , of empiricis m .
"Gaze " is the a c t o f seeing; it is a n a c t o f selective perception .5 Much of
Eye, Mind, a nd Word in Anthropology 39
what we see is shaped by our experiences , and our " gaze " has a d i rect
bearing on what we t h i n k . And what we see and t h i n k , to take the process
one step further, has a bearing upon what we say and what and how we
writ e .
Like a l l h u m a n beings , anthropologists engage i n t h e act o f see i n g .
W h a t differentiates anthropological seeing from other forms o f seeing is
that our " gaze " is d i rected toward an ethnographic other. We talk to eth
nographic others during fieldwork and attempt to make sense of what they
say and do. Due to the centra l i ty of fieldwork to the ethnographic enter
prise , most anthropologists give their eyes and m i n ds to the world of the
other. Al though anthropologists, l ike painters , lend their bodies to the
world , we tend to al low our senses to penetrate the other's world rather
than letting our senses be penetrated by the world of the other. The res u l t of
this tendency is that we represent the other's world i n a generally turgid
discourse which often bears l i ttle resemblance to the world we are at
tempting to describe .
The problem of anthropological representation meets i t s greatest tes t ,
however, i n studies o f shama n i s m , magi c , and sorcery. In these kinds of
studies , social theories- the seeping sap of the turgid discourse- may be
of l i t tle aid in our assessment of brute data in which the " irra t iona l i t ies" of,
say, a magical vision play a major role. A n thropologists e ngaged in the
study of shamanism, for example , may observe or experience something so
extraordinary that t hey can find no reasonable explanation for i t . How do
we represent these data ? Should we include them i n our discourse ? What
wou ld the painter do?
Those anthropologists who have observed or experienced something
which is beyond the edge of rat iona l i ty tend to discuss i t i n i nformal
set t i n gs-over lunc h , d i n ner, or a drink. Serious a n thropological discus
sion of the extraordinary, in fact , t ranscends the bar or restaura n t only on
rare occasions .6 In formal set t ings we are supposed to be d ispassionate
analysts; we are not supposed to include i n discourse our confrontations
w i t h the extraordinary because they are unscien tific. I t is simply not ap
propriate to expose to our col leagues the texture of our hearts and the
uncertainties of our " gaze ." Many French anthropologists have lambasted
Jeanne Favret-Saada for her publ ished s t udy of wi tchcraft i n the Bocage of
Wes tern France , in which she reveals what it means to be personally en
meshed i n a system of magic-sorcery. I n her first book , Deadly Words,
Favret-Saada questions the Cartesian foundation of the epistemology of
anthropology. In Corps pour corps, her second book (co-authored with Josee
Cont reras), she journeys beyond the boundary of criticism and becomes a
" pathfinder, " for in this tex t , a journal of her fieldwork , she experiments
with the form of anthropological discourse .
The painter "sees what i nadequacies keep the world from being a
pai n t i n g . . . and sees pai n t i n g as an answer to all these i nadequacies."7
Wha t of the i nadequacies of anthropological discourse ? In the remai nder of
this chapter, by way of an epistemological discussion of my experience as
an apprent ice to sorcerers among the Songhay of N i ger, I argue that we
need to transform oursel ves from ethnographic "spec tators into seers ."s
Al though the accoun t of my exposure to the mysteries of the world of
Songhay sorcery is necessari ly personal , I hope that the reader w i l l grasp
the epistemological u t i l i ty of so vivid an account of field experience . If we
learn to " read " and "write" in a manner s i m i lar to the way the pai n ter
paints, we may wel l be able to sensualize prose which represents others so
that our books become the study of human being as well as human be
havior.9
JOU RNEY INTO SONGHAY I N NER S PAC E

My journey i n to Songhay i nner space 1 0 began i nnocently enough in 1 976 i n
the v i llage of Mehanna, a cluster o f mudbrick compounds d i vided i n to
seven nei g h borhoods , which hugs the west bank of the N iger River in the
Republic of N i ger. I had been i n Mehanna i n vest iga t i ng how Songhay use
symbol ic forms i n local level pol i t ics, the topic of my doctoral research .
Durin g my first few months in Mehanna much of my t i me was spent tape
recording formal and i n formal orat ions which occurred during public
rituals or private discussion groups . 1 1 Soon after I had moved i n to my
house i n Mehanna, a two-room mudbrick structure i n the neighborhood of
nob les, I noticed , between the beams of my roof, a b i rd 's nest made of dried
mud . Two small birds, one white and one black, wou l d periodically en ter
and leave the nest , and I suspected that soon there would be more than two
in my house . My discovery became all the more annoying when I observed
that the birds had defecated on my d i rt floor. Despi te the rustic nature of
my mudbrick and d i rt surroundings, I tried to maintain my admi ttedly
ethnocentric standards of clean l i ness . Disgusted with the slovenly habits of
these birds, I knocked down their nes t . The birds decided to test my per
severance, however; they came back and bu i l t another nest, on ly to be
destroyed. They returned ; I destroyed ; they re turned ; I destroyed; and so
on . Finally, I surrendered , helplessly acquiesc i ng to the birds' con tinuing
residence , their i n termi ttent defecat ion on my floor, my tables, my books ,
and even my plates and pans ! My view after six mon ths of ba ttle was : Hel l ,
i f they defecate o n m y plates, I ' ll s i m ply wash the m .
T h i s atti tude toward t h e fi l t h y presence o f the birds in m y house was , I
suppose , part of my Songhayizat ion . Soon , I si mply regarded the two bi rds
as permanent fixtures in my house and came to ignore the m . One after
noon , however, while I was typing my fieldnotes of the day in the presence
Eye, Mind, a nd Word in Anthropology 41
of Dj ibo, a farmer from the v i l lage , one , maybe bot h , of the b i rds defecated
on my head .
" Birdsh i t ! Goddam country. Goddam v i l lage . Goddam v i l lage ! " I
screamed i n English as I jumped off my chair and kicked the floor of my
house .
" Praise be to God , " Dj ibo chan ted loudly, raising his hands skyward .
" How can you say something l i ke that at a time l i ke this ! " I snapped .
'' I ' m not laughing at you , Paul , I feel joy in my heart ."
" Joy ! What joy can there be i n t h i s ? "
" Yes, joy. I have seen somet h i ng today."
" No kidding."
" Yes , I have seen a sign . You see , Paul , I am a sorko. My father is a sorko.
And my grandfather, and grandfather's grandfa ther-all have been sor
kos ."
" What does that have to do w i th me ? " Despi te my frustra tion I was
i n trigued , for I had heard and read about the powers of the sorko, one of
three kinds of Songhay magician-healers .
" U n t i l today, my being a sorko had nothing to do w i t h you , " Dj i bo
con t i nued , " bu t today I have seen a sign . You have been poi nted out to me .
Yes , I am a sorko and now that you have been pointed out to m e , I want you
to come to my compound tomorrow after the evening prayer so that we
might begin to learn texts."
" What are you talking abou t ? "
" I a m saying t h a t I w a n t you t o learn to b e a sorko , " Dj i bo s a i d a s h e
cracked h i s knuckles . " The choice is yours t o make . If you choose m y pa t h ,
come t o my compound tomorrow." Dj ibo walked toward t h e door, stopped
a t the threshold and looked back toward me. " Praise be to God ."
My i m mediate inclination was to wonder: But what wou l d the mem
bers of my d issertation com m i t tee think? . . . I would l ike to study w i th
you , but I really must complete my disserta tion work . My second incl i na
t ion was to accept this rare i n v i tation because I knew that this kind of
opportun i ty cou l d not be deferred .
Lea rn ing to be a Sarka

The sorko in Songhay society is a praise-si n ger to the spirits of the Songhay
pantheon , and a healer who treats cases of w i tchcraft , sorcery, and spirit
sickness . Most sorkos are the patri l i neal descendants of Faran Maka Bote ,
the first sorko , the son of the fisherman N i s i l i Bote and a river genie , Maka.
How coul d I , an American , fi t i n to the sorko's genealogy ? Through my
study of ritual texts I soon learned that there are two categories of sorko :
l i neal descendants of Faran Maka Bote , and people l i ke me who are trained
and i n i t i a ted because a practicing sorko sees a sign . The latter category is
called sorko benya ( l i t . " slaves of the sorko"). People in this category learn
al most as much as l i neal descendan ts, but there are some secrets that a
master w i l l i m part only to consangui neal ki n .
The novice sorko must memorize scores of ritual incantations , learn
how to find speci a l herbal ingredients, and then learn how to mix them
correctly into potions . 1 2 When the potion is prepared and adm inistered to
a clien t , the apprentice must learn how to reci te the appropriate ri tual tex t .
Once a novice is selected , h e is sa id t o have "en tered i n to sorkotarey. " When
I en tered i n to sorkotarey, Dj ibo sai d :
" You know not h i n g . Listen , remember, and learn ."
This I did until I was ready to be i n i tiated by Dj ibo's fa ther, Moun
mouni Koda, who, after more than fifty years of study and reflection, had
become a master sorko.
A person becomes a master sorko only when , after years of apprentice
ship, he hears from his dying fa ther (or i n i tiator) the most powerful secrets.
Armed with this knowledge, the new master takes upon h i s shoulders the
spiri tual burden of his com m u n i ty to protect i t from the forces of evi l :
wi tchcraft , sorcerers , and the force o f maliferous spiri t s . Mounmouni
Koda, a short old man with penetrating black eyes and a quiet laugh ,
l i s tened to my reci tation of ritual texts and spirit praise-songs . Sat isfied, he
consented to i n i tiate me as a sorko benya. He prepared a special food ,
called in Songhay kusu, and told me that when I met other people along the
path (of sorkotarey) I should tell them that I am " fu l l , " or that I should push
my forefinger i n to my stomac h . He also told me that the learn i ng never
stops .
" Your journey i n to the world of magic [what I am here calling Songhay
inner space] w i l l end only w i t h your dea t h . "
Because I s t i l l knew " noth i n g " about sorkotarey, m y i n i t iator, t h e now
deceased sorko, sen t me to "si t " with a grea t master healer of the Songhay,
Sohanci Adamu Jeni tongo, a patri l i neal descendant of the great " Magic
King" of the Songhay Empire , Sonni Ali Ber. During my stay with Adamu
Jeni tongo, we wou ld talk abou t the Songhay universe . He would never
lecture me; rather, he insisted that I ask questions and, if the questions
were wel l formed , he might provide an answer to them . If the questions,
which were often about obscure ritual tex ts, were not we l l formed , he
would ask me to think more about the tex t s .
From this frail old m a n I learned scores o f r i t u a l texts designed t o
protec t me from the forces o f evil w h i c h I would confront o n the p a t h of
sorkotarey.
"And if a wi tch or sorcerer shou l d ever at tack you , " he told me, " you
must rec i te the genji how, " a text with the power to harmon i ze the forces of
the bush .
Eye, Mind, and Word in Anthropology 43
Studies w i t h Sohanci Adamu Jeni tongo capped my year of doctoral

fieldwork . I returned to the U n i ted States com m i t ted to completing my
study on the use of symbolic forms i n Songhay local-level poli tics, and so I
completed my d issertat ion . My incipient t raining as a sorko benya, how
ever, had convinced me of the depth of my ignorance about Songhay
cosmology, magi c , sorcery, and w i tchcraft , and I was determi ned to con
t inue along my path . I was by no means a bel iever. I si mply wanted to
explore every opportun i ty to conti nue my studies w i th Adamu Jenitongo.
My view of Songhay sorcery up to that poin t had been con d i t ioned by my
sc ientific gaze . I sought explanations for the phenomena I had observed .
Many of the healings I had w i t nessed and participated i n could b e ex
plained , or so I reasoned , through a detailed pharmacological study of the
cura t i ve agents in the various plants which the healer administered to h i s
patients. I m a d e notes of t h e k i n d s o f plants used i n potions a n d categorized
them scient i fical ly. I also analyzed the sign i ficance of the ritual texts I was
learni ng from a structural ist perspective, teasing out of them meani ngfu l
oppos i t ions . During a v i s i t in 1 97 9 , Adamu Jeni tongo encouraged me to
write down the incantations and the names of plants, but he cautioned me
never to publish the incantations i n the original Songhay; for as he sai d : " I t
i s in the sound o f t h e incantation t h a t t h e power is carried ."
I was unconvinced . How could words carry power? How could words
have an existence of their own-a far cry from the Western conception that
words are neutral i nstruments of reference ? Despi te my comm i t ment to
learning about Songhay sorcery from the Songhay perspect i ve-from the
inside, to borrow Roger Bastide 's notion-Adamu Jeni tongo sensed my
growing skepticism .
" I t is time for you to t rave l , " he told me . " Go to Wanzerbe and seek out
a woman cal led Kassey. She w i l l teach you a great deal about the Songhay
world of magic ."
Crossing the Threshold in Wanzerbe

I did not arrive in Wanzerbe u n t i l the middle of the n i gh t , thanks to having
been stuck i n the sand twice during the trip. On the first occasion , we freed
oursel ves easi ly. The second t i me proved to be more difficu l t ; i t took all the
passengers more than an hour to d i slodge the t i res of the Land Rover from
the soft dune sand .
Dj ibri l , our driver, dropped us off at the center of Wanzerbe . The space
was deserted but for one man who sat in front of his dry-goods store .
Idrissa, my friend, ca l led to h i m , " Hassane , come ."
Hassane 's shaved head gleamed i n the ful l moon l i gh t . He carried one
of the two sacks of rice to the compound of Idrissa's fa m i l y in Karia (one of
the two quarters of Wanzerbe). Idrissa carried the other one. Trudging
through the thick sand of the path , we were soon at the compound , in which
no person s t i rred . The compound, an e l l i pse of thirty mudbrick houses,
looked the same as i t had during my last visi t . Idrissa knocked on the door
of his father's house . " Baba, i t 's Idrissa."
Koundiababa, Idrissa's father, opened the door. He squ i n ted at us .
" Idrissa ? "
Idrissa asked h i s father for lodging. He gave u s the house next t o h i s
own , since i t s usual occupan t , Mamadu , was away i n t h e Ivory Coast
earn ing money to supplement the fam i l y 's income . I drissa found some
blankets , and we bedded down for the n i gh t .
Kassey, Idrissa's stepmother a n d t h e person whom I had come t o see ,
was not in Wanzerbe and would not return for three weeks . Idrissa recom
mended that I visit Dunguri , Kassey 's associate. I agreed .
We walked down a sandy embankment toward the road that separated
the two neighborhoods in Wanzerbe . The space between the two neighbor
hoods contained empty market stalls. Just beyond them stood the m i na
reted Friday mosque . We plod ded along sandy paths between low walls of
compounds. We greeted women who were pounding mi llet in their mor
tars . Once in the quarter of Sohanci , we encountered many of Idrissa's
people from h i s mother's side. They greeted us and asked after our hea l t h .
N e x t t o t h e s m a l l neighborhood mosque i n t h e center o f Sohanci w a s a
clearing w i t h a free-standing thatched canopy in the center. A dozen older
men recl ined i n the shade of that roof. We greeted them and asked them not
to get up to shake our hands . They did not . Fi na lly, we reached Dunguri 's
compound , which had no wal l s . Dunguri 's house was squeezed between
two large granaries and a mud brick corral for calves .
Idrissa clapped three t i mes outside the door of the woman 's house . She
came out and hugged h i m . As she gree ted Idrissa, she glanced at me. " Who
is t h i s stranger? " she asked Idrissa.
"This stranger, " I interjected i n Songhay, " is Paul from America. I am
Idrissa's friend."
" Idrissa, come i n to my house . We shou ld talk. You , too, can come in,
stranger."
We stepped down i nto Dunguri 's house . Brigh t cot ton blankets covered
her whi tewashed wal l s . She had draped a score of addi t iona l blankets over
two beds which had been placed at ei ther end of the rectangular room . She
gave us metal folding chairs to sit on . She , too, sat down on a hardbacked
chair, but eschewed i ts support as she leaned forward with her hands on
her knees .
Idrissa and Dunguri discussed the hea l t h and sickness of the people
they knew. So-and-so's son was i n N i amey serving i n the army. So-and-so's
daughter had married and was l i ving in a neighboring v i l lage . Amadu had
not been well lately. He had gone off to Tera for med ical attent ion , but the
Guinea worm still made him suffer. And an older man had recently died
from l iver disease . Idrissa asked Dunguri about the harvest .
" I t was good , Idrissa. My slave [husband] worked hard and brought i n
three hundred bundles of m i l let ."
" Our harvest in Mehanna," Idrissa told her, " was not good ."
Dunguri nodde d . " Some years we are blessed and in other years we are
cursed . A town l i ke Tegey only ten kilometers from here-Tegey might have
a good harvest while we here may not harvest one bundle of m i l let."
Duri ng the conversation Dunguri ignored me: she did not look at me
even once . Coming from someone else I would have deemed the behavior
rude ; from a Songhay it was most pecul iar. In most circumstances Song
hay are hospitable, and they are curious about the ways of strangers-not
so this woman Dunguri . I sat i mpatiently as they conversed , taking the
opportunity to study her face . I woul d never have guessed that this small
plump woman was a priestess . Her puffy face d i d not look particularly
intelligent , nor did her gaze seem forceful . Suddenly I heard the word
" stranger." Dunguri was asking Idrissa about me . This woman had the
audac i t y to ask Idri ssa about my work when I was presen t in the room . I
remained s i l e n t , t hough , as Idrissa crudely out l i ned my work in Mehanna
and T i l l aberi . He told her I was w riting a book .
" He w i l l not be using a machine to shoot fi l m , w i l l he?"
Idrissa assured her I had no in terest in film.
She turned toward me . " S tranger, where d i d you get your rings? They
are very beaut i fu l ."
Adamu Jeni tongo had warned me never to reveal to anyone the true
nature of the rings that he had given me for protection . " Thank you , " I said
to Dunguri . "I just bought these rings in Ayoru . I l i ke Tuareg rings very
much ."
Dunguri addressed Idrissa. " Show the stranger my granaries and ani
mals. I have no more t i me to talk with h i m today." She stood up, stepped
out of her house , and walked into her compound .
Idrissa and I looked at one another. Never had I been treated so un
graciously by a Songhay hos t . Idrissa frowned and muttered something
about Dunguri 's recent sufferings and suggested we look at her granaries
and animals. When we stepped into the compound, we saw no one . The
granary was fil led w i t h m i l let , and Dunguri , unlike most of her neighbors
in Sohanci , possessed a smal l herd of cows and calves , a sign of wea l t h .
" She l ives better than t h e others , does s h e not , Idrissa ? "
" Yes , " he agreed . " She is a z i m a and a powerful magician . S h e is well
paid for her services ."
Tired and frustrated , I prepared for bed . Wha t was the sense of my
coming to Wanzerbe ? I couldn ' t wait three weeks for the elusive Kassey.
And why had the woman Dunguri been so abrupt with me? I longed to
return to Tillaberi or to N i a mey. I longed for home . But I had to remain in
Wanzerbe for at least one week, because there were no trucks going to
Ayoru u n t i l Saturday, the day before the marke t . My kerosene lan tern
flickered out , I reconci led mysel f to spend ing some t i me in that God
forsaken place, and I slipped i n to sleep.
Some time later I awoke to the tat too of steps on the roof of the house .
Suddenly I had the strong i mpression that something had en tered the
house . I fel t i ts presence and I was frightened . Set to abandon the house to
whatever hovered in the darkness , I started to rol l off my mat . But my
lower body did not budge . I pi nched my leaden thighs and fel t nothing. My
heart raced . I couldn't flee . What could I do to save myse lf? As a sorko
benya, I began to reci te the genj i how, for Adamu Jeni tongo had told me
that if I ever fel t danger I should reci te this i ncantation until I had con
quered my fear. And so I reci ted and reci ted and reci ted u n t i l I began to feel
a slight tingling in my hips. Encouraged , I con tinued to reci te the i ncan ta
tion , and the tingl i ng spread down my thighs to my legs . My voice cracked ,
but I con ti nued to recite. Slowly, the t i ngling spread from my legs to my
fee t . I pi nched my thigh- i t hurt-and tested my response along the length
of my legs . Gi ngerly, I rolled off the mat and stood up. The presence had left
the room . Exhausted , I lay back on my straw mat and fel l i n to a deep sleep.
The next morning Idrissa woke me. I got up slowly and told Idrissa
that I was going to visit Dunguri .
'Til come w i th you ."
" No, Idrissa. I must go alone ."
I cannot explain why I fel t obl i ged to confront Dunguri , for I was
certain that it was she who had prec i p i tated the paralysis in my legs . The
previous night I had reacted to my crisis l i ke a sorcerer and , having
weathered the crisis, I had to con t i n ue to behave l ike a Songhay sorcerer.
And so I slowly walked ou t of my compound in Karia. The sun was s t i l l low
in the eastern sky and the air was cool and dry. But I was tired; my heart
pounded against my chest and I wondered what might happen when I
confronted Dunguri . I walked past the compound of Kassey and saw no one
i nside . I c l i mbed up the small dune upon which was situated the quarter of
Sohanci . An old man in a tat tered w h i te robe greeted me in Songhay but,
seeing my eyes , told me to con tinue. As I neared the top of the dune I saw
Dunguri 's compound ahead. The air was s t i l l , and I froze to the spo t . Then I
remembered what Adamu Jeni tongo once told me : When a man on the path
reaches the fork i n the road , he must make his choice of direction and
con tinue forward . And so I d i d . With trembling arms and wobbling knees I
en tered Dunguri 's compound and stood in its center, wai t i n g . After what
seemed to me a very long t i me , Dunguri emerged from her house . She
Eye, M ind, and Word in Anthropology 47
stared at me, and I tried to conceal my nervousness . But then she smi led at
me and approached , her pace quickeni n g . I was fixed i n place by my own
apprehension . As she closed the distance between us, I saw that she was
beaming. Stopping a few feet from me, she sai d : " Now I know that you are a
man w i t h a pure heart ." She took my left hand and placed i t i n hers . " You
are ready. Come into my house and we sha l l begin to learn ."
REPRESENTATION AND ETH NOG RAPHIC REALISM
The descri ption of my encou n ter with Dunguri ends here , even though I
have seen her since that meeting which thrust me for the first t i me i n to the
magical di mension of the Songhay world . This accou n t , however, is more
than a personal narrative; i t is an event-in-the-field that forces us to con
fron t some serious epistemological questions about the nature of C' n thro
pology and what it represents. Is i t appropriate to incl ude in anthropologi
cal discourse such a personal , bizarre , and sensuous accou n t ? My first
i n c l i nation was to answer this question w i th an emphatic " N o ! " Indeed, in
my first article about some of my experiences i n the world of Songhay
sorcery, I scrupulously avoided men tion i ng t he fact that much of what I
had learned about Songhay sorcery had been from the " i nside" as an
i n i tiated apprentice . I n that text I al luded to my i nvolvement only in a
footnote descri bing how a healer i n the v i l lage of Mehanna came to accept
me as his student . 1 3 Why did I edit myse l f out of this earl ier tex t ? The
answer is si mple : we do not usual l y write what we want to wri te . I n my
case , I had conformed to one of the conven t ions of ethnographic rea l i s m ,
accordi ng t o which t h e author should be unint rusive i n an ethnographic
text . 1 4 As Foucaul t has powerfu l l y demonstrated , all d iscourse is shaped by
standards of acceptab i l i ty-the episteme-which govern the appropriate
ness of (ethnographic) conten t and style . l 5 These standards of accept
abi l i ty, moreover, determ ine both how an author w i l l construct a text and
which ki nds of texts are u l t i mately published . l 6
Stylistic evide nce of these standards of acceptab i l ity, t hese conven
t ions of representation , emerges from the most cursory examination of
wide-ranging varieties of discourse . In the eighteenth-century nove l , for
example, we have the picaresque convention i n which authors open their
texts w i t h statements concerning their fam i l y pedigree as wel l as their lust
for travel . 1 7 The i m portant poin t here is that these conventions of represen
tat ion are not l i m i ted to novels by Swift , Defoe, and S terne , but permeate
works of non-fict ion as wel l . We see what Pratt calls the " monarch-of-al l
I-see convent ion " i n such d iverse works a s R ichard F . Burton 's The Lake
Regions of Cen tral Africa, Alberto Moravia's Wh ich Tribe Do You Belong To ?,
or Paul Theroux 's The Old Patagonian Express. In a l l these texts the authors
describe scenes from a masterly metaphoric balcony overlooking a vast

panorama. Consider an example from Moravia:
From t h e balcony o f my room I h a d a panoramic v i e w over Accra, capi tal o f
Ghana. Beneath a s k y o f hazy b l u e , fi l led w i t h m i s t s a n d ragged yel low a n d grey
clouds, the town looked l i ke a thick, dark cabbage soup in which nu merous
pieces of w h i te pasta were on the boi l . The cabbages were tropical trees with
rich, tra i l ing, heavy fol iage of dark green speckled with black shadows; the
pieces of pasta the brand new buildi ngs of reinforced concrete, num bers of
which were now rising all over the town . l s
Here , Moravia objec t ifies and perhaps trivial izes the c i ty of Accra, using
such bizarre European i magery as "cabbage soup" and " pasta." In the end
Pra t t warns us that scholars must be sensi tive to the messages which are
hidden in our taken-for-granted convent ions of representation , and crit
icizes " d iscourses that implicitly or explici tly dehumanize, trivial ize , or
devalue other rea l i ties in the name of Western superiori ty." I \I Anthropolo
gists should especially take heed of Pra t t 's warning, for, l ike other scholars ,
we , too, have a tac i t set of conventions (ethnographic realism) which gov
ern most of what and how we represent the et hnographic other.
Conventions of Representation in Ethnographic Realism

Chapter I summarized Marcus and Cushman 's descri pt ion of the impact of
ethnographic real i s m on anthropological discourse .20
Cont rary to those comments , however, the source of ethnographic
rea l i sm must actua l l y be sought prior to the establ ishment of anthropology
as an academic disc i p l i ne and the establishment of fieldwork as the meth
odological foundation of ethnographic works . Indeed , ethnographic real
ism flows nicely into the stream of the Western epistemological trad i tion
which Whi tehead characterizes as a "series of footnotes to Plato."2 1
Plato emerges a t a t i me i n Greek thinking, of course , when there was a
percei ved need for systematic reflection , a need to create pat terned order
from the chaos of con ti nuous flux . From the fragments of flux, to para
phrase Richard Rorty, Plato devises the notion of the search for Tru t h , in
which we turn away from subjective involvement to objectivityP Plato's
quest for Truth (or Forms) through objec t i v i ty was his solut ion to the
puzzle of the infinite variabi l i ty to be found in the world of appearances.
And so, Plato becomes the first thinker to disti nguish appearance from
real i ty. Behind every appearance , he tells us, there is a hidden i mmutable
Form . These Forms become the archetypes of knowledge, which must be
disti nguished from opi nion . Opin ions, in Plato's view, are as unstable as the
flux of appearances . Knowledge , on the other hand , is an immutable p i l lar
of rea l i ty.
From these rela t i vely simple dist inctions , the epistemology of Western
Eye, M ind, and Word in Anthropology 49
phi losophic t radi t ion is born . These metaphysical distinct ions have not
been d isputed ; rather, thinkers si nce Plato have d isputed the question of
how we discover the real i ty (the One) h i dden behi n d appearances (the
Many), how we arrive at Trut h .
As Whi tehead sugges ts, the search for t h e O n e i n t h e Many h a s been at
the heart of Western scholarly discourse . This search has d i rected the
thinking of such diverse groups of thinkers as the scholastic philosophers ,
the romantics, the structuralists, the l i ngu ists, and the Marxists . Saussure ,
for example , considers parole beyond his focus of study, for i t is so hetero
geneous that " We cannot put it into any ca tegory of human fact s , and we
cannot discover i ts uni ty."23 In his monumental work , The Elementary
Structures ofKinsh ip, Lev i-Strauss demonstrates that to d iscover the mean
ing of a given institution , l i ke marriage , we must com m i t ourselves to an
analysis which uncovers the rea l i ty obscured by the haze of appearances.
In the end , Levi-Strauss argues that "it is exchange , a l ways exchange , that
emerges as the fundamental and common basis of all moda l i t ies of the
institution of marriage " (emphasis added).24 The tradi t ion of the search for
the One in the Many leads u l t i mately to the d issolut ion of man i n which
"ethnograph ic analysis tries to arrive at i nvariants beyond the empirical
diversity of societ ies ."25 Ethnographic real ism lends i tself to this aged
trad i t ion , for i t , too , seeks the One in the Many ; from bits and pieces of data,
rea l i s t ethnographies attempt to "evoke a social and cul tural unity."26
Ethnographic rea l i s m , as i t is described by Marcus and Cushman ,
ma n i fests i tself as a set of conven t ions , which have already been described
in Chapter I . To rei tera te briefly, these convent ions produce ethnographies
which claim to depict the total ethnographic picture of a society. In these
ethnographies , the people have l i ttle or no voice in what is usually third
person narrative fil led w i t h anthropological jargon .
The conventions of ethnographic realism have had a varied i m pact on
the qua l i ty of wri ting in ethnographies . Many of the early realist ethnogra
phies are magnificently wri tten . Some of t he passages in Fi rth 's We, the
Tikopia, are poe t i c , especially at the beginning of the tex t :
In the cool o f the morn i n g , just before sunrise , the bow o f the Southern Cross
headed towards the eastern hori zon , on which a tiny b l ue out l i ne was faintly
visible. Slowly it grew i n to a rugged moun tain mass . standing up sheer from the
ocea n ; then as we approached w i thin a few m i les i t revealed around its base a
narrow ring of low, flat land thick with vegetat ion . The sul len grey day w i th its
lowering clouds strengthened my grim impression of a sol i tary peak. w i l d and
stormy, upthrust i n a waste of wa tcrs .27
S ince Firth 's m i ssion was to depict the total culture of the Tikopia, he
was b lessed w i th a descript ive l icense which few anthropologists or edi tors
wou ld tolera te today. In today 's c l i mate the styles of ethnographic texts are
SO Visions in the Field
much more circumscri bed . Take the beginning of Fel d 's excellent ethnogra
phy of sound in Kaluli society: "This is an eth nographic study of sound as a
cultural system . . . . My i n tent ion is to show how an analysis of modes and
codes of sound communicat ion leads to an understanding of the ethos and
quali ty of l i fe in . . . society."28 With very few exceptions, anthropological
wri ting has become as flat, neu tral , and sludgy as the prose of the na tural
sciences , as anthropologists have a t tempted to leg i t i m i ze the scientific
nature of their d i scipline.
Experimen ts in A n th ropological Discourse

Hundreds of anthropologists now worry abou t the phi losophical and pol i t
ical impl ications of the convent ions of representation associated with eth
nographic real ism . Recen t concerns with the accurate representation of
the native poi n t of view, and the relat ionship of anthropologist and other,
have resul ted in the publicat ion of a number of experi mental " reflex ive"
ethnographies. In these ex peri mental tex ts, the authors tend to focus on
d i fferences between the anthropologist and the other.29 " So even if the
wri ters of these texts must rely on a cultura l l y biased language of descrip
tion, they strive to make cu ltural d i fference a key goa l of textual con
struction ."30 Moreover, the experi mental author "offers an account of his
intellec tual and fieldwork ex perience w i t h which readers can iden t i fy ;
through t h e writer's self-reflec tion a s a narrative vehicle, they s l i de i n to a
recept i v i ty for descri pt ions that could otherwise appear i mplausible to
them ."3 1
Des p i te the experimen tal i ty of the newer works , mos t of them consider
typical anthropological subjec ts of study, albeit through al tered conven
t ions of representation . By con tras t , Favret-Saada's Deadly Words not only
experi ments with some of the convent ions of ethnographic rea l i s m , but
also challenges the major suppositions of the Western epistemological
tradition . Alone among the narrat ive eth nographies (with the except ion of
In Sorcery's Shadow and Corps pour corps), Favret-Saada's book considers
the subject of magic-sorcery ; the subjec t , if considered from the " i nside"
as i t is by Favret-Saada and Stol ler and Olkes-forces us to think abou t
adopt i ng other conventions of representation which may carry anthropol
ogy yet deeper i n to the bei ng of the other. Are there other ways of wri ting
ethnographies that better solve the prob lems of voice , authori ty, and au
thenticity?
LAN G U AG E , PAINTI N G , A N D ANTHROPOLOGICAL STYLE

Nature con ti nues to be on the outside i n anthropological d i scourse, the
experi mental ethnographies notwithstanding. As a consequence a (poetic)
journey such as m i ne i n to i n ner di mensions of space , sentiment, or though t
is usual l y not considered part of an anthropological discourse . The event

which I portray is perhaps described i n too lyrical or l i tera ry a styl e . If I
presen ted the "eve n t " as part of a longer journal of my experience i n the
world of Songhay sorcery, both the form and content wou l d today be
deemed non-anthropological . In short , the style, form , and content of my
text involve passions, sen t i ments, fears , and doubt s . This is the dense
discourse of l i terature and not the opaque d iscourse of anthropology.
Represen tation-of and Represen tation-as

The discourse of anthropology is charac terized by representation "as , " a
mode of d iscourse in which " the sign ceases to be a form of the world ; and i t
ceases to b e bound t o what i t marks by sol id a n d secret bonds o f resem
blance or affini ty."32 In anthropological d iscourse we read analyses of
culture-as-a thermodynamic syste m , or society-as-a syste m , or religion-as
a mechanism of social contro l . Representation " of." by cont rast , is the act
of describing something, a n act which is fundamentally creative. Nelson

Goodman wri tes :
Representat ion or descri ption is apt , effective, i l luminating, subtle, intriguing,

to the extent that the artist or wri ter grasps fresh and significant relat ionships
and devises means for making them manifes t . Discourse or depiction that
marks off fam i l iar u n i ts and sorts them i n to standard sets of wel l worn labels
may somet i mes be serv iceable, even i f humdru m . The marking off of new
elements or classes of fam i l iar ones by labels of new k i nds, or by new comb ina
t ions of old labe l s , may prov ide new insigh t . Gombrich stresses Constable's
metaphor: " Pa i n t i n g is a science . . . of which pictures are but the experi
ments." In represen tat ion , the artist must make use of old habits when he wants
to e l i c i t novel objects or connec t ions . . . .
In sum , effec tive representat ion and descript ion requ i re invention. They
are crea t i ve . They inform each other; and they form, relate. and distinguish
objects. That nature i m i tates art is too t i m i d a dictum. Nature is a product of
art and discourse .33
Style and Mea n ing

One way to carry the reader of anthropological works i n to new thought
provoking worlds is not just to experi ment with the representative conven
tions of narrative s tructures, but to experi ment w i th the language of eth
nography i tself. This more revolutionary kind of experi mentation has a
long and provocative h istory. In the n i neteenth century the styles of N ietz
sche and Carlyle chal lenged the d iscourse of the c l assical episteme . Hart
mann comments that " In Carlyle the link between language and terrorism
becomes i tself a form of terrorism . Like many language-combatants of the
era, he uses the med ium of style against classical human i s m : its statuesque
decoru m ."34 And what can be made of the arrest i ng styles of Joyce , of
Heidegger, or of Derrida ? Wha t do these iconoc lastic sty les i mply for
li terature , for phi losophy, for anthropology ?
They i mply a great dea l . When an anthropologist is confronted with an
incident that he or she cannot explain-l ike my paralysis in Wa nzerbe
the p i l lars of the aged metaphysic begin to crumble ; the conventions of
representation that worked so beaut i fully in a previous study are no longer
adequate . Nietzsche wrote that the mission of science
is to make existence i n telligible and thereby justi fied . . . . Socrates and his
successors , down to our day, have considered all mora l and sen t i mental ac
complishments-noble deeds , compassion, sel f-sacrifice , heroism . . . to be ul
t i mately derived from the dialectic of knowledge , and therefore teachable . . . .
But science, spurred on by i ts energetic notions, approaches i rresistibly those
outer l i m i ts where the optimism of its logic must col lapse . . . . When the in
quirer, having pushed to the c i rcumference, realizes how logic in that place
curls about i tself and bi tes its own ta i l , he is struck w i t h a new kind of percep
t ion : a tragic perception , which requires , to make it tolerable. the remedy of
art . 3S
Style, Voice, and the Indirect La nguage

In The Prose of the World, Merleau-Ponty descri bes the power of language
direct and indirec t - to bring to l i fe thoughts that have never been ex
pressed before . He writes that " language leads us to th ings themselves to
the precise extent that it is sign ification before having signification ."36 The
" gaze " of the painter who is penet rated by the uni verse "appropriates
correspondences , questions, and answers which , in the worl d , are revea led
only inaudibly and always smothered in a stupor of objec ts ."37 The " gaze "
of the wri ter is similar to that of the pa in ter.
Given the experience , which may be banal but for the wri ter, captures a particu
lar savor of l i fe , given, i n addi tion , words . forms, phrasing, syntax. even l i terary
genres, modes of narra t i ve that through custom are always endowed w i t h a
common mean ing-the writer's task is to choose . assemble, wield . and torment
those instruments i n such a way that they induce the same sen t i ment of life that
dwells in the writer a t every moment . deployed henceforth in an imaginary
world and in the transparent body of language .3s
The inaudible nature of sign i ficance in both pai n t i ng and w n t mg con

sti tutes , for Merleau-Pon ty, the " i ndirect language , " the representat ion of
things themselves. The " i ndirec t language " is expressed i n the pain ter's
style or in the writer's voice . Style, voice , and the indirec t language are
crea ted through the i nterac tion of pain ters with their worlds, or the in ter
action of wri ters with their others . " The words , the lines, and the colors
which express me come from me as my gestures are torn from me by what I
want to say, the way my gestures are and by what I want to do . . . . In the art
of prose , words carry the speaker and listener i n to a com mon universe by
draw ing both toward a new sign i ficat ion t h rough their power to designate
in excess of their accepted defin i t ion ."39 Stressing the importance of lan
guage in representing the world , Merleau-Ponty wri tes i n Le Visible et
/'invisible, about the d iscourse of phi losophy. His comments are applicable
to the discourse of anthropology :
Words most charged with philosophy arc not necessarily those that contain
what they say, but ra ther those that most energetically open upon being, be
cause they more c lose ly convey the l i fe of the whole and make our habitual
evidences v ibrate until they disjoi n . Hence i t is a quest ion whether phi losophy
as the reconquest of bru te and w i l d being can be accomplished by the resources
of the eloq uent language , or whether it wou ld not be necessary for philosophy to
use language in a way that takes from i ts power of i m mediate or di rect significa
t ion in order to equal it with what i t wishes all the same to say.40
Here Merleau-Ponty calls for " voice" in phi losoph ical discourse , a new
discourse in which the i n d i rect language of the author brings the reader
into contact w i th " brute and w i l d being." Let philosophers , he suggests,
bring thei r readers i n to the world of " brute and wild being" i n the same
manner that Stendah l uses common words and events as emi ssaries from
his worl d . " I create Stendah l while I am reading h i m . But that is because he
first knew how to bri ng me to dwe l l in h i m ."4 1 The magic of d iscourse and
com municat ion , to sum marize , is accompl ished through style, voice and
the " i ndirect language ." There should be more of an emphasis on an " i ndi
rect language " in anth ropology.
TEXT S , WRIT E R S , A N D R EA D E R S
We c a n now return t o t h e question o f h o w to descri be-represent my con
frontation w i t h Dunguri in the Songhay v i l l age of Wanzerbe . My i n i t i a l
solut ion w a s to edit myse lf o u t o f t h e t e x t and substi tute an invisible t h i rd
person narrator. What to do now ? Should I , rather, describe the confronta
t ion even more dispassiona tely, d i scuss i t as one small part of Songhay
wi tchcraft , and place the data i n to the broader theoretical context of
witchcraft studies ? Nei ther of these tacks is satisfac tory to me , for, l i ke it or
not , there is a d i rec t relat ionship between the degree of the anthropolo
gists' subjec t i ve i nvolvement and the forms they choose for their d iscourse .
In Ecstasy and Healing in Nepal, Larry Peters desc ribes his appre n t iceship
to a Tamang shaman , admitting that he had only begun to understand the
existen tial dynam ics of trance sta tes . But Pe ters's book is disjoi n ted : Part
One is a representat ion-of his experience , which in Part Two he transforms
i n to a psychoanalytic analysis (represen tat ion-as). Would the form of Pe
ters's discourse be d i fferen t if he had proceeded deeper i nto the inner
dimensions of Tamang shamanism ? Such a transformation of discourse is

eviden t in the works of Jeanne Favret-Saada. In Deadly Words she fel t the
need to justify her personal i nvolvement i n the system of sorcery i n the
Bocage of western France . In Corps pour corps, together wi th Josee Con
treras , she wrote a journal of her experience, a col lage of her joys, epis te mo
logical doubts, fears , and disappoi n t ments in the field from January 1 969
to December 1 970. Through her " voice , " Favret- Saada brings the reader
into the world of the Bocage . Informants become people with d i s t i nct
personal i t ies, l i kes and d i s l i kes, strengths and weaknesses , though ts and
powers of observation . The tex t of the Bocage-the field and the sorcery
w i t h i n i t-opens i tself up to readers and sweeps them i n to a very special
world . Hence , the widespread success of the book among a diverse au
dience , ranging from i n tel lectuals at the Sorbonne to the Bocage peasants
about whom the book was wri t ten . And bet ween the beau t i fully wri tten
l i nes of Corps pour corps the anthropological reader is struck by the theoret
ical i m portance of this work . But people will ask: Is the work of Favret
Saada and Contreras rea lly anthropology ?
Once the anthropological writer has experienced " the inside" or " the
place where logic bi tes its own tai l , " the discourse of ethnographic rea lism
is no longer completely adequate. When I confron ted first-hand the powers
of Dunguri in Wanzerbe and acted l i ke a Songhay sorcerer, a l l my assump
t ions about the world were uprooted from their foundation in Western
metaphysics . Nothing that I had learned or could learn from social theory
could have prepared me for Dunguri . Once I crossed the threshold i n to the
Songhay world of sorcery, and fel t the tex ture of fear and the exaltat ion of
repe l l i ng the force of a sorcerer, my view of Songhay culture could no
longer be one of a structural ist , a symbol i s t , or a Marxist . G i ven my in tense
experience-and all field experiences are i n tense whether they involve
trance , sorcery, or kinship-1 w i l l need i n future works to seek a d i fferent
mode of expression , a mode i n which the event becomes the au thor of the
text and the wri ter becomes the i n terpreter of the even t who serves as an
intermediary between the event (author) and the readers .
Just as painters , according to Cezanne and Klee , shou ld al low the uni
verse to penetrate them , anthropological wri ters should al low the even ts of
the field-be they extraordi nary or mundane-to penetrate them . In this
way the world of the field cries out silently for descri pt ion and we , as
anthropological wri ters, are put to the task of representat ion-of which
phi losophers ranging from Goodman to Merleau-Pon ty suggest is a cre
a t i ve act , a search for voice and " the indirec t language ." In this way the
anthropological wri ter, using evoca tive language , brings l i fe to the field
and beckons the reader to discover something new-a new theoret ical
insigh t , a new thought , a new fee l i ng or apprec iation .
Figure 4 : The Friday mosque i n Mehanna
On their existen tial path i n inner space , sorcerers , i n the end , create
their own sorcery ; painters create their own styles . And just as writers need
to spend many years searching for their own voices , so we anthropologist
need to find a " voice " and create works which bring readers to dwe l l w i t h i r
u s as w e w a l k along o u r sol i tary paths i n t h e field, exposing o u r hearts sc
fu l l of exci temen t , fear, and doubt .
"G azing " at the Sp ace of
3 Songh ay Politics
If anthropologists take a sensual turn they w i l l pos i t ion themselves to let

the other's world penetrate their bei ng . Th is repos i t ion ing, as I argued in
Chapters I and 2 , would transform the fundamental re lationsh i p among
our writers , texts and readers . In most eth nographic tex ts, anthropologists
are the authors . The texts they produce are the products of their disciplin
ary socialization . In more sensualized eth nographies the scenes described
(people, i n terviews , ritual) become authors , the anthropologist becoming
the i n termediary between the au thor and an audience . These texts are then
the products of social ization in two worlds. Social izat ion i n two worlds
impl ies a decrease of authorial con trol and an increase in authorial humil
i ty. A lthough our " gaze " plays many t ricks on us i n the field, we rarely
acknowledge our in terpretative errors in our tex ts. In this chapter I discuss
a case in which my " gaze " led me to "see " something which did not exist .
Jean Rouch , who has learned much about the Songhay-speaking peoples of
the Republic of Niger during the past forty-five years , once told me about
an error in his perception of Songhay spatial pattern s . Despi te his great
knowledge of the Songhay, he had only recently real i zed that Songhay
roads do not i n tersec t , but rather end in a fork with two new roads going off
in d i fferent d i rections . "I was so used to viewing the world from my Euro
pean perspective , " he said , " that I saw i ntersections rather than forks ." As
we later agreed, the road-as-a-fork is a significant symbol in Songhay
cosmology. I f it took a tru l y perceptive anthropologist thi rty years to dis
cover what Whi tehead cal led the " delusion " of his perception , what can
The Space of Songhay Politics 57
one say about other anthropologists whose genera l i za tions about social l i fe
are based upon one , two, or ten years of fieldwork ? Do anthropological
analyses suffer from significant omissions generated from the " delusion " of
the anthropologist 's perception ? Are most anthropological theories based
on misconcept ions stemming from the inab i l i ty of the anthropologist to
percei ve something his or her informant takes for gran ted ? These are
haunting questions for anthropologists who in the course of fieldwork must
struggle to comprehend systems of symbolic and social relations that are ,
for the most part , outside the scope o f their experience .
In the remainder of t h is chapter I advocate an a n thropological v ision
i n which the scholar must not only make use of keen observat ional ski l l s ,
b u t also reflect critically on his o r h e r o w n phi losophico-cul tural biases so
as to guard against seeing or wri ting about something that does not exist .
More speci fical ly, I argue that the deep-seated i nfluence of post-Socratic
Greek philosophy has rendered anthropology, not to mention psychology
and soc iology, a social science engaged i n the search for the static univer
sals of soc i a l l i fe . This search can often delude our field perception s , condi
tioning us to see thi ngs which have no importance or meaning to the people
we study.
S PAC E , POLITICS , A N D SONGHAY SOCIETY

Songhay has a long and glorious history (see the Introduction) reaching i ts
greatest glory under the rule of Askia Mohammed Toure i n 1 493- 1 5 2 8 .
During the 1 2 5-year imperial epoch there evolved a stratified society con
stituted of free Songhay, slaves , and tribute-paying foreigners . There are
many vestiges of the i m perial and precolonial past i n contemporary Song
hay. Nobles, the patri l i neal descendants of Askia Mohammed Toure , are
trad i t ional ch iefs . In many cases , descendants of former slaves are today
c l ients to noble patrons . Foreigners no longer pay tribute to the empire , but
they are sti l l stigmatized strangers i n Songhay com munities.
The most striking aspect of Songhay social organ i za tion is i ts social
exclusiv i ty, which is m a i n tained not only through genea logy but through
soc i a l i n teract ion . Nobles are expected to dress i n w h i te-the sartorial sign
of a man who does not work with his hands-and to carry wooden canes
the symbol of chiefy authori ty. Nobles are expected to be laconic in their
com municative interactions , speaking hardly at all in public contexts.
Reserve among the Songhay is a mark of dignity and prestige : if one is a
nob l e , fol lowing the ideal Songhay formula, he shoul d have a spokesperson
during publ i c encoun ters .2 Fi nal ly, nobles are expected to be generous to
their c l ients, giving away their wea l t h even during t i mes of scarc i ty.
Former slaves and foreigners , by contrast , may wear any kind of cloth
ing. They are valued as ski l led orators . Many of them are quite loquacious ,
M E H A N N A
N I G E R R I V E R
1 : N o b l e s ' F i e l ds
2 : Fo nne r S l a ve s ' F i e l ds
3 : Fo re i gn e rs ' F i e l ds
Figure 5: Distribution of fields in Mehanna
and can even be outrageous i n their demands on a noble. Rather than being
regarded as i ndependent and ca l m , foreigners aPd former slaves are con
sidered dependent and volatile.
The social exclusivity of t he nob les h as also played a major role i n the
legi timation of the chief's rule in Songhay poli t ical relations . Most Song
hay bel ieve that only someone of noble descen t has the predisposi tion to
govern . Chosen from among noble fam i l ies, the Songhay chief becomes the
bankwano. Some Songhay have l ikened bankwano to a cloud in which exist
the sacred powers of lakkal, the wisdom of governance , and fula, the " h a t "
of i n n e r strength and determ i nation.3 These sacred powers enable Songhay
chiefs to govern effectively. When a noble is elected chief, he is said to "enter
into bankwano." O nce in bankwano, he is imbued with fula and lakkal , and
is transformed from noble to ch ief; he thereby becomes the manifestation
of the sacred on eart h .
The foca l poi nt of Songhay pol i t ics is the ch ief. As the recipient of
the sacred powers of fula and lakkal, which are passed down from A llah
through the Prophe t , the chief in Songhay has maintained power and
legi t i macy over the pol i ty both by reinforcing the collective bel ief i n his
sacredness , and by demonstrating his sociopo l i t ical effectiveness through
the ski l l fu l deployment and use of cl ients organized in diffuse pol i t ical
networks .
The legi ti macy of the chief. therefore , is derived from his social ex
clusi v i ty and his prox i m i ty to the sacred . These i m portant legi t i mating
themes appear to be rei fied in the spatial al location of the fields and
compounds i n Songhay communi ties . The nobles i n Mehanna, for example,
occupy fields along a particular road (see Figure 5). Descendants of slaves ,
many of whom are s t i l l c l ients of noble fa m i l ies, have their fields along
those roads closest to that of the nobles . The foreigners , some of whom have
become wea l thy merchants, have their fields along those roads most dis
tan t from that of the nobles. The reason for this al lotment of fields is purely
pol i t ica l . Such an al lotment has maintai ned the practice that only those
Songhay with a genea logical connection to Askia Mohammed Toun!
including, of course , the chief-could have fields along the nob le roa d .
Nobles, then , have fi e l d s in close prox i m i ty t o t h e field(s) o f t h e bankwano ,
who is the manifestation of the sacred on eart h . Theoretica l l y, foreigners
and descendants of slaves could nei ther have fields along the noble road
nor have compounds in the noble section of a tow n , which i tsel f is situated
next to the s i te of the Friday mosque , the most sacred space in a Songhay
community. I n general , the pat terns found i n the field a l lotments have been
repl icated , for the same pol i tical reasons , in the a l lotment of compounds
(see Figure 6).4
There is, then , an inequity of access to sacred space , or to space w h ich
is a t least proxi mate to the sacre d . This inequity of access has underscored
a centra l theme in Songhay sociopo l itical relations-the basic inequal i ty
of social l i fe , which i tself high l i ghts the soc i a l exclusivity of the nobles .
Social i nequal i ty was the cement of the Songhay i m perial order, and its
conti nuation has been the foundation of the ongoing pol i t ical legi ti macy of
Songhay nobles.5 As the Songhay proverb states : Bora kon go mayga windo
ra, nga no mayga no (The person who l i ves i n [or near] the nobles' com
pound becomes [ l ike a] noble). The person who has holdings c lose to those
of the nobles-or better, c lose to that of the chief h i mself-shares in the
frui ts of being c lose to the sacre d . Prox i m i ty to the space of the nobles is
believed to insure divine salvation , for proxi m i ty to the sacred has always
i nsured a person 's ascension to heaven and the bounty of soc i a l effect i ve
ness on eart h .
Such cont inuous referencing o f sociopo l itical themes h a s made space a
1: N ob l es Compoun ds
2: Fo rme r S l a ves Comp o u n d s
3: Me rch a n ts Comp o u n ds ,... N
4: Fo re i gne rs Comp o u n ds
Figure 6: Distribution of compounds in Mehanna
powerful pol i t ical tool . Each t i me the descendant of slaves , for example,
walks to his field , which is close to but not on the noble road , he is rem inded
of his social and pol i tical position i n Songhay society. When he returns
home , the location of his compound vis-a-vis those of nobles is a strong
rem inder of his social posi tion . As this routine ac tivity is repea ted , day
after day, from childhood through the various stages of the l i fe cycle, this
descendant of slaves , as Schutz would sugges t , takes space for gran ted .6
Space and the arrangement of objects in i t becomes , for this descendant of
slaves, part of the fabric of the everyday world ; it becomes i n tertwined
with his set of bel iefs about the Songhay social order, a system in which
social i nequa l i ty is seen as part of the natural order of things. What better
way for the nobles to reinforce their pol i tical legiti macy over the genera
tions .
EXCEPTIO N S AS NO I S E
My i n i tial analysis of the pol i t ical use of Songhay space would lead us to
believe that the Songhay nobles are firmly in control of the pol i tical sys
tem . From imperial t i mes to the presen t , the nobles seem to have developed
The Space of Song hay Politics 61
1: Nob l es ' Hol di n gs

2: Fo rme r S l a ves ' Hol di ngs ,b
3: Me rch an ts ' Hol di n gs ,.... N

4: Fo re i gne rs ' Hol d i ngs
Figure 7: Exceptions to the norma t i ve distribution of Songhay space
a set of symbolic med ia which have legi ti mated their authori ty. More
speci fica lly, I suggest that space has been one of the nobles' most powerful
tools; they have used it as a med ium to reinforce the col lec t i ve belief that
only a noble has the predi sposition to govern .
Such was the gist of my i n i tial analysis of Songhay space ; i t fit nicely
into a more complicated web of Songhay pol i tical relat ions that I had been
trying to explain 7 One thorny problem remai ned , however. I had un
covered a number of exceptions to the normat i ve pattern of Songhay
spatial distri bution (see Figure 7). Despi te the fact that a l l the nobles had
fields a long one road, I discovered that merchants X and S, both of whom
were of foreign ori g i n , had taken fields next to those of the nobles . In the
same vei n , a former slave who was highly respected in Mehanna, Y, had
moved his compound from the former slave quarter to that of the mer
chants. Moreover, the wealth iest merchant in Mehanna, Z, had moved his
compound from the merchant neighborhood , i ts appropriate space , to the
very outskirts of town (space R), an area designa ted for the poorest people
of foreign origi n .
Si nce these excep tions were s o few, m y i mmediate inclination was to
trea t them as though they were noise in a communicat ion syste m . Noise
occurs in every system of communicat ion (and in every theory), but i t s
presence in the communication channel in no way al ters t h e meaning o f a
message being trans m i t ted from a sender to a recei ver. If I treated these
exceptions as noise , I could ei ther explain them away or ignore the m , and
the validi ty of my theory of the pol i t ical use of Songhay space would be
only slightly d i m in ished .
Trea ting these exceptions as noise was hardly iconoclastic; this episte
mological practice is evident in some of the major theoretical orientat ions
of anthropology. French structuralists, for example, have often been cri t
icized for the lack of importance they give to ethnographic examples which
violate the fixed rules they hold to be uni versal . In discussing the Yano
mamo Indians, Duvignaud wri tes:
One is struck by the l i berty demonstrated by the Indians i n regard to the

"elementary structures of kinsh ip,'' these laws which regulate or should regu
late the exchange of women between groups . They teach us that the fixed and
i rrepressible structures , which , according to con temporary ethnologists, regu
late the members of the com muni ty, do not correspond to the complex rea l i ty of
experience .s
In ethno-Marxism, moreover, the exception to the theory can be explained

away as " fetish ism , " something that masks the underlying truths of the
social syste m . For an ethno-Marxist l i ke Godel ier, " primi tive" soc iety can
be reduced first to kinsh ip relat ions and then , most fundamentally, to the
relat ions of production .9 Sah lins and Lizot , however, have demonstrated ,
counter to the expectations of ethno-Marxist theory, that the domestic
mode of production is anti-product i v e ; i t operates below the level of i ts
produc tive capaci ty. 1 0 Is this " fetishism " ? The presence of these kinds of
excep t ions, however, has not al tered the fundamental principles of struc
turalism or ethno-Marx i s m .
Trea ting exceptions a s noise , despi te t h e common a l i ty of practice,
turned out to be only a partial solut ion to the epistemological di lemma I
faced . Why had I b l i ndly accepted the notion of ( Songhay) space as the
reification of the social order? And was this v iew an accurate one ?
One of the most fundamental reasons for my initial perception of

Songhay space was that i t has been common pract i ce for anthropologists
to see space as the static rei fication of the social and/or symbolic order. In
his assessment of the sociocultural meani ng of space , Sjoberg focused , in
part , on the concrete relationships between the urban distribution of space
and social organiza tion . For Sjoberg , in the i ndustrial c i t y there is a d i rect
relationsh i p between spatial distribution and social class , the center of the
c i ty being more prestigious than the periphery. Indeed , the e l i te of the
preindustrial c i ty situate themselves in the central area near the govern
mental and rel igious edifices which dominate, physical l y and sym
bol ica l l y, the urban scene . As one proceeds to the outlying areas , he or she
encounters members of less prest igious social classes ; and on reaching the
suburbs , he or she comes upon the outcasts of the pre industrial urban
area. 1 1 S i m i lar space-class relationships, which depict space as the rei fica
tion of the social order, have been reported in studies of c i t ies and towns in
Europe , Latin A merica, and Africa. l 2
The anthropological l i terature on space also suggests a static relation
ship between the array of spatial patterns and beliefs about the cosmos
space as the rei fication of the cosmological order. Lev i-Strauss suggested
that the spatial patterns found i n Bororo v i l lages reflect the dual organiza
tion of the sociosymbolic order of that society. 1 3 S i m i lar assumptions are
found i n Griaule and Dieterlen's article on Dogon space , in which the
patterns of compounds and fields are said to reify themes of Dogon cosmol
ogy. l 4 In writing of African towns, Hull suggests that " community layouts
m i rrored the laws of nature and the forces of phi losophic thoug h t . So
humane were African towns and c i t ies that they were regarded by their
inhabi tants as the concrete expression of their inner thoughts about man,
nature and the cosmos ." 1 5
Anthropologists have therefore taken a generally static approach to
space and its sociocultural ram i fications . In the l i terature , space is as
sumed to be " given " and "out there." While space can reify a social and/or
cosmological order, it is nonetheless thought to be a relatively static ,
i m mutable phenomenon .
This anthropological orientation to space has methodological conse
quences . If space is " out there , " then one must observe it using strictly
inductive procedures . Accordingly, I conducted a door-to-door census i n a
number of Songhay towns, and drew an extensive map of field a l lotments .
As I studied these data, a pattern began to emerge suggesting that the
apportionment of space rei fied the Songhay social and symbolic order.
The source of this conceptual and methodological approach to space , I
soon real ized , had deeper roots than structura l i s m , ethno-Marx i s m , or
funct iona l i s m . As one cri tica l l y traces the his tory of (social) science back to
i ts origins, he or she is struck by the ongoing influence of post-Socratic

Greek philosophy. The post-Socratics, of whom Plato was the first, at
tempted to abstract from the flux of experience, by deductive ( Pla to) or
inductive (Aristotle) means, a set of invariant pri nciples which might ex
plain observable natural phenomena. 1 6 This epistemological tendency,
which was m irrored by my own methodological and conceptual approach
to Songhay space , means that knowledge becomes idealized and removed
from experience .
G i ven the pervasive i nfluence of the post-Socratics, it was not surpris
ing to discover that the static approach to the analysis of space had i ts
source in Aristotle, who defined space as topos, a motionless boundary that
contains an e n t i ty. To define the space of an enti ty, the analyst must relate it
to a frame of reference-another entity or e n t i t ies . 1 7 Topos, then , isolates
various spatial units in a perceptual field , and the study of space is elevated
to a geometric exercise. 1 8 Perhaps one can say that the anthropological
analysis of space in soc iety has consisted of a series of footnotes to Aristotle.
GAZING AT SONGHAY SPACE

Tempels long ago suggested that if scholars wanted to understand the
nuances of " pri m i t i ve " soc iety they would have to cast aside their Euro
pean (post-Socratic) visions and attempt to enter the worl d of the other
from the other's perspective. 1 9 My i m mersion in thi ngs Songhay has con
vinced me that Songhay space was something other than the static reifica
tion of the social order, and that I could no longer treat exceptions to the
normative distribution of space as noise in a theoretical syste m .
To see space from a more Songhay perspec tive, I adopted a more
phenomenological approach . From the phenomenological vantage , the
scholar " ought not to t h i nk l i ke an ex terna l man , the psycho-physical
subject who is in t i m e , in space , or in soc iety."20 On the con trary, the
scholar should attempt , through cri tical reflection , to transform the au to
matic condi t ioning of ex ternal stimuli into the conscious condition ing of a
rational t h i nking subjec t .2 1 Given cri tical observa tion , the scholar ceases
to think of data only as external objec ts of analysis , but rather as objects
the perception of which is l inked dynamical ly to his or her own conscious
ness . Using this practice, scholars become aware of the biases of their
social ization , and attempt to observe ethnographic happeni ngs from the
perspective of the ethnographic other. Such has been the conceptual
perceptual problem to be mastered by the Songhay ethnographer who sees
roads which i ntersect , while his informant sees roads which end in forks .
In the phenomenological approach to spa tial pat terns , observers and/
or social actors are no longer in space , but constitute it through the dy
namic actions of their consciousness . For Merleau-Pon ty, space is a uni ver
sal force used by the const i tu t i ng mind .
Space is n o t t h e set ting (real or logical ) i n w h i c h t h ings are arranged , but the
means whereby the pos i ting of things becomes possible. This means that in
stead of i magining i t as a sort of ether i n which a l l things floa t , or conceiving it
abstractly as a characteristic they have i n common , we must think of i t as the
universal power enabling them to be connected . . . . Is i t not true that we are
faced w i t h the al ternative of e i t her perceiving things i n space , or conceiving
space as the indivisible system governing acts of u n i fication performed by the
constituting mind ?22
If space is const i tuted by subjects l i ving i n their social worlds , what

are its dynamic sociological implications? Schutz wou l d argue that the an
swer l ies i n the relationship between space and a person 's " biographically
determined s i tuation ." For Schutz, a person 's apprehension of space-and
its sociocul tural i m p l icat ions-woul d be an outgrowth of her or his " bio
graphically determined situation " in space-time.23 Put another way, the
apprehension of space and the determ ination of its social meaning depend
directly upon a person 's potentially al terable pos i t ion in the social world .
Therefore , there can be, according to Schutz, " mu l t iple rea l i t ies" o f space .
The " mu ltiple real i ties" approach helped me to place the spatial ex
cept ions I had uncovered into a meani ngfu l contex t . If space could be a
conceptual tool with i m portant pol i t ical i m p l ications for Songhay, then
the people who had moved their households i n to inappropriate areas
might well have consciously constituted space in a way different from the
normative pat tern-a poli t ically compe t i t ive concept ion of space .
The multiple rea l i t ies approach to space also al lowed me to compre
hend more clearly the recen t ac t i v i t ies of the merchants of foreign ori g i n .
While the s oc i a l influence o f the merchants h a d recently increased i n
Songhay, I h a d previously bel ieved that t h i s h a d h a d l i tt le i mpact o n the
overa l l pol i tico-spatial si tuation . I began to reassess my initial position .
Before money was introduced as a medium of exchange in Songhay,
soc i a l , economic, and pol i t ical concerns were in tertwined i n a web of
patron-client relationships . Former slaves and forei gners provi ded the no
bles w i t h skil led services ; in return , the nobles woul d pay them in kind.
When money was introduced i n to the more rural regions of Songhay just
fifty years ago, merchants of foreign origin began to assert themselves in
the new commercial sector, a sector which was , and continues to be,
denigrated by Songhay nobles. Gradua lly, the merchants of foreign origin
have gained cont rol over the flow of money in Songhay and have estab
l i shed for themselves large networks of cl ients who now depend on them
for their livelihood . In contemporary t i mes, t he merchants' cont rol of
money seems nearly complete , and the nobles are now i n the e mbarrassing
pos i t ion of having to borrow money from the weal thier merchants i n order
to maintain their dwindling c l ient networks and such symbolic requisi tes
of office as lavish gift giving .
The overa l l impact of the money economy seems to have al tered the
" b iographically determined si tuation" of Songhay merchants and younger
descendants of slaves. Given the increasing i m portance of money, the mer
chants, w i th their inabi l i ty to claim the sacred genealogy of the nobles,
seem instead to be asser ting t h e i r changing sociopol i tical s tatus by con
sti tuting space in a manner d i fferent from that of the nobles . Not all the
merchants of Songhay communit ies are pol i tically active, but those who
are younger (ages 35 to 40 in 1 98 1 ) and of foreign origin (especially Hausas
who have migrated recently i n to Songhay from the eastern and central
regions of N i ger) appear to consti tute space as a powerful pol i t ical force .
U s i n g this concept o f space, t h e pol i tically active merchants, t h e very
people responsible for the spatial exceptions , are attempting to rearrange
the al lotment of Songhay fields and compounds to disrupt the intricate and
delicate web of themes which have in the past leg i t i m i zed the ru le of the
Songhay nobles .
There is not , therefore , one static perception of Songhay space as the
rei ficat ion of the social order, but two coexisting conceptions of space, both
of which have been consti tuted and then objectified. Songhay nobles , re
gardless of age or sex , con tinue to concei ve of space as the rei fication of the
precolonial social order. The " biographically determined si tuation " of the
nobles blinds them , as theories often blind anthropologists, from seeing
otherw ise. The strategic actions of the poli t ical ly active merchants to
rearrange space are viewed by the nobles as ludicrous activi ty. In respond
ing to a question about this phenomenon , one noble sai d : Lumba tondi a si
bora tey jaana (A person cannot change a lumba stone i n to a jaa na). While
the lumba s tone and the jaana, a small marine animal , are both found in the
N i ger River and resemble one another, there is nothing a person can do to
change the stone into a l i v i ng objec t . Just as one cannot tamper w i th the
predetermined natural order of thi ngs, according to the noble view, one
cannot alter the predest i ned social order of l i fe in which only the nobles
have the predisposi tion to govern . A s i m i lar view is held by older people
who are ei ther of foreign origin or descendants of slaves . They, too, con
tinue to const i tute space as the rei fication of the precolon ial order of
bankwano.
For foreigners and former slaves under 40 years of age in 1 98 1 , all of
whom were born after the introduct ion of money i nto the Songhay econ
omy, the actions of the pol i tically ac tive merchants have had a profound
social i mpac t . These younger people not only perceive the changes taking
place in Songhay spatial apportionmen t , but are begi nning themselves to
part icipate in ongoing soc iopoli tical changes . I n precolonial and colonial
ti mes, younger (former) slaves and foreigners would have at tached them
selves as clients to a noble fam i l y. Today, these younger people place them-
selves in the client networks of weal thy merchants. This expansion of the
merchants' network of c lients has enabled many of the merchants to ex
pand their opera tions from the v i l lage to the regional leve l .
The merchant 's a t tempt t o rearrange space is part o f their general
chal lenge to the legi t i macy of the Songhay nobles. Given the merchants'
concept ion of space as a dynamic poli t ical tool , the movement of their
fields and compounds to inappropriate areas is designed to trans m i t mes
sages to the pol i ty which assert ( 1 ) that space is not sacrosanct and i m mu
table, but rather a negotiable entity; and (2) that despite the fact that t hey
cannot share in the sacredness of bankwano , the merchants have nonethe
less gained enough power to manage large networks of c lients to their
economic and social advantage , and to attempt to manipulate the nature of
space i tself.
This attempt to rearrange Songhay space a lso corresponds to changes
in the symbolic behav ior of many of the poli tica lly active merchants and
former slaves . They now carry canes and often dress in white robes , as do
the nobles. Their communicative behavior has become more indirec t ; they
prefer, as do the nobles , to use intermediaries to communicate to other
people or to conduct business . In short , t hey are using a variety of com mu
nicative media to chal lenge the legi t i m acy of the nobles .
GAZING AT ANTHROPOLOGICAL S PACE

Songhay space is consti tuted, ra ther than " given " and " ou t there ." As a
const i tuted conceptual force , space has been used pol itically by both the
Songhay nobles and the pol i t ically active merchants. For the nobles , space
has been const ituted and object i fied to reinforce the col lec t i ve belief that
on ly the nobles have the predisposition to govern . For the merchants , space
has been consti tuted and partially objecti fied to challenge the pol itical and
social exclusivity of the nob les .
It could be argued that the merchants do not conceive space as a
dynamic conceptual force , but rather as a static reification of the soc ial
order. Do they not want to establ ish a new static spatial order which is
advan tageous to their pol i t ical i nterests? The poi n t of my analysis is not to
deny the very real pol i tical aspiration of the Songhay merchant s , but
ra ther to underscore the fac t that they know how to consti tute space to
their pol i tical advantage . Space becomes , therefore , a force which the
merchants can consti tute i n their attempt to reverse the social order. They
have already created an a l ternative conception of Songhay space ; and their
u l t i mate pol i t ical success may be achieved when the Songhay pol i ty ac
cepts the sociopo l i t ical consequences of such an al ternative concept ion .
One cannot tamper with space if he or she percei ves i t passively as a static,
i m mutable phenomenon .
My quest to see Songhay space from a more Songhay- l i ke perspective

has also been a cri tical examinat ion of anthropological " seeing" which has
been shaped in l arge measure from the postulates of pos t-Socratic Greek
phi losophy. Noncri tical adoption of the methodologies and theoretical
assu mptions of social science can , as it did i n my own case, blind the
anthropologist to many of the " multiple rea l i ties" in the field si tuation .
One solution to this pervasive epistemological problem is for anthropolo
gists to take a more sensual perspec tive, al lowing the visions of the other's
world to penetrate their being. A more sensual gaze will not enable us to see
what the ethnographic other sees , but it w i l l produce texts that correspond
more closel y to the experience and perception of the ethnographic other. A
cri tica l , more sensual gaze can help us overcome the b l indness that can
resu l t from post-Socratic disposi tions , so that we are able to see forks as
well as i ntersect ions along the road .
S igns in the Soci a l Order:
4 R iding a Songh ay B ush Taxi
The lord w hose oracle is at Delphi nei ther speaks nor conceals, but gives signs.
Heraclitus
When a Western visi tor to Songhay country rides a bush taxi , he or she is
suddenly thrown i n to a social universe in which many of the advantages of
being a " prestigious" European are rudely pushed aside. No mat ter a per
son 's status i n the pecking order of Songhay society, riding a bush taxi i n
Songhay is a rude i n i tiation both t o t h e uncomfortable condi t ions of public
travel in the Republ ic of N iger and to the " hardness" of Songhay social
interact ion .
I took my first bush taxi ride in the fal l of 1 969 , when I had been in the
Republ i c of N iger a scant three weeks ; I was going to depart for the town of
Tera and my first teaching pos t . Arriv i ng at the bush taxi depot early, I ful l y
expected t h e t a x i t o leave o n schedu le. I wai ted i m patiently for nearly
thirty m i nutes before I asked someone i n French about t he hour of depar
ture . The man to whom I had directed the quest ion seemed to be organizing
the loading operation . He smi led at me and sa id, " toute de suite." Reas
sured , I sat down under a tree and bought two oranges . One hour passed .
City taxis came into the bush taxi depot and deposi ted more passengers
bound for Tera. Young men took the baggage of these passengers and
hoisted them atop the bush tax i . In my i nchoate Songhay I asked the old
woman s i t t i n g next to me abou t the hour of departure . " Who knows , " she
said . " I n a l i ttle while." After two hours of waiting I noticed that a man ,
who appeared to be working on the engine of the bush taxi , was leavi ng the
Figure 8 : A Songhay bush t a x i on t h e Dos u l to M a rkoy rou t e
70
Signs in the Social Order 71
depot . Beside myself, I asked h i m where he was going. " To the autoshop. We
need a new part ." When I asked h i m when he woul d be back, he said,
characteristically, " toute de suite." Another hour passed before the me
chanic returned from the autoshop. He looked a t me and sai d , " You should
buy some meat before we get started." About 30 m inutes later, another
man, who had been scurrying about the depot all morning, announced that
the taxi was about to depart and that a l l the passengers for Tera should
board the tax i .
Bush taxis in t h e Songhay view o f things are either converted Peugeot
404 pickup trucks, the carriers of which have two wooden p lanks secured to
the floor for passenger seating, or larger vehicles cal led mille kilo, which are
more l i ke buses . Our vehicle for the ride to Tera was of the m i l le k i lo variety.
Along w i t h the other passengers I picked up my bags and moved toward the
vehicle that would transport us and our baggage to our destination . As I
approached the m i l le kilo, three or four young boys attempted to help me
with my things . When I resisted their efforts, exclaiming that I could
handle my own bags , they said something to me i n Songhay that I did not
comprehend and then attempted to help an elderly N i gerien gen t leman .
He gave them his bags and gave each of them a few francs for their efforts .
Inside t h e bus , t h e m a n who h a d announced our departure was tel ling
people where they should sit. He suggested to the generous elderly gentle
man that he sit next to the driver. When he saw me, he suggested that I s i t
next to t h e elderly gentleman. I s a i d t h a t i t would b e better for an old
woman to sit i n front of the tax i : 'Til sit i n the back of the taxi l i ke everyone
else ." The man looked at me strangely and told me to move on . The other
passengers already seated i n the back of the bus greeted me and ei ther
giggled or laughed . Meanwhile, I squeezed myself between two young
mothers , both of whom were nursing their chi ldren . The noontime heat
made the air hot and stuffy i n the crowded m i l le kilo, and the baby to my
left vomi ted on me. The driver started the engine and we began our trek to
Tera, a voyage of some 1 90 ki lometers which, because of frequent flat t i res,
engine breakdowns, social visits, and pol ice stops along the way, took more
than ten hours to complete .
I was too overcome by the hea t , fi l t h , and discomfort , not to mention
my own ignorance of the Songhay sociocul tural world , to understand what
was occurring around me. As i n the case of the oracle of Delphi , no one was
" speaki ng" to me and no one was concealing anything from me; rather I
found myself in an al ien u n iverse of signs, most of which I was unable to
see. 1
When I returned to Songhay i n 1 976 to conduct anthropological field
work , I con tinued to use public transportation . After having taken bush
taxis exclusively for a two year period , I was no longer angered and irri-
tated by long delays , engine fai lures, flat tires , or vom iting babies ; in fact , I
rather enjoyed talking with the friends I had made during a l l those many
stops along the bush taxi route. Besides, I had gotten to know the drivers ,
apprentices, and personali ties of the bush taxi depot . Sti l l , I did not " read , "
i n t h e sense o f Ricoeur, bush taxi in teraction a s deeply a s I migh t , for I was
stil l onl y beginning to " see " Songhay society from a Songhay perspective. 2
Now, almost twen ty years after that first disconcerting ride, I real i ze
that the complex i nterac tions that form the complex of Songhay bush taxi
i nteraction correspond to deep-seated Songhay beliefs abou t the nature of
their social world . Much as with Geertz's Bal inese cockfight or Basso's
Apache jokes about white men , riding a bush taxi , a thoroughly mundane
soc ial event , can be " seen " as a set of symbolic ac tions that reinforce a
corresponding set of Songhay cul tural concept ions .3 Thi s chapter, like the
others i n this section , is not only abou t the dynamic mesh that connects
bush taxi i nteract ion to Songhay culture , or the mundane to the profound,
but also about the epistemological process- the act of seeing-through
which anthropologists and ethnographic others learn to interpret the dis
course of social action .
B U S H TAXI INTERACTION IN ITS SOCIAL CONTEXT

In the twenty years si nce I took my fi rst bush taxi ride in Songhay, I have
learned that the iden t i t ies involved in any bush taxi interaction are a l l tied
i n one way or another to the h i story of the Songhay Empire . Some of the
passengers in a mille kilo headed toward Tera, for example, are bound to be
of noble blood . The taxi drivers , the apprentice drivers , and the taxi load
ers , by cont rast , are l i kely to be ei ther descendants of former slaves or
foreigners (yeowey).
In many ways the past intersects with the presen t when the members
of these separate, but puta t i vely unequa l , social groups i n terac t in any
number of mundane social events i ncluding, of course , riding a bush tax i .
In the previous chapter, I described how one 's social grouping affec ts h i s or
her apprehension of space . Here I would like to focus on how one 's social
grouping affects his or her soc ial behavior. Nobles are supposed to be
reserved , laconic, and generous. Former slaves and foreigners are expected
to be outgoing, loquacious, and sti ngy. These cul turally denoted expecta
t ions of ideal noble/non-noble interaction have a major bearing on the kind
of social act i v i ties the son of Askia, as compared to a son of a (former) slave,
might engage in. To this day most nobles do not deign to engage in commer
cial activi ties; they wou ld ra ther be represented by an in termed iary.4 For
mer slaves and foreigners have participated fu lly in the money economy,
which was i ntroduced into the rural areas of Songhay some fifty years ago
and today forms the foundation of the loca l economy. The noble, therefore ,
might well b e a passenger o n a bush tax i , b u t former slaves a n d foreigners

are al most a lways the drivers , loaders , or owners of transport vehicles .
The foregoing descrip tion suggests that the structure of Songhay is
relatively static, the ideal behavioral expec tations of the noble and non
nobles having produced and maintained unequal and exclusive social cate
gories . The close " reading-seei ng" of the symbol ic interactions below, how
ever, suggests that , in Songhay social interaction w i t h i n non-noble groups ,
notions of status and role are not rigidly fixed by ideal cultural categories
and behavioral expectat ions .
LOA DING B U S H TAXIS IN B O N FEBBA

Men load cargo and people i n bush tax is every Fri day in the v i l lage of
Bonfebba, which is si tuated on the east bank of the N iger River in Songhay.
On Friday, wh ich is market day, traders and travelers from the west bank,
known i n Songhay as haro banda (beh ind the water). come to Bonfebba by
dugout to partic ipate i n market ac tivities or to travel by bush taxi to such
urban centers as Til laberi and Niamey, which are located to the sou t h . 5
While t h e c a s t o f characters w h o load bush t a x i s m a y change from week to
week, the mechanics of bush taxi loading remain fairly constan t . A bush
taxi cannot be loaded , obv iously, if there are no passengers or cargo. But if
there is cargo and if passengers do appear, then they must come in contact
with people assoc iated with bush taxis at market towns. There is the
coxeur, who collects money from the passengers and who directs the actual
loading of the taxi . The coxeur typically has one or two assistants who
place the small cargo i n to the taxi and tie the more bulky cargo onto the
tax i 's roof. The assistants to the coxeur often hire their own assistants. The
passenger, therefore , often comes in con tact with the coxeur's assistan ts'
assistan ts. Each tax i , of course , has a driver, someone who has obtained h i s
driver's perm i t and who knows very wel l how t o repair automobile en
gi nes . The driver always has his personal ass istant, who is cal led the
apprenti. To become a driver one must serve a several-year apprent iceship.
A l l of the ac tors in the bush taxi drama maintain some notion about
the status and expectations of their social role . But as the fol lowing de
scription indicates, the notion of status and the expec tations it carries is
negotiable.
SOGA ( COX E U R ) : Hey everybody, hey ! Come here . T i ll aberi people . Nia
mey people . Come here quickly. We must go. We w i l l
n o t wai t .
((Passenger A presents herself to Soga))
SOGA : Where are you going, woman ?
PASSEN G E R A : I ' m goi ng to T i l l aberi .
SOGA : Hand over the money, 600 francs .

PASS E N G E R A : ((laughs)) There is not enough [ money] . Lower your
price .
SOGA : ((looking around)) Zakarey ? Where is he? ((sees Zaka-
rey, his assistant)) Come here !
((Zakarey arrives at the taxi))
SOG A : Zakarey, put the bags on top [of the bush taxi] .
ZAKA R E Y : Okay.
SOGA : ((talking to the woman, Passenger A)) Go over there to
wai t , woma n .
((Saga goes into the market to look for passengers. Passengers B, C, and D
present themselves))
SOGA : Where are you going
PASS E N G E R B : Nia mey.
PASS E N G E R C : Til laberi .
PASS E N G E R D : Karma.
SOGA : The one going to Karma, 750 francs . The one going to
Til la, 600 francs . The one going to N i amey, 950 francs
((The passengers give Soga the money without an argument; they know the
standard prices.))
SOGA : Zakarey. Go and fetch Boreyma. We need two people
to carry the passengers' things .
((All the passengers, nine in total, are wa iting around the bush taxi while
Zakarey and Boreyma, another assistant, hoist goods and personal baggage up
to the roof of the taxi. The driver is nowhere in sight.))
PASS E N G E R c: When are we goi ng to go ? It is necessary that I arri ve
in N i a mey before noon .
SOGA : Patience man . Pat ience . (( looking around the market))
Okay. Everyone get in the bush taxi . . . . Boreyma,
show the people where they should s i t .
((Saga inspects the seating arrangement.))
sOGA : It is not good . A l fa Adoulaye ! You must not s i t in the
bac k . Come here . Sit in the cabin [ i .e . , next to the
driver in the most comfortable sea t ] .
PASS E N G E R D : Where is t h e driver? We must go.
SOG A : Pa t ience ((looks for the dri ver)). Good , he is coming
now.
((The driver arrives and greets Saga, Zakarey, Boreyma, and a few o( the
passengers. He opens the hood of the bush taxi and looks under the veh icle to
inspect the suspension and the tires.))
SOG A : Has everyone paid ?
((Saga looks into the taxi and counts the money h e has collected.))
DRIVER: Okay, Soga. How m u c h [money] d o you have?

SOGA : There is 6500 francs .
DRIVER: In God's name , i t is not enough , Soga.
soGA: It is enough !
((The driver gets into the taxi. Saga expla ins to him where each person is going
and how much each has paid.))
BOREYMA : ((pointing t o a m a n i n t h e back o f t h e taxi)) Soga, you
forgot that man .
SOGA : ((in a loud voice)) I did not forget anyone . You [Bory
ema] are a donkey. . . . ((looking at the driver)) Is it
good?
((The driver goes through the money, takes out 500 francs in 1 00-franc coins,
and gives them to Saga.))
sOGA: ((screa m ing)) It w i l l not do ! There is not enough
money. You give some more .
DRIVER: ((smiles a t Soga)) The owner does not agree , you know.
((The driver closes the window of the taxi. Wh ile Saga and Boreyma try to force
open the window, the driver starts the engine and drives away.))
SOGA : That man [the driver] is not easy [i .e . , is hard] . He is
not good .
ZAKAREY : Where 's my cut?
BOREYMA: And mine?
((Boreyma grabs Saga wh ile Zakarey searches his pockets.))
BOREYMA: It is the money we wan t . Hand i t over.
soGA : ((gi ves them each 1 00 francs)) You get 1 00 francs .
BOREYMA : It is not enough ! It is not enoug h !
ZAKAREY : Soga, you , too, are a donkey. You must i ncrease [our
cut] .
SOGA: ((sm i les at Zakarey and Boreyma)) I f you are not
agreed [ to the a mount] , go and look for work again
[ i .e . , somewhere else] .6
In this i nteraction , Soga, the coxeur, is the foca l point . By fol lowing
closely what Soga does and says , one can uncover i n teractional patterns
not uncommon in everyday Songhay l i fe . To begin w i t h , nei ther the owner
nor the driver, the two most highly ranked social identities i n the transport
pecking order, is present for the ent ire episode . During most of the i nterac
tion , therefore , Soga the coxeur is in authority. Throughout the loading,
Soga attempts to maintain his social prestige as coxeur, as reflected i n his
use of language that is laced w i t h requests and demands .
Since Soga knows the owner's prices, he w i l l nei ther bargai n with the
woman, which would reveal his symbol ic weakness, nor load the baggage
onto the roof of the taxi , which would be a symbolic reflection of inferior
status . For the physical labor involved in loading the tax i , Soga h i red, on
his own i n i tiative, two assistan ts. Soga's language to his two assistants
his requests and his demands-sugges ts that he percei ves that he is in
authori ty and is maintaining his social pres tige .
Soga's authority is d i m i nished greatly, however, when the driver re
turns to the tax i . As soon as the driver arrives Soga makes his first request
for informa tion other than the destination of the passengers , asking if
everyone has pai d . The driver ignores this and asks the coxeur how much
money he has col lected . When Soga tells him the amou n t , the driver repl ies
that the coxeur is short . Here the impl ication is that ei ther Soga might
have pocketed the money, a veiled insu l t , or the driver, knowing that 6500
francs is the correct amoun t , is trying to shame the coxeur while asserting
his own prestige as driver. Boreyma, sensing the driver's motive , tries to
take advan tage of the s i tuation by assert ing that Soga has forgotten to
col lect money from one passenger, a rather direct challenge to Soga's
competence and authori ty. Soga, reacting to Boreyma's assertion and wish
ing to maintain face , insults his assistan t , cal l i ng him a donkey; he then
asserts that he has forgotten no one . The driver accepts this and gi ves Soga
500 francs for his work . Soga is angry with the driver for paying a coxeur so
l i ttle money-an insu l t to his competence and ski l l as coxeur. But the
driver absolves h imsel f; the owner, the u l t i mate, albeit absen t , authori ty, is
the person who sets the prices for passage , for cargo , and for coxeurs .
Despi te the near-violent protests of Soga and his assistants, the driver
leaves Bonfebba, having used this brief scene to reinforce his authority-at
the expense of Soga.
The give and take of Songhay bush taxi loading is not yet complete,
however. Soga's assistants want their money. They begin to play the kind of
game Soga played only a m i nute earl ier with the driver. Soga, once again in
authority, must be firm . He gi ves each assistant 1 00 francs, and sugges ts
that if they are not happy with this amount they should search elsewhere
for work . Here , Soga uses the strong, ful l tone of assertions and demands
rather than the pleading questions of angry but powerless assert ions.
Benea th the surface of the episode , however, appears an ethos of " hard
ness , " examples of which are expressed throughout the scene . Soga speaks
harshly to the woman who cannot pay the required price for the trip to
Til laberi ; he tel l s her to go and sit under a tree , and no one comes to her a i d .
T h e t a x i driver expresses l i t tle sympathy toward Soga by giving t h e coxeur
an unsuitable fee for his services ; indeed , he expresses his con tempt for
Soga and his assistants by rapidly shutting his taxi wi ndow, literally clos
ing h i mself off from his social i n ferivrs . Soga also treats his assistants
crudely, barking orders at them as though they were donkeys. Soga's assis-
tants a t tempt to insu l t h i m in pub l ic . The result of a l l of this " hardness" i s

t h a t people are either shaming others o r being shamed i n public contexts .
From brief exposure to this typical sl ice of Songhay bush taxi loading,
we confront a Songhay social arena- the marketplace-that is not only
" hard , " but crude and harsh as well .7
DEEP A N D S U RFAC E REA D I N G S OF B U S H TAXI

INTERACTION
To uncover the deep meanings of bush taxi loading, we must understand
how elements of i n terac tion express meanings at various levels of cultural
signi ficance . Readers of bush taxi interact ion must therefore a t tempt to
understand " not another person , but a projec t , that i s , the outl i ne of new
being-in- the-world ."8 Put another way, the deep readers of Songhay bush
taxi i nterac t ion must come to understand what people are " saying" to one
another and how this " saying" corresponds to those signs that make the
world comprehensible.9 To approach a more profound " readi ng" of bush
taxi loading, we must journey beyond the analysis of surface d iscourse and
attempt to " see" how this discourse , in the words of Bachelard , " reverber
ates" in the p i t of Songhay being . l 0 If we wish to " seize the rea l i ty of an
i mage " to see how it " reverberates" in the pit of (Songhay) being, we must
consi der the metaphorical aspec ts of symbolic expression . 1 1
The analysis of metaphor is " perhaps the most perplexing, vexed and
intrac table ques t ion in the whole phi losophy of language ." 1 2 Despi te the
embryon ic state of metaphorical theory, we can say that metaphors are
tropes that , by l inking two seemi ngly unrelated seman tic domains, forge a
new meaning. 1 3 Further, the metaphor may also jux tapose "elements of a
concrete i mage in order to formulate some set of more abstract relation
ships." 1 4 Metaphor appears to be a cen tral cogni tive mechanism that can
prov ide the organizing images that render experience intelligible. 1 5 I t is for
this reason that elements of metaphor can be found in ordinary discourse :
" Metaphor permeates a l l discourse , ordinary and specia l , and we should
have a hard t i me finding a purely l i teral paragraph anywhere ." 1 6 Johnson
and Lakoff suggest , moreover, that metaphors " structure what we perceive,
how we get around, and how we relate to one another." 1 7 Metaphors there
fore see m to structure the relat ionships a mong many of the objects, con
cepts, and/or social others we confront in our experience .
B ush Tax is, Metaphors, and Songhay Proverbs

It is clear that people do not speak entirely in metaphors . In the sentence ,
" the cha i rman plowed through the meeting , " the word " p lowed" is the only
unequi vocably metaphorical clement in an otherwise l i teral sen tence . 1 8 In
the bush taxi even t , i t is equa lly c lear that the in te ractants are not speaking
primari l y in metaphors . If we reread the sequences presented above, how

ever, we can isolate a number of relationshi ps structured through meta
phors . If we then juxtapose those relationships to a number of correspond
ing Songhay proverbs and idiomatic expressions, we can see more deeply
into the i n terac t ion .
Consider, first of a l l , the relationship between TIME and PATIENCE,
which finds expression in the fol lowing i tems from the in teraction as well
as from a number of Songhay proverbs and idioms .
Example I . Q: When are you leaving?

A: Pa tience , pa tience .
Example 2 . Q: When is the dri ver coming?
A: In a l i t t le while. Have patience .
Example 3 . Old men have patience .
Example 4 . Men wi thout patience die young.
Example 5 . Youth are al ways i n a hurry ; they have no pat ience .
These state ments consider t i me on two levels . Time is considered in a

chronemic manner, as in examples I , and 2, in which the request for
informa tion as to when X is coming or when X is goi ng is answered not by a
dist inct t i me (noon , 3 : 30) but by the exhortation , " patience ." This answer
reflects the more fundamental relationsh i p in Songhay thought between
t i me-in- l i fe and patience . "Old men have pa tience , " hence they understand
the mean ing of time, for " men wi thout patience die young" and " youth are
always in a hurry " ( i .e . , they lack patience). The metaphorically structured
statements about t i me that I have isola ted, however, seem not to refer
even tangential ly- to Songhay beliefs abou t t i me and wisdom , age and
wisdom , or the sweep of time from the mythic origins of Songhay to the
presen t . Beliefs about time and w isdom and age and wisdom seem to be
more connected to the metaphoric elements found in proverbs . Not ions of
Songhay mythic t i me are even further removed from surface discourse ;
they are embodied in the symbol ic movement of such ritual as possession
dance , magic ri tes , and circumcision . Symbol ic " motion thus becomes a
metaphor, one 's t i me being enacted within another, distilling myth , i ncar
nating i t in the process of being enacted ." 1 9 The surface discourse of the
bush taxi i n teraction , therefore , presents us with an opening to deeper
levels of metaphoric i n terpretation .
The second metaphoric relat ionship that I have isolated in the loading
sequence concerns MEN and DONKEYS. In the slice of i n teraction pre
sented above , Saga says to Boreyma:
Example 6 . You [Boreyma] are a donkey

Later i n the i n terac tion , Boreyma returns the compl i men t . There are other
statements in Songhay speech i n which human activi ties are understood
(unfavorably) in terms of those of donkeys:
Example 7 . Your head and a donkey 's head ; i t i s the same thing.
Example 8 . You are the son of a donkey.
From these examples , which can serve as real or ritual insults, we under
stand that the act i v i t ies of human beings who are slow-witted are seen i n
l i g h t o f t h e behavior o f donkeys .20 B u t t h e observation o f human beings
in teracting with donkeys and a perusal of Songhay proverbs sheds more
l i g h t , it seems, on the relationship of MEN and DON KEY S . Donkeys have
no dignity in the natural order. Many Songhay throw stones at donkeys ,
and somet i mes beat them on the head w i t h batons for no apparent reason .
Donkeys are abused and are expected to work i ncessantly, as is suggested
by the fol lowing proverb .
Example 9 . Even while t h e donkey is res t i n g , there is a load o n i ts

back.
By juxtaposing a number of relevant Songhay proverbs with the analysis of

the symbol ic expression found i n the bush taxi episode , we flesh out the
relationship of men to donkeys . In everyday language , Songhay are not
l i kely to use sentences that highl ight the s i m i larity of the behavior of some
men to that of donkeys .
The third metaphoric relationshi p I have isolated concerns MEN and
ROC K S . In everyday language , and i n the bush taxi in teraction , men and
their behavior can be conceived i n terms of a rock , that which is hard , not
easy to move , or in trac tabl e .
Example 1 0 . The man i s not easy [is hard ) .2 1

Example I I . His hands are hard .
Example 1 2 . He has inner strength [fula] ; he is not easy.
To be hard is a desi rable qua l i ty in Songhay social l i fe : one is respected if he

or she is tough , resolute, and successfu l i n asserting h is/her w i l l , just as the
taxi driver asserts his w i l l in his i nterac tion with Soga. Despi te his " hard
ness, " however, the driver does not want to be held responsible for the low
wages he gives to Soga and his assistan ts . He therefore tells them that the
owner is the one who sets the prices; someone external to the i m mediate
context, the driver is " sayin g , " is responsible for your grief and misfortune .
A hard man is capable of mercy if mercy does not jeopardize his social
posi tion . The ethos of " hardness" is therefore not l i m i ted to market dis-
course ; it is anchored to an important conception of Songhay social l i fe, a

conception that , at i ts foundation , is metaphorical l y structured .
N O N L I N G U I STIC METAPHORS A N D SONGHAY SYMBOLIC

INTERACTI ON
Metaphors, Songhay and otherwise, can be non l i nguistic as wel l as li nguis

tic .22 The examination of the language used i n the Bonfebba bush taxi load
ing does provide us with some significant insigh t s . We do get the connec
tion of t i me and patience, men and donkeys , and men and rocks . The more
substantive statements of these metaphoric relationships are brough t forth
in proverbs (example 9) and idiomatic expressions (examp les 3, 4, 5, 1 2 )
that were not directly expressed duri ng the bush taxi load ing.
Proceeding deeper, we arrive at the threshold of metaphorica l l y struc
tured symbol ic in teract ion . Here , the comport ment of the in teractant is
considered as a whole . We already know that the relationship of men to
rocks (" hardness") is metaphorica lly structured . What about the not ion of
money and hardness? If we rel ied on strictly l i nguistic informat ion , we
wou ld not isolate a relationsh ip between money and " hardness"; but if we
consider the total scope of symbol ic expression , the relationsh ip between
money and " hardness" stares us i n the face. Soga, for example, is " hard " in
his interaction with the passengers . He uses short , curt sentences with
them and will not negot iate prices . The driver acts " hard " when he deals
with Soga. In both cases, " hardness" as a set of behav iors is associated with
money and i ts hand l i n g .
Probing s t i l l deeper i n to the Songhay world o f meaning, we see that
" hardness" and social negot iat ion are i n terconnected . There are a number
of instances i n which Soga's assistants attempt to exceed the l i m i ts of their
social rol e . Boreyma does just this when he suggests that Soga, a profes
sional coxeur, has forgotten to collect money from one man . Soga rea l izes
this affront and puts Boreyma in his place by ca l l ing h i m a donkey.
In genera l , this kind of social negot iation and attempt at status man ip
ulation is highly charac teristic of the Songhay marketplace; it pervades
the loading of a bush tax i . Passengers , for example, must be seated in
symbolic pattern s . If the appropriate pattern is viola ted , as when an Is
lamic cleric had been seated i n the rear of the tax i , clearly a posi tion
designated for someone of a lesser social status , the si tuation must be
corrected in a " hard " way. The dri ver's interac tion with Soga, moreover, is
a clear case of social negot iation- the driver in flates his public status at
the expense of Soga, who before the arri val of the driver had been " hard "
and in control .
Despi te the aura of social negoti ation , the people associated with
loading a bush taxi go only so far. Whi le Boreyma, Soga, and the driver
mani pulate Songhay symbolic expression to gain as much monetary pres

tige as possible , when a l l is l i tera l l y said and done , no one has progressed .
The driver s t i l l maintains his superior status v is-a-vis Soga, who remains
i n a pos i t ion superior to that of Boreyma and Zakarey. The absentee owner
controls the entire grou p ; he sets the prices and the payment schedules .
Correspondingly, the social in teraction of bush taxi loading exhibits nego
tiation , but the rights and duties of many of the roles remain by and large
fixed-control led by external forces . This extremely i mportant concept ion
of Songhay everyday reality concerning the i m mob i l i ty of the social order
is not referenced in everyday language , but through the deep " reading " of
experience day in and day out .
Fore igners and former slaves cannot become nobles ; coxeurs do not
become drivers . There are , of course , exceptions to this pattern i n the
commercial sector: some assistants do become coxeurs ; apprentices be
come drivers ; some dri vers become owners . But t hese upward transit ions
are rare , in the Songhay v iew of things, and the odds are in favor of role
stagnat ion ra ther than role transformat ion . The notion of i m mob i l i ty cor
responds to the Songhay notion that l i fe in general is controlled by forces
outside the self. One 's putative progress in l i fe in the commercial sector
depends on the whims of another (in the case of Soga, on the whims of the
driver and the absentee owner). I m mob i l i ty, therefore , is a central concept
of the re lations of self to the Songhay soc ial worl d .
With the notion o f i mmob i l i ty, w e are aga i n confronted w i t h a static
representation of the Songhay social order. If the Songhay 's fa te is ascribed
at his or her birt h , then his or her social category is fixed . This static
representat ion of the Songhay social order seems inaccurate , however. As
we have seen , Songhay ac tors publicly manipulate symbolic expression to
inflate their public status , however fleet i ngly, at the expense of the social
other. Perhaps i t would be more fi t t i ng to say that Songhay i mmob i l i ty
seems to represent a set of invariable brackets w i t h i n which social negotia
tion takes place . Former slaves cannot become nobles , but i f they are crafty
negotia tors in the com mercial sector, they can become noblelike.23
Moving another step deeper i n to the Songhay scheme of things, we can
apprec iate more fully the connection of soc ial negotiation to hardness . In
the past nobles were " hard " warriors (wangari); today their comportment
is a demonstration of the nob le attri bute f"u la, inner strength and intrac
tab i l i ty. S i m i l arly, former sl aves and foreigners demonstrate the " hard
ness" of Songhay social i nterac tion, chal lenging one another i f only for a
brief moment of social prestige, as in Borey ma's chal lenge to Soga. Gener
a l ly speaking, the " harder" a person i s , the more prest ige he or she gathers ;
a n d t h e more prestige h e o r she gat hers , t h e more nob l e l i ke h e o r she
becomes . These , then , are the cross currents in Songhay soc iety. The social
order is arranged in ascribed and genera l l y exclusi ve social ca tegories of

unequal rank; the nobles are exclusive of the foreigners and the former
slaves; and human i nteract ion in this ascribed social order is characterized
by a high degree of social negotiat ion . Former slaves w i l l sometimes chal
l e n g e the " face " of the nobles , and they somet i mes win a momentary
victory.24 The former s lave 's victorious encounter w i th a son of Askia is
i l lusory, however, for when all is said and done, not much has changed . The
former slave can never claim to have the blood of the Askias running in his
veins .
READING A N D METAPHORIC LIN KAGES

" Readi n g , " i n the sense I am usi ng here , is an aspect of the kind of cri tical
observat ion that I am advocating in this book . In my own case my first
" readi n g " of Songhay bush taxi in teraction had li ttle to do with the Song
hay and more to do with my own set of admittedly ethnocentric predisposi
tions . Anthropologists , for the most part , are keenly aware of their cul tural
b l i ndness when they are first ex posed to another cul ture . The accumula
tion of knowledge through fieldwork enables most of us to focus our vision
of the other cul ture . But fieldwork experiences , however exceptional they
might be , do not guarantee a deep comprehension of another cul ture .
Deeper " readings" o f bush taxi interaction , for example, must correspond
to deeper experiences i n the Songhay world , for " we must say that the
meaningful patterns which a depth-interpretation wants to grasp cannot
be understood without a kind of personal commi tment simi lar to that of
the reader who grasps the depth semantics of a text and makes it is own ."2 5
This com m i tmen t , it seems to me, is not to use what one can discover about
the Songhay or any other group to prove or disprove a uni versal tru t h , but
to take a sensual turn , letting the other's world penetrate us .
Such a com m i tment is more than the anthropologist 's attempt to
master the other's language . As any socioli nguist would suggest , there is
more to learning a l anguage than studying i ts phonology and grammar. To
be able to use a language , one must i m merse onesel f in both langue and
parole and learn both l i nguistic and sociol i nguistic ru les.26 Going one step
further, one could say that for deep " readers" to make the text their own ,
they must begin to grasp the me taphoric l inkages, the " reverberations"
that are expressed in discourse .
It is perhaps the emergence of express i v i ty that const i t u tes the marvel of

language . . . . There is no mystery in language . The mos t poe t i c , most " sacred "
language opera tes w i t h the same semic variables as the most banal word of the
dict ionary. But there is a mystery of language . I t is that language says, says
somet h i n g , says something of bei n g . If there is an enigma of symbol ism i t
resides e n t i rely a t the level o f manifes tat ion where the equ i voci ty o f be ing
becomes said i n di scoursc .27
The more I have learned about Songhay language , the better I have become
able to place the symbol ic in terac tions of such mundane activities as
loading a bush taxi into deeper perspectives . This vantage has revealed to
me the ful l signi ficance of " hardness" and its relation to social negotiation .
Perhaps the importance of a sensual approach to anthropological inquiry is
that as a process i t cont inually reveals to the anthropologist the l i m i tations
of his or her knowledge . After more than forty-five years of com m it ment to
the Songhay world , Jean Rouch is s t i l l trying to solve many of the mys
teries of the Songhay cosmos . Such comm i t ment is probably beyond the
expectat ions and hopes of most A merican anthropologists who must com
pete for dwindling research funds . But wi thout this com m i t ment to " lan
guage , " or to " deep visions , " which may take years to develop, how can we
be sure that what we claim to know is indeed knowledge ? As one of my
Songhay teachers once told me : " If you l isten to us, you w i l l learn much
about our ways . But to have v ision , you must grow old with us." As the
discipl i ne of anthropology proceeds from crisis to crisis, i t might be benefi
cial to remember the aphorism of Herac l i tus and confront ful l y those signs
we encounter daily i n the fiel d .
Son of Rouch : Songhay Visions
5 of the Other
Imagine an anthropological d iscourse i n which t h e others c lassify their

anthropologists in the same way that we classify them . Such a movement
would be a step toward the decolon ization of anthropological tex ts; it
wou ld a lso help infuse our wri t i ng with a desperately needed sense of
hu mor. " Savages , " after all, enjoy savaging their eth nographers .
In earl ier pages I h a v e wri tten abou t how t h e Eurocentric gaze affected
the perception and analysis of my Songhay field experiences . In this chap
ter I argue that " their" classificat ions of " us" are revela tory, for they si tuate
ethnographic research i n a broader, more epistemologic a l l y and pol i t ic a l l y
sens i tive contex t . I exp lore here w h a t it meant for t h e Songhay t o label m e
t h e "son " of French fi l m maker and anthropologist J e a n Rouch .
IMAG ES O F JEA N ROUCH

In 1 94 1 , when he was a young engi neer working for the French Travaux
Publ ics i n the colony of N iger, Jean Rouch had his first contact with the
Songhay people in the N i amey Region of N i ger. With the aid of his men
tors , Marcel Griaule and Theodore Monod , and his i n formant-friends , espe
c i a l l y Damore Zika, Rouch gathered inform a t ion on Songhay mythology
and language . By 1 942 he had amassed a collection of documentary photo
graphs and ri tual objects used in Songhay possession ceremonies. After the
war, Rouch returned to Songhay country, and in 1 946-47 Jean Sauvy,
Pierre Panty, and Rouch took a dugout the entire length of the N i ger Ri ver.
Back in Songhay in 1 94 8 , he toured the Til laberi region , visiting the most
i mportant districts. In Sangara and Wanzerbe he met the fa mous sorcerers
of Songhay, the sohanci , the direc t patri l i neal descendants of the great
Songhay Visions of the Other 85
Figure 9: " Son of Rouch " in Niamey, N i ger, 1 976 (photo by Cheryl Olkes)
Songhay king, Sonni Ali Ber. Rouch also conducted fieldwork among the
Songhay in 1 949 when he went to Aribinda and Dori (Burkina Faso) and
Hombori (Mali). This trip enabled him to complete his work on Songhay
mythology. In 1 950-5 1 , he studied the Songhay populations l i v ing in what
was then the Gold Coast, and he continued this work in 1 953-5 5 .
This early work resulted in a n ethnographic treasure chest o f mate
ria ls. Rouch publ ished two studies, Contribution a l'h istoire des Songhay
( 1 953), which focused upon Songhay archeology, mythology, and his tory,
and Les Songhay ( 1 953), a classic ethnography. In 1 960 he published his
these d'etat, La Religion et Ia magie Songhay, the culmination of al most
twenty years of contact with Songhay. La Religion is a comprehensive
ethnography, covering in exhaustive detai l Songhay mythology, posses
sion , and sorcery. La Religion is a book a l i ve with the voices of Rouch 's 67
informants , whose words are woven throughout the tex t ; Rouch 's own
voice is subdued . His interpretations are l i m i ted to a short preface and an
even shorter conclusion .
This Griaulian predispos i t ion to let the informant speak, to let the
informant evoke h is/her world , paved the way for Rouch 's contributions to
a more evoca tive medium : ethnographic fi l m . The early years produced
some of Rouch 's most memorable films: In itiation a Ia danse des possedes
( I 948), Circoncision ( I 949), Bataille sur le grand fleuve ( I 953), Les Hommes
qui font Ia pluie ( 1 95 1 ), and Les Magiciens de Wanzerbe ( 1 949). Les Magiciens
de Wanzerbe has a remarkable sequence of a sorcerer's dance (sohanci hori)
in which a dancer vomi ts his magical chain and then swal lows i t . Like
Rouch 's other films, Les Magiciens documents the horrors and delights of
the Songhay worlds of sorcery and possession , worlds in which the i nexpli
cable occurs with a l arming frequency. 1
Wi th the exception of a few articles , Rouch has, since 1 960, concen
trated exclusively on ethnographic fi l mmaking.2 Fieldwork in Ghana and
the Ivory Coast resul ted in three incomparable films: Les Maitres fous
( I 954), Jaguar (I 954), and Moi, Un Nair ( I 954). Fieldwork in N i ger between
1 957 and 1 964 cul m i nated i n his wel l-known Chasse au lion a I'arc (The
Lion Hunters). Rouch has also produced feature-length general audience
films based partially upon his ethnographic experience (see Petit a petit
[ 1 968] and Coco rico, monsieur poulet [ 1 974]), which were commercial suc
cesses in France and i n West Africa. Most of Rouch 's fi l m work is concen
trated on Songhay possession , Rouch 's ethnographic passion . There are
cinematic i nterviews with possession priests (Douda Sorko), and a score of
short films on the Songhay yenaandi ceremon ies , the possession ri tes dur
ing which the spiri ts are asked to bring ra i n .
Among the most fascinating o f Rouch 's fi l ms is Tourou e t bitti ( I 97 1 ).
The fi l m covers the closi ng moments of the fourth day of a festival for the
genji bi (the black spiri ts, which con trol soi l fert i l i ty and pestilence). Dur
ing the first three days , the spirits refused to possess their mediums, a bad
sign for the upcoming harves t . Sido, the Si miri possession pries t , invited
Rouch to a ttend the rites on the fourth day of the fest ivities . Nothing
happened until just before sunse t , when Rouch began to fi l m . Suddenly, as
i f i n response to the presence of the camera, one of the black spirits took the
body of his medium . Rouch says he hi mself en tered a " c ine-trance ," which
fac i l i ta ted possession .3 Aside from making i mportant poi nts abou t the
phenomenology of the self. this film also documented Jean Rouch 's power
in Songhay.
In Europe Rouch 's books , his articles and espec i a l l y his fi l ms have
brought him i n ternational acclai m . He i s considered the crea tor of cinema
verite, and if he is not the greatest e thnographic fi l m maker today-and I
think that he is-he is certainly the most prolific , w i th more than 1 00 fi l ms
to h i s cred i t . In N i ger he has become a legend , his name evoking both
pos i t i ve and nega t i ve passion s . Many N i geriens are proud of the powerfu l
i mages that Jean Rouch 's fi l ms depi c t ; others , who are profoundly i n
sul ted , complain that his fi l ms reinforce t h e " pri mitive" i magery o f African
peoples . His films have nonetheless been shown i n all the regions of N i ger.
Jean Rouch has introduced both N i gerien and European audiences to the
fascinating peoples of N i ger.
While Europeans applaud Jean Rouch as an artistic i nnovator, Song

hay consider h i m in an al together d i fferent l i gh t . He is, to quote one of my
teachers i n Wanzerbe, " the European who fol lows the spirits ." For many
Songhay, Rouch is the shrewd European who had the foresight to take
seriously the Songhay world of power. " I t is not mere coincidence , " a spirit
possession priest told me i n Til laberi , " that Rouch is a big man [bora beri] ;
he has power. The spirits c lear for h i m his path."
In his wri tings Rouch admits that h i s deep penetra t ion i n to the Song
hay worl d , his access to worlds of unimaginable power devolves from the
spiri t s .
B u t , when t h e moment comes t h a t t h e observer becomes a si mple spectator

among other spectators , when the moment comes when he speaks and u nder
stands the language sufficien t l y to know what is being said and to respond to i t
sometimes, h e participates j u s t l i ke his neighbors . A n d s o i t fol lows t h a t at each
possession dance that I w i t nessed , the dei t ies came to greet me as well as my
neighbors and spoke a t length to me .4 (my emphasis)
Rouch also comments on his entry into the Songhay world of sorcery :
The penetration of more circumspect domains, l i ke the magici a n 's m i l ieu ,

posed other problems . After a slow and gradual approach , contact could be
established (with the aid of the i n tervention of the dei ties in the course of a
possession dance). Slowly, I entered the game, but as soon as certain doors
opened before me, they would close behind me, prohibiting a l l retreats and
cutting all t ies with the ou tside . The observer was completely overwhel med by
what he observed . Was this s t i l l a matter of observation?5
Rouch 's penetra tion of a world of great power in Wanzerbe was an event
that com manded attention . Word spread widely i n Songhay : Rouch had
been to Wanzerbe . Rouch had learned great secrets . Rouch had eaten kusu ,
the substance of power. Rouch was a man to be both feared and respected .
Over t i me many Songhay have blended the notion of " Rouc h " i n to the
i magery of myt h ; he has become part of contemporary Songhay cosmology.
When I returned from my initial v i s i t to Wanzerbe , thirty years after Jean
Rouch 's first v i s i t there , the news spread widely i n Songhay : Stoller had
been to Wanzerbe . Stoller had learned great secrets. Stoller had eaten kusu .
Stoller was a man to be both feared and respected . Stoller had become the
" son of Rouch."
ROUC H A N D H I S "SON"
I suppose I was destined to meet Jean Rouch sooner or later. I t happened
for the first t i me i n August of 1 97 6 , when I went to N iger for my doctoral
study w i t h the Songhay. Having read his books and seen some of his films, I
fe l t honored to make his acquaintance . He i mmediately put me at ease and
encouraged me, saying that my research project was an i mportant one .
So I prepared to begi n my fieldwork in Mehanna, a riverine v i l l age

some 1 80 kilometers north of Niamey. My arrival there sparked a discus
sion about my lodgings.
" You could l i ve in the carnpernent, " Tondi Bello, the v i l lage chief told
me.
" Yes , " said his crony Saadu , " tha t 's where Monsieu r Rouch stayed
when he came to Mehanna."
"Monsieur Rouch ? " I wondered alou d .
" Yes ." rep l ied Tondi Bel lo. " U n t i l you came Monsieur Rouch was the
onl y European to spend t i me here ."
"When was tha t ? "
" O h , that was thirty years ago."
" Th i rty years ago. I see ."
" Do you want to stay at the carnpernent?" Saadu asked .
" He doesn't want to stay there , " i n terjected Boreyma Bou lhassane,
who had shared the cabi n of the truck that had transported me to Mehanna
that morn i n g . " He should stay i n my fa m i l y 's compound; i t 's i n the center
of town."
" But Monsieur Rouch stayed i n the carnpernent, " Saadu complained.
" Monsieur Paul , where do you want to stay ? "
" In tow n ." I real i zed at that poi n t that I needed t o try t o fol low a n
i ndependent path .
My work proceeded smoothly, al though i t was disquieting when peo
ple categorized my efforts in terms of Monsieur Rouc h . When I began work
ing with Zeinabou Dj iketa, the possession troupe priestess in Mehanna, she
i m mediately told me that Monsieur Rouch had visi ted her com pound
thirty years before .
" Yes , Monsieur Rouch came here when my mother was the priestess .
He asked us to take out a l l our possession objects [hatchets with bel l s ,
costumes , sabers, antelope horns] . We took them out , a n d he t oo k photo
graphs of the m . He paid us some money and we gave him a few of our
objects."
Seizing this opportuni ty, I asked her i f I could do what Monsieur Rouch
had done nearly thi rty years before . She refused , claiming that the posses
sion objects had deteriora ted ; they were not fit to be photographed .
In March of 1 97 7 I decided to visit the fa bled v i l lage of Wanzerbe , the
center of unequaled Songhay sorcery. (A trip to Wanzerbe in 1 979 is de
scribed i n Chapter 2 .) Unbridled romantic that I was , I decided to travel to
Wanzerbe on horseback , a 1 20-kilometer trip. My guide was Idrissa Dembo,
who was born i n Wanzerbe . Idri ssa was a fel i c i tous choice as my guide, for
his stepmother is the i l l ustrious Kassey, the most powerfu l sorcerer i n
Wanzerbe . My working with Kassey woul d b e a rea l ethnographic coup,
since for thirty years she had stedfastly refused to work with researchers
Rouch , other Europeans, and N i geriens al ike . We spent two hot and dusty
days i n the saddle and finally arrived in the compound of Idrissa Dembo's
father. We were greeted warmly and fed wel l . In the even ing, men from the
neighborhood came by to visi t .
" You came here o n horsebac k ? " one asked .
" Yes ."
" Monsieur Rouch used to come here on horsebac k . Do you know him ? "
' ' I 've m e t h i m , " I responded .
" He used to ride in from Ayoru . Where did you come fro m ? "
" Mehanna."
" Why d i d n ' t you come from Ayoru , l ike Monsieur Rouch? Mehanna is
too far."
" Yes, it i s , " I responde d .
"Are you goi ng to d o w h a t Monsieur Rouch d i d ? "
" Not exactly."
Another man joined our discussion . He greeted me and then asked . " Do
you know Monsieur Rouc h ? "
" Yes."
"Where is he ? "
" I don ' t know."
" We haven ' t seen h i m in a long t i me."
" How long ? "
" Many years . S a y h e l l o t o h i m from us here in Wanzerbe , w i l l you ? "
' T i l b e sure t o d o i t , " I told h i m .
The morning after my arrival I learned that Kassey had left town that
morning, and would not return u n t i l after my departure . A wasted tri p !
Idrissa suggested t h a t w e v i s i t t h e hunters at Youmbou m , a permanent
water hole just to the north of the v i l lage of Yatakala. We mounted our
horses and rode to Youmbou m . There , I was introduced to Monsieur
Rouch 's godji ( monochord violinist) Issiakia, and his brother Wangari , two
of the protagonists in Rouch 's monumental Chasse au lion a I'arc ( 1 957-65).
Issiakia took me to an abandoned mudbrick house at the north end of the
lake .
" This is where Monsieur Rouch stayed ," he told me . We went inside
and I saw some electric wire at tached to the c losed window shutter.
" What's that ? " I asked .
" Monsieur Rouch put i t there . He had a machine that made l i g h t ."
" I see ."
" Do you know Monsieur Rouch ? " Issiakia asked .
" Yes, I do."
" Do you know when he's comi ng back?"
" No, I don ' t ."

We returned to Issiakia's house . " When Monsieur Rouch was here, I
always played my viol i n for h i m . My brother, Wangari , sang praise-songs .
Sha l l we play for you ? "
I took ou t my tape recorder, a n d Issiakia played h i s viol i n . Wangari
sang about the hun ter's poison and the great hunters of the pas t . Th is
musical poetry was fa mil iar to me; I had seen the same performance in a
Jean Rouch fi l m .
We returned to Wanzerbe , whereupon we came across the grandson of
Mossi Bana, the sohanci who had been Rouch 's principal informant in the
v i l lage of sorcerers .
"Are you French ? " he asked me, never having seen me before .
" No , I ' m A merican ."
" We l l , we don 't want any more fi l m s . We are t i red of your damn fi l m s .
A n d i f you w a n t t o t a l k w i th my father [ H a l i d u Bana] , you will h a v e t o pay
at least 50,000 francs CFA ."
This man was one of the people who fel t that Rouch 's films did not
portray Wanzerbe in a favorable l i gh t . (Six years la ter Kassey told me: "We
don 't like fi l m s . We don 't wan t strangers laughing at us.")
" I did not come here to make fi l m s , " I told him. " I came to meet the
people here . That 's all . I'm not a fi l mmaker, and I don 't take people's
pictures unless they agree to i t . I am not Monsieur Rouch , damn i t ! "
" We don 't want your fi l m s , " h e persisted .
For Mossi Bana's grandson , the myth of Rouch was insurmountable . I
left Wanzerbe completely frazzled .6
In 1 979 I had a talk with Issaka Boulhassane , an elder living i n Me
hanna. A noble, Issaka Boulhassane has matri l i neal ties to people from
Wanzerbe. The famous Kassey is his ma ternal aun t . I described my work to
h i m . He com p l i mented me on my command of the Songhay language . "The
people have great confidence in you , Monsieur Pau l , " he told me . " They
have opened themselves to you . I suppose it can be said that you are
retracing the path of Rouch ."
The greatest compliment one can receive from the older people i n the
Songhay countryside is to be compared to Rouch . At the t i me I was a brash
student of the Songhay. I didn't wan t to be compared to anyone . How could
I convince people l ike Issaka Boulhassane that I wasn 't retracing the path
of Rouc h ? Would he ever understand that I had my own research agenda
(which was at that t i me to study Songhay rel igion from a symbolist rather
than a Griaulian perspective? I was i n terested i n the in terpretation of
significant symbols, not in the exhausti ve col lection of data that obsessed
Griaule. I real i ze now that " retracing the path of Rouch " in Songhay put
me on a road leading to rich ethnographic rewards; i t was part of my
ethnographic i n i tiation /
Fol lowing Rouch 's path , the path of the Songhay spiri t s , brough t m e to
Adamu Jeni tongo, the sorcerer and possession priest of T i l l aberi . After I
became Adamu Jeni tongo's apprentice, people i n T i llaberi began to call me
Anasara zima, " the European possession priest ." People who knew me
better cal led me sohanc'izo. " the son of a sohanci, " and even Jenitongo
hama, " the grandson of Jeni tongo , " a famous sorcerer from the Oual lam
region of N i ger, some 1 00 kilometers due east of Tillaberi , who was t he
father of Adamu .
In 1 98 1 I saw Rouch and told h i m about being temporari ly paralyzed
in Wan zerbe .s
" You are making progress , " he told me . " You must cont inue year after
year. You are fol lowing the right path ."
We made arrangements to meet Boubou Hama, the N i gerien h i s torian
and former President of the National Assembly of N iger during the regi me
of Hamani D iori ( 1 960-74). Even Boubou Hama had heard of my progress
on Rouch 's path . He addressed me as zima kayna, " the l i ttle possession
priest." Rouch , of course , was zima beri, " the big possession priest ."
How amusing are the marvels of fict i ve kinship, of human c lassifica
t ion . All too often , ethnographers are so busy c lassifying others that we
don 't take t i me to explore how the others classify us. You are my " brother" ;
you are my "cross-cousi n " ; you are my " son " ; you are my " daughter"; you
are " the European " ; you are my " father" ; you are " Monsieur Claude 's
daugh ter."
In 1 984 I learned what it fully meant to walk in the N i gerien shadow
cast by the myth of Jean Rouch . A col league of m i ne had been to S i m i ri , a
v i l lage where Rouch had fi l med many possession cere monies over the
years . I had not been to S i m i ri , but the people there , especially Daouda
Sorko , the S i m i ri possession pries t , knew that I was fol lowing Rouch 's
pat h . Daouda Sorko knew that I had learned much about possession and
sorcery from Adamu Jeni tongo. My col league was astounded that they
knew so much about me.
" Do you know what they call you i n S i m i ri ? " she asked me.
" No."
" They ca ll you Rouch 'izo, " which translates to " son of Rouc h , " " l i t t le
Rouch , " or " Rouch 's seed ."
SONGHAY I MAG ES OF THE ETH N O G RAPHER

This accoun t of " Rouc h ' izo , " of course , is my creation . I t was created
through the d ialectic of my experience of a few Songhay and their experi
ence of me i n the context of contemporary t i mes. The issue of the mutuality
of field experience is not a new one i n anthropology. I t was first fully
bridged i n Rabi now 's p ioneering Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco and
underscored in Dumon t 's The Headman and I and Riesman 's Freedom in
Fulani Social Life. These and other monographs and articles have discussed
ful l y the contingent nature of the field experience and the i m portance of
interpretation to the ethnographic en terprise .9
Wha t were the con tingencies that drove people to categori ze me ? So
far I have discussed how a small number of people ca lled me Rouch 'izo,
Anasara Z i ma, or Sohanc 'izo. Many of my age-ma tes cal led me baso, or
"cross-cousin , " which gave them license to insult me ritually with such
pithy barbs as " Your fa ther's penis , " or " Your mother's vagina." A few
people called me " my son , " or " m y brother, " fully expecting me to meet
various fi l i a l obl i ga tions . Someti mes this fictive kinship was fel t genuinely;
most t imes i t was the means to the end of money. " He 's taking advan tage of
us , " people would say, " why shouldn 't we take advan tage of h i m ? "
B u t t h i s is only a small part o f m y story, for most of t h e Songhay with
whom I came in con tact did not know me personally; they simply cal led me
Anasara, " the European." The term Anasara is borrowed from the Arabic
nazareen, or Christian . Over the years the word has become synomynous
with "white man." And so most of the Songhay I met categorized me as " the
white man ." People would come up to me and say, " How are you today,
Anasara ? " ; or " Where are you travel ing today, Anasara ? " ; or simply, "Ana
sara, good day." The chi l dren even got i nto the act . They would walk up to
me and say, "Anasara, cadeau [gift ) " ; or if they had learned a smattering of
French , "Anasara bonjou , donne-moi 5 francs" ( European , good day. Give
me 5 francs). Some of the smaller children never u t tered a word ; they
simply approached me and held out their open pal m s .
No o n e l i kes t o be treated insensi ti vely, a n d my retort t o these mer
cenary greet ings was an appropriate proverb , " lri koy rna dogonaandi"
(May Allah l i gh ten your burden), to which the i nterlocu ter must respond ,
"A men." Someti mes I would complain t o the adults that I was not the bank,
an endless source of money. " Why don 't you ask the merchants in town for
money ? " I would urge the m . There were many merchan ts, in fact , whose
daily income far outdistanced my humble monthly stipend . Many of these
men wore exquisite robes ; some of them owned t rucks . "Ask the merchants
for money, " I would say.
"But they won 't give us anythi n g , " the able-bodied beggars wou ld
respond .
These sorts of incidents are nothing new to anthropologists. But how
many of us make them a subtext in our ethnographic writ ings? What do
they reveal ?
THE CONSTRUCTION O F ANASARA- S O N G HAY CATEGORIES

In my case , Songhay categorizat ions of me led to an investigat ion of the
historical basis for the construction of Songhay ca tegorizations of the
European . My experience thrust me into the constructionist l iterature ,

which is nicely summari zed by Sandra Scarr.
All the world's a stage , but the script is not As You Like It, i t is Rashornon. Each
of us has our own rea l i t y i n which we try to persuade others . Facts do not have
an i ndependent existence . Rather, facts are created w i t h i n theoretical systems
that guide the select ion of observat ions and the invention of rea l i t y. l 0
Specific historical a n d pol i t ical events have created a set o f European

i mages of Africa and Africans . Likewise , specific h istorical and poli t ical
events have created a set of African i mages of Europe and European ( i . e . ,
whi tes).
In Niger the condi t ions that framed the Anasara-Songhay relationship
existed long before I set foot in Mehanna i n August of 1 97 6 . The first contact
between Europeans and Songhay-speaking popu lations probably occurred
during the i l l-fated adventure of Rene Cai l le in the early part of the n i ne
teenth century. We know that short ly thereafter Songhay people came in
contact with Heinrich Bart h . These men were on fact-finding miss ions and
have left us with detailed descrip tions of l i fe in the Sahel in the early and
middle nine teenth century. But the contact between these explorers and
Songhay people was not at all systemat i c . At that time Songhay pol i t ies
were i ndependent and their chiefs enjoyed ful l authori ty over their peo
ples . It was not until the very end of the nineteenth century that systematic
and ful ly pol i ticized relations developed between Songhay and European .
During this period French m i l i tary expedi tions , including the infamous
Voulet-Chanoine mission in 1 899, conquered easily all of what had been
Songhay country. After the Vou let-Chanoine mission had massacred 400
people in the Songhay v i l lage of Sasane-Hausa, it was easy for the French to
establ ish both their garrisons and their rule in the middle Niger val ley} 1
And so the first attribute in the Anasara-Songhay relationsh ip was estab
lished : Europeans conquer, which i mpl ies massacre followed by gover
nance . It also granted the European superior status in the dyadic relation
ship-a status Europeans took great pains to maintai n .
The second attribute i n t h e Anasara-Songhay relationship w a s system
atic cul tural h u m i l iation , a tactic which the European appl ied to convince
the African of his savage inferiori ty-and of the European 's c iv ilized su
periori ty. For example , in 1 90 1 W i l l iam Pon ty, the Governor-General of
French West Africa, abolished slavery in the French Sudan . This act re
duced the social i mportance of slavery in Songhay regions. S i nce slavery
was the principal foundat ion of the pre-colon ial social order, the abol i tion
of this practice undermined significantly the authori ty of Songhay chiefs . 1 2
By 1 908 French colonial officials est i mated that some 200 ,000 slaves in the
Western Sudan had left their masters . In 1 9 1 1 Governor-Genera l Panty

suggested that 500,000 slaves had l i berated themselves . 1 3
The European educa tion policy also sought to undermine Songhay
cul tural and pol i t ical au tonomy by producing a new e l i te educated in the
French language and cul ture . The members of this l i terate e l i te would
become the bulwark of the colon ial administration-the clerks .
AI though there were a few movements of resistance to French colonial
rule, the colonial armies quickly squelched these doomed uprisi ngs . And so
the Anasara collected taxes from Songhay, forced you ng Songhay to build
roads, and conscripted young Songhay men i n to the Armed Forces . 1 4 Mean
while, the Anasara l i ved wel l his European l i fe i n the growing c i t ies of Nia
mey and Ti l laberi . He had cars , butter, more meat than he could eat , and
servants whom he paid to wa it on h i m . The Anasara had an endless supply
of money and power; most Songhay had l i m i ted wealth and no power.
The fallout of the asymmetrical power dynamic that existed between
Songhay and European led to the construction of s tereotypes . We are a l l
fam i l iar with o u r labels o f Africans . Created w i t h i n frameworks estab
lished i n the eigh teenth and nineteenth centuries, Europeans associated
Africans-and s t i l l do in large measure-with fetishism, heathenism , can
nibal ism , savagery, barbaris m , and idolatry. l 5 For example,
the cause of idolatry is that man , through s i n , left beh ind the contemplat ion of
the divine , invisible, and i n tel lec tual nature and sank wholly into the senses ,
with the result that he is i ncapable of being touched by objects other than
objects of the senses; hence he has come to the forgetfu l ness of God and wor
ships stars, elements, animals, even i mages , passions, and vices , and finally,
everything other than God . 1 6
These stereotypic labels, o f course, correspond t o certain behaviora l expec

tat ions : i nterminable lazi ness , uncon trolled sensuali ty, and irremediable
stupidi ty.
The fal lout of the Anasara-Songhay relationship also led to the less
publicized African stereotypes of Europeans. Through the plastic arts and
through ri tual fra mes , Africans mocked their European rulers . The Igbo
erected Mbari houses i n the bush . These structures house sta tues that
burlesque strangers , most of whom are Europeans . l 7 In the Yoruba gelede
cul t , one group of dancers wear ouibo masks consisting of long, straight
monkey hair, long noses, and eye-glasses . Dressed formally as bal l room
dancers , they work in the audience, saying " How do you do? " 1 8 In Songhay
there is the H auka fam i l y of possession dei t ies, a l l of whom burlesque the
colonial order. There are such dei ties as Gomno, the Governor-Genera l ,
Zeneral Malia, t h e General o f t h e Red Sea, a n d King Zuzi, t h e colonial Chief
Justice . l 9 The Hauka cult is a veri table theater of cul tural resistance , a
stage on which Songhay merc ilessly mock their Anasara counterparts .

Through t i m e , then , there was establ ished a n d reinforced a mythology
about the Anasara: he was ric h ; he was racist ; he cared only for h i mself; he
ate pork .
The Anasara attributes have survived the t ransi t ion from colonialism
to i ndependence . There remains today a stereotypic Anasara. In t i mes of
scarci ty, drought , and famine i t is the Anasara who provi des l i fe-sav i ng
gra i n , a fac t that reinforces the ongoing i mage of Anasara power and
wea l t h . Despi te an i ndependent govern ment in N i ger, there are many
teams of Anasara experts-technicians , agricultura l and l ivestock scien
tists-who work on " development projects." Like the Anasara of the colo
nial period , these people l ive in fine houses , own cars , and h i re servants.
The reason that these Anasara attributes are s t i l l important today
stems from the rapport of individual Songhay to their history. For most
Songhay h isto ry is a l i v i n g tra d i t io n . Just as the identi ties of such mythic
culture heroes as Sonni A l i Ber are dramatized during possession cere
monies , so the i mages of the Anasara are reinforced through the Hauka
fam i l y of Songhay deities. For most Songhay, t hen , h i story is not bound up
in texts; i t is a foundation of ongoing social relations .
And so, when I began my fieldwork in 1 97 6 , people i n Mehanna had a
pre-ordained set of assumptions about me : I was rich ; I was racist ; I cared
only for myself; I ate pork . Younger people considered me one of the many
tourists who breeze through Songhay v i l lages after having crossed the
Sahara.
The poin t of this exposition, of course , is that what we make of Song
hay or any other group of people is contingent . Whom do we mee t ? Do they
accept us? Do they tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth ? And
what does t ruth-telling, whatever that is, depend upon ? Is it a matter of
interpersonal chemistry? Is it a matter of how the ethnographer fits into
the a l ways a l ready world of the field ? Is i t a matter of a socioeconomic
situation condi tioned by world-wide socioeconomic and poli tical forces ?20
The premises of constructionism attempt to answer these q uestions of
cont ingency.
I f one adopts . . . a constructionist position on epistemology, then knowledge of

all kinds, including scientific knowledge , is a construction of the human m i n d .
Sensory d a t a are fi l tered through t h e knowing apparatus to t h e human senses
and made i n to percept ions and cog n i t ions . The human m i n d is also constructed
in a social context , and its knowledge is i n part created by the social and
cul tural context i n which i t comes to know the world .2 1
In short , social or scientific facts are not d iscovered ; they are , as Wagner
has eloquently told us, " i nvented ."22 More profoundly, facts are " invented"
in contexts in which thought , action , and feel i ng are inseparable-all part

of our ful l y l i ved experience .23
THE PA RA DOX OF K N OWLEDGE/POWER

Jean Rouch did much of his ethnographic work when N iger was s t i l l a
French colony. Son of Rouch-me-has done a l l of his work in the indepen
dent Republic of N i ger. When Rouch did his early formative work , most
Songhay l i ved in grass huts. Songhay who traveled did so by means of their
feet , donkey, horse , camel , or dugout . When I landed i n Mehanna i n 1 976,
most of the v i llage consisted of mud brick houses, and most people traveled
by means of truck, bush taxi , or motorized dugou t . Mehanna was not an
isolated example. In what was once the isolated bush of Rouch 's era, there
are now hundreds of radios . Since the news is broadcast in the five major
languages of N i ger, people in remote areas can be informed about world
and national affa i rs . In 1 977 people i n Mehanna knew about the fast-flying
Concorde, economic difficulties i n Europe , and the record-setting cold
wave i n the Uni ted S tates . In recen t years , the Government of Niger has set
up a national television network . In the larger towns each neighborhood
chief has a receiver in his compound . Every eveni ng, the t i me when the
daily broadcasts beg i n , people from the neighborhood crowd i n to the
chief's compound to watch television . The broadcasts consist of a news
program i n several languages , programs about the cul tural tradit ions of
N i ger, local theater, and documentary and fea ture fi l ms- i ncluding, of
course , Jean Rouch fi l m s . In the major hardware store of Niamey, the
capi tal of N i ger, there is a " videotheque , " frequented by Anasara and
N igeriens a l ike , from which one can rent video casset tes of the la test
French and American fi l m s .
T h e d i fference between t h e technological innovations o f t h e era of
Rouch and that of " son " of Rouch is that the information revolution of the
contemporary age has seemingly al tered the status of know ledge . During
the past forty years , according to Lyotard , knowledge has been ex teri
orized.
The old principle that the acquisit ion of knowledge is indissociable from the
tra i n i n g of m inds, or even individuals is becoming obsolete and w i l l become
ever more so . . . . Knowledge is and w i l l be produced in order to be sold , it is and
w i l l be consumed in order to be valorized in a new produc tion : in both cases .
the goal is exchange.24
If one accepts Lyotard 's argumen t , there is no noble savage in the world of
late consumer society. Noble savages have long had access to knowledge
the means to information . Increasingly, these c i t izens of the " peripheral
states" are gai ning access to the technology needed to produce knowl
edge- the means to sel l informat ion .25
But has the informa tion revolution had an i mpact on the perceptions
of Africans? Despi te the aura of change , much has remained the same . The
ever-powerfu l discourse of the marketplace still reinforces n ineteenth
century racist myths about Africa. Contemporary travel brochure writers,
for example , paint a picture of Togo not far removed from the d iscourse of
the late n i ne teenth-century travel writers : 26
Togo is just a sl ice of country, never more than 1 00 m i les in width and only 360
m i les long . Its d i m i n u t i ve boundaries belie a cultura l and geographic diversi ty,
and can mislead those who underest i mate its influence. Togo is the homeland of
voodoo. We are con t inually surrounded here by t h i s rel i gion that is based on
sorcery and the spiritual power of charms and fetishesP
This kind of advertising copy is read by thousands of would-be tourists as

they contemplate a trip to Africa.
The persistent popularity of wri ter V. S. Naipaul has also reinforced
n i neteenth-century African myths of " darkness and mystery."28 Echoing
Joseph Conrad , Naipaul writes i n his " The Crocodi les of Yamoussoukro " :
The feeding ritual takes place i n the afternoon , i n bright l i gh t . There are cars,
the tourists i n bright clothes , the cameras. But the crocodi les are sacred . A l ive
offering-a ch icken- i s often made to the m ; it is part of the ritual . This element
of sacrifice, this protracted display of power and cruelty, i s as unse t t l ing as i t is
meant to be , and i t seems to bring n ight and forest c lose again to the dream of
Yamoussoukro. 2 9 (my emphasis)
How many of Naipau l 's readers w i l l have the i n tel lectual curiosity to
consu l t anthropological texts on the rel igious prac tices of societies i n the
Ivory Coast ? How many of N a i pau l 's readers w i l l recognize the super
fici a l i ty of his tex t ?
If European myths about Africans are stubborn ly persisten t , s o t oo are
Songhay myths about Europeans . Throughout Songhay, knowledge about
the Anasara has i ncreased exponentially during the past twenty years , yet
Songhay categorizat ions about Europeans, including myself, have changed
l i t t l e . The l iving tradition of Songhay history w i l l not be overcome by the
superficial i magery of the information revolu tion .30
There is only a smal l group of Songhay who know Jean Rouch person
al ly. Few Songhay would recognize Rouch if they saw h i m in the flesh .
Wha t most Songhay know is the myth of Jean Rouch , the European who
went to Wanzerbe , the w h i te man who " follows the spirits."
Al though the myth of Jean Rouch i s i mportant i n Songhay, the forces of
history, pol i tics , and i nternat ional econom ics make the myth insignificant
to daily l i fe . In conversations that I have had in Songhay over a period of
n ineteen years , the subject of Jean Rouch has surfaced only in highly
speci fic contex ts: talk of sorcery, wi tchcraft , o r possession . Rouch , and
"son " of Rouch , for that matter, are minor topics of philosophical rumina
tion . In my experience , most Songhay lump Europeans into a single ho
mogeneous category : Anasara. And so anthropologists i n Songhay are fre
quently mis taken for tourists, diplomats, or technical consul tants.
I t is not surprising that these kinds of classificatory incidents occur.
Mos t anthropologists are all too fam i l iar with the m . We never get to know
everybody in the field . Many of the people among whom we l i ve , as a
consequence , may i gnore us as individual s . But condi tions of his tory, eco
nomics, and poli tics force " them " to confron t what " we " represen t . To
" them , " what we represen t is someti mes hilarious; i t is often ugly, oppres
sive, or embarrassing; it is usually beyond our con trol to shape or change .
My point , of course, is tha t reports of embarrassing classifica tory
incidents rarely find their way into anthropological texts. If we give others
as much of a voice as the anthropologists reserve for themsel ves , our
wri t i n g w i l l reflect fai thfully the epistemologica l , historical , and pol i t ical
contex ts of our investiga tions . Besides, these reports w i l l infuse our tex ts
with humor and shield our readers from the " dead hand of competence ."
PA R T I I I
Sounds in Cultural Experience
Toute pour l 'oe i l , Rien pour l 'ore i l l e
Baudelaire
6 Sound in Songhay Possession
One afternoon in 1 970 in T i l l aberi , the haunting cries of the monochord

violin d rew me over a dune to witness my first ceremony of Songhay spirit
possession . The possession dance was held i n the compound of Adamu
Jeni tongo, who wou ld later become the master my apprenticeship i n Song
hay sorcery. The sounds of these instruments so i mpressed me that I con
tinued to a t tend possession ceremonies in 1 97 1 . Upon my return to N iger in
1 976 I aga i n l istened for the "cries" of the violin and the "clacks" of the
gourd dru m . In 1 977 I began to learn about the sounds of spirit poetry in
the v i l l age of Mehanna. Two years la ter, I was invi ted to join the Til laberi
possession troupe as a " servant to the spirits , " w i t h such duties as ga ther
ing ri tual plants and resins and costuming male mediums. In 1 984 the
absence of rai n threatened the growing season , and in a two-week period
in July I participated in ten possession ceremonies during which people
begged their spirits to bring ra i n . That year drought ravaged Til laberi .
Many people died . Throughou t this myriad of experiences , my teachers
continually focused my attent ion on the sounds of possession .
" Listen to the godji [ v iol i n ] and let i ts cries penetrate you . Then you
w i l l know the voice of the spiri ts , " they would tell me . " Feel the sound of the
drum and know the power of our past ." And so I listened and I fel t the
music , and over t i m e , I began to hear the sounds of Songhay possession .
The eye and its gaze , to use the apt term of Foucau l t , has had a lockhold on
Western though t . 1 In this book , for example, four of the chap ters focus on
" v i sions" ; " our" visual takes on " them , " and " their" visual takes on us . In
Figure I 0: M u s i c i a n s at a possess i o n cere m o n y i n M e h a n n a , 1 97 7
Sound in Songhay Possession l 03
those chapters, I was concerned pri marily w i t h the notion of the " gaze " and
i ts i mpact on human categorization . In this section , I attempt to disregard
the " gaze , " and tune into the d i mension of sound i n two ethnographic
domains : Songhay possession ceremon ies and Songhay sorcery.
EYE , G A Z E , A N D TON E
Ever since t h e period o f alphabe tization , o f which O n g wri tes s o eloquen t ly,
sound-in-the-world has been spatial ized and the oral-aural world has been
relegated to the back benches of phi losophical debating chambers .2 Zuck
erkandl suggests that the majesty of v ision i n the epistemology of Western
thought stems from our tradi t ional stress on the observation of material
things w i t h i n a field of v ision .3 From Aristotle on we have been condi tioned
to see colored illum inated t h i ngs, not colors or l ight . We feel hard or
smooth things, not hardness or smoothness . " I n seeing, touching, tasting,
we reach through the sensa tion to an objec t , to a thing. Tone is the only
sensation not that of a thing ."4 In Western d iscourse we have tended i n our
acts of seeing to spatial ize the phenomena we observe . Foucault prov ides a
medical example :
For us the human body defines , by natural righ t , the space of origin and of the
distribution of disease : a space whose l i nes, volumes , surfaces , and routes are
laid down in accordance w i t h a now fam i l iar geometry, by the anatomical atlas.
But this order of the sol id visible body is only one way- i n a l l nei ther the first
nor the most fundamenta l - i n which one spatializes disease .5
Western t h inkers have generally ignored t he d i mension of sound .6 For

Zuckerkand l , sound can be organized into melodies , rhythms, meters , and
most of all into forces . The meaning of a sound " l ies not in what it points to,
but in the pointing i tself."7 He considers the sounds of music as dynamic
symbols : " We hear forces in them as the bel iever sees the div ine being i n the
[re l igious] symbol ."8 Zuckerkan d l 's musical view of the universe presents
for us an entry i n to the world of intangibles : " Because music exists, the
tangible and visible cannot be the whole of the given world , something we
encounter, something to which we respond ."9 With our ears fully tuned to
the existential nature of sound , we can better appreciate the intangible and
can cross thresholds into the deep recesses of a people's experience . Fel d
demonstra tes t h i s very poi nt . In his book o n K a l u l i sound a s a cul tural
syste m , he shows that
By analyzing the form and performance of weepi n g , poetics, and song i n rela
tion to their origin myth and the bird world they metamorphize, Kalu l i sound
expressions are revealed as embodi ments of deeply fel t sen t i men ts . I O
In Songhay, sound is more t h a n a means to t h e e n d o f trance ; i t is a

foundation of experience } 1 If one cannot hear, Sorko Dj ibo Mounmoun i
1 04 Sounds in Cultural Experience
once suggested to me, one can learn l i t t le about the world . A deeper appre
ciation of sound could force us to overturn our static, spatialized world and
consider the dynamic nature of sound , an open door to the comprehension
of cul tural sent i ment .
POS S E S SION IN SONGHAY

The wh i ne of the violin (godji), the syncopated "clack" of the gourd d ru m ,
t h e roar o f t h e dei t ies, a n d t h e murmur of t h e audience have long echoed i n
the dry air above Songhay v i l lages . Possession ceremon ies , which probably
date to the reign of Askia Mohammed Toure , are a major component of
Songhay rel igion . l 2 They are ceremonies in which visions and sounds are
fused to re-create Songhay experience from mythic past to rea listic present .
Possession and the Cosmos

According to Adamu Jeni tongo, the Songhay world consists of seven heav
ens , seven hells , and eart h , on which there are four cardinal direc tions .
There are also two elementary domains on eart h : the world of social l i fe
and the world of eternal war, the spiri t worl d . God li ves in the most distan t ,
seventh heaven . Si nce God i s s o distan t , contact w i t h h i m comes only
through the good offices of Ndebbi, God 's messenger, who inhabits the sixth
heaven . Priests chant their magical incantations to N debb i , who then
carries the message to God for a decision . Songhay elders are divided about
which members of the spirit family reside in heavens two through five.
Some elders , including Adamu Jeni tongo, suggest that these heavens house
the ancestors ; others mai ntain that these heavens are the abode of angels .
The firs t , most proxi mate heaven is the domain of the spirits or holle, which
are divided into the following spiri t " fa m i l ies" :
1 . The Tooru: the nobles of the spirit world that con tro l such natural
forces as the w i n d , the clouds , the N iger River, fire, lightning, and
thunder. Some Tooru are considered Songhay ; others represent neigh
boring ethnic groups: Gurman tche, Tuareg, Bella, Hausa.
2. The Genji Kwari: the " Wh i te Spiri t s , " which are the Islamic clerics and
dispute arb i t ra tors of the social and spiri t worlds (white being the
color worn by Islamic clerics). Some of these are though t to be Song
hay; many are though t to be Tuareg.
3 . The Genji B i: the " Black Spiri ts , " identi fied as " Vol taiques" (Moose ,
Gurmantche , Kurumba), that con t rol the forces governing soi l fert i l i ty
and pest i lence . As the original inhabi tants of Songhay, they are the
masters of the earth .
4 . The Hargay: " the Spirits of the Cold ." Identified with Songhay, Fu l a n ,
a n d Bel l a (neighbori ng e t h n i c groups), these spirits govern il lness ,
especially those associated with reproduction .
5 . The Hausa Genji (Doguwa) : the spirits associated exclusively with the
Sound in Songhay Possession 1 05
Hausa-speaking peop les of eastern N iger and northern N igeria. They

precipi tate madness and various kinds of paralysis.
6 . The Hauka: the Spirits of Force that represent iden t i t ies i n French
colon ial society. 1 3
Each fa m i l y represents, moreover, a period of Songhay experience . The

Tooru , the most ancient of the spirit fa m i l ies , probably date back to Askia
Mohammed Toure , and are associated w i t h the religion practiced by the
don borey, the people of the past . The Genj i Kwari , too , date from Askia's
t i m e . They represent the widespread Islamization during the i m perial
period . Conquering Songhay armies in the fourteenth , fiftee n t h , and six
teenth centuries vanquished Vol taique popu la tions (Gurman tche , Moose ,
and Kuru mba), the fi rst i n habi tants of Songhay ( i n what is today the
Repub lic of Niger), represented by the Genj i Bi . The Hargay and Hausa
spirits are more recent phenomena. The Hargay are spirits of recently
deceased people who were h ighly renowned for thei r soc i a l deviance . The
Hausa came to Songhay w i t h Hausa-speaking merchants who m igrated
west i n the early part of the twen tieth century. The Hauka, for their part ,
represent the colon i a l age . Each spirit fa m i l y, then , signifies a distinct
h istorical period during which there occurred a sociocul tural crisis.
The prox i m i ty of soc i a l and spirit doma ins parallels a resemblance
be tween spirits and human beings . Like human beings , spirits are mem
bers of various ethnic groups , marry one another, and have master-slave
relationshi p s . U n l ike human beings , the spirits are invisible and l ive for
ever. l 4
The juxtaposi tion of the first heaven and earth a lso creates i n the world
two con ti guous domains: the world of social l i fe and the world of the
spiri ts . These worlds are fused during possession ceremonies , when the
spirits leave their world- the first heaven-to visit the social world by
taking a med i u m 's body : the fusion of the worlds.
Spiri t mediumsh ip results from the temporary displacement of a per
son 's double by the force of a part icu lar spiri t . When the force of the spirit
enters the medium 's body, the person shakes uncontrol lably. When the
deity's double is firmly estab l ished in the dancer's body, the shaking be
comes less violen t . The dei t y screa ms and dances . The med i u m 's body has
become a deity.
Possession ceremonies are not everyday happenings in Songhay com
munities. During the rainy season (June to November) people are too busy
w i t h farm work to engage frequently i n possession act i v i t ies; the peak of
the possession season is toward the end of the long dry season . From Apri l
to the beginning of June the zimas, or possession priests, organize the
farming and rai n possession ceremonies which they bel ieve are necessary
for successfu l agriculture .
I 06 Sounds in Cultural Experience
Zi mas a lso stage ceremonies to protect the communi ty, to resolve

individual problems, to ensure a farmer's good crop, and to mourn or
protect members of the possession troupe . Most possession ceremonies are
organized to meet the needs of individuals in the communi ty. Ceremonies
are held, for example, to ask the advice of the spirits about an upcom ing
marriage . A woman who has suffered a miscarriage or a s t i l l birth may ask a
zima to organize a ceremony to beckon Nya Beri ( l i terally, "great mother").
Nya Beri is the mother of the Cold Spiri ts that bring on these horrors .
Possession ceremonies for community protection are relatively infre
quent . In 1 97 1 v i llage elders along the N i ger River asked the zimas to
organize possession ceremonies to protect their commun i ties from a chol
era epidemi c . In 1 983 and 1 984 officials of the N i gerien Government asked
priests in Ti l laberi , the s i te of my field researc h , to organize a series of
possession ceremonies to bring rai n to the drough t-ravaged lands . In some
Songhay-speaking communi ties, the chief's installation is celebrated with
a possession ceremony. The spirits come to the social world to greet the
new chief. They also ask him for gifts. In this way the chief assures the
pol i ty of his al legiance to the spiri t world and to the ancestors .
Three possession ceremonies are tied to farming activi ties . The first of
these is cal led the Black Spiri t Festival (genji bi hori). The zimas stage this
ceremony in April to pay homage to the spirits of the land which control
soi l ferti l i ty and various forms of pesti lence . If the ceremony is successfu l ,
Adamu Jeni tongo explained, the m i l let crop w i l l b e protected from rats,
birds, and i nsects .
The second farming ceremony is the yenaandi or rai n dance , which is a
re-enac tment of the first possession ceremony that took place in the an
cestral past, and is still staged in most Songhay v i l lages . In the rai n dance ,
priests call to the social worl d four (or more) principal Tooru dei ties :
Dongo, deity of thunder; Cirey, deity of lightning; Moussa Nyori , dei ty of
clouds and w i n d ; and Hausakoy, deity of iron-smithing. If the rai n dance is
well staged , the spirits are pleased and the com munity is assured of enough
rai n to produce a boun tiful harvest .
Zi mas organize a third farm ing ceremony after the harves t , cal led
"eating the new m i l l et." At this, a celebration of thanksgiving held by the
possession troupe, the spirits are invi ted to sample the new m i l let .
The Possess ion Troupe

In many Songhay villages there is a loosely organized group of men and
women who consti tute the local possession troupe . These men and women
gather periodically to stage possession ceremon ies . The head of the Song
hay troupe is the aforementioned zima or possession priest . Like the im
pressario of a theatrical company, the zima produces possession cere
mon ies in Songhay. He makes sure that the proper sacri ficial ani mals have
Figure 11: A possession ceremony in Mehanna, 1 977
been purchased . He hires musicians and praise-s ingers . He requ i res the
attendance of spirit mediums. But the zima is more than a producer. Dur
ing ceremonies he directs the ritual action , orchestrating musical arrange
men ts, overseeing costume changes , and in terpreting spirit language . He is
also responsible for the distribution of money that the troupe collects
during a ceremony.
If the zima is the head of the Songhay spirit possession troupe , the
med i u m is its heart . Spirits i nvade the bodies of their mediums to speak to
people i n Songhay comm u n i t ies . A l t hough the majori ty of med i u ms in
Songhay are wome n , a large percentage are men . Con trary to much of the
li terature on possession , Songhay mediums come from all the social strata
in the Republic of Niger. l 5 Despi te their social divergence , mediums in
Songhay share a number of social and experiential bonds. Firs t , medium
ship is passed down through the kindred . If a person 's c lose relative is a
spiri t med i u m , he or she is likely to i nheri t one of that med i u m 's spiri t s .
Second , spirits mark t h e i r mediums by making t h e m sick . T h e preposses
sion mal adies are cured through i n i tiation into the troupe. Third , each
med i u m , through his or her i n i t i ation, is l i nked perpetually to the spiri t
worl d . No matter their accompl ishments in the social world , mediums are
obliged to pay l i felong homage to the spiri t s . They are also required to
support direct ly or indirec tly the acti v i t ies of spirit possession troupes .
The cast of the Songhay possession troupe is completed by its praise-
singers (sorkos), and musicians . Sorkos are descendants of Faran Maka

Bote, a legendary N i ger River fisherman who may have lived during the
tenth century. Son of Nisile Bote, also a fisherman , and Maka, a ri ver gen ie,
Faran was the first human being to cont rol the spirits of the N iger River. In
Faran 's t i me the spirits rendered themselves visible to human eyes . They
revealed some of their secrets to Fara n , who used them to control the N i ger
River. Before they reverted to their invisibility they taugh t Faran their
praise-poet ry and mus i c . They said to Faran :
" If they play this music and reci te these words, we w i l l reappear i n the
bodies of dancers ."
Soon thereafter Faran staged the first possession ceremony, a rai n ri te
which he called yene (" to cool off"). Patri l i neal descendants of Faran , sor
kos , learn today the sacred praise-poet ry of their ancestor, the poetry of the
spirits of the Songhay pantheon . Somet i mes sorkos become zimas. Usual ly,
however, they restrict themselves to praise-singing at possession cere
monies, and to their role as healers .
There are two ki nds of musicians who perform at spiri t possession
ceremonies in Songhay : monochord viol i n ists and gourd drummers . Often ,
the musicians learn their art as apprentices to close relatives : fa ther, fa
ther's brothers , mother's brothers . Somet i mes a spirit w i l l "appoi n t " a
musician , who may be simply a member of a possession audience . l 6 Some
times, musicians are also spiri t mediums, zi mas , and sorkos . The most
i l l ustrious monochord violinist was Wadi Godj i , who died in the 1 950s .
Besi des playing h i s monochord viol i n in Simiri , Wadi Godj i was also a
sorko and a zima i n the local possess ion troupe .
SOU N D IN S O N G HAY PO S S ESSION

Anthropological wri ters have long discussed the meaning of words in cul
tural life . From Malinowski to Tambiah , anthropologists have at tempted to
explain the magical power of i ncantations from a variety of perspect i ves .
Rarely, however, have these analysts focused on the i m portance of the
sound of words (see Chapter 7). Rarer s t i l l are analyses of the i m portance of
the sound of musical instrumen t s . In the remai nder of this chapter, I sha l l
describe t h e importance of b o t h the sound of musical instruments a n d the
sound of praise-poe try in Songhay possession .
The Sound of the Godji

The sound of the godji, or monochord violin used by Songhay musicians
during possession ceremon ies , corresponds to deep themes in Songhay
experience . The resonating cav ity of the godj i consists of one-half of a hard
gourd which has been cut along the axis of i ts gra i n . The opening of the
resonating cavity is parallel to the neck of the viol i n , and i ts diameter
averages about 29 cm . l 7 The gourd of the violin is covered by a l i zard ski n ,
bo (Varanus niloticus) which is stre tched over the opening of the gourd and
fastened to the instrument w i th ei ther small i ron nails or the thorns of the
garbey tree (Balinites aegytica ). The neck of the instrumen t is a simple stick
of wood carved from the kubu tree (Combretum m icrantum); i t is generally
75 em i n length . The neck is i nserted i n to the resonating cavity about 3 em
bel ow the poin t where the gourd was cut into two hal ves . The viol i n string
consists of black hair c l i p ped from a horse 's tai l ; i t is tied to the end of the
neck and to a piece of wood at tached at the far end of the resonating cavi ty.
The musician pulls the string taut as he pushes a small wooden bridge into
pos i t ion . The bow is an arc of wood to which is attached more black hair
cli pped from a horse 's tai l . 1 8
When the musician plays the godj i he produces a sound that is qui te
high in p i tch-si m i lar to a high-pi tched wai l . Indeed , in Songhay one says
that the godj i " c ries" (a ga he). As Adamu Jeni tongo told me: "The godj i
cries for me; i t cries for you ; i t cries for the people of T i l laberi ; it cries for a l l
t h e Songhay." 1 9
Because the godj i "cries" for a l l the Songhay, i t is the most sacred of
i nstru ments . It was the prize given to Fara n Maka Bote when he van
quished the river genie Zinkibaru to gain cont rol of the N iger Ri ver spiri t s .
Consideri ng i ts m y t h i c history, the godj i a n d i ts sound are s a i d t o l i nk
Songhay of the present and pas t . Indeed , the godj i is so sacred that i t
shou ld never b e played on nonsacred occasion s . Generally, i t is kept in a
cloth sack and is placed in a zi ma's sacred spirit house , a hut in which a
zima keeps his or her sacred objec t s .
T h e godj i is more t h a n an i nstrument w i t h a sound t h a t li nks the
Songhay with their ancestors . As Adamu Jeni tongo said :
The sound o f the godj i penetrates and makes u s feel the presence of the ances
tors , the ancients [don borey] . We hear the sound and know that we are on the
path of the ances tors . The sound is i rresistible. We cannot be unaffected by i t
a n d neither c a n t h e spiri ts, for when they hear it '"cry, " i t penetrates the m . Then
they become exci ted and swoop down to take the body of the med i u m .2 o
The sound of the godj i is a tangible l i nk between Songhay present and pas t ,
for t h i s wai l i ng sound revivi fies deep-seated cultural themes about the
nature of l i fe and dea t h , the origin of Songhay, the juxtaposi t ion of the
social and spiri t worlds. These themes , i n turn , reinforce Songhay cul tural
iden t i ty.
The Sound of the G asi

The gasi, or gourd drum, is also a Songhay instrument of unquestioned
sacredness . Like the godj i , it is played only during possession cere mon ies .
Al though much larger than the gourd used for the godj i , the hard gourd
used for the gasi is also cut i n to two halves along the axis of i t s gra i n . When
the musician wishes to play h i s gas i , he digs a hole in the sand at the edge of
the possession dance ground . When the ground is overturned and placed
over the hole, the drum 's resona ting cavity is deepened considerably. The
gourd is stab i l ized over the hole by a notched s tick which the musician
extends from u nder the place where he sits to a poi n t beyond the edge of the
gourd . He stri kes the drum with a set of carved bamboo sticks which
resemble the human hand ; i n fact , the various parts of the drumstick are
called the " wrist " (where the musician grips the drumstick), the "palm"
(where the five pieces of bamboo are tied to the " wrist "), and the " fingers"
(which when manipulated can strike the dru m i ndependen tly). If the musi
cian strikes the drum w i th the " wris t " or the " palm , " one hears a sol id
" clack " which echoes i n the air. If the musician rolls h i s own wri s t , the
" fingers" of the drumstick hit the drum i ndependen tly, producing a " rol l ."
In this way musicians playing the gasi produce a h i ghly distinctive "clack"
and " roll ." The ratio of " c lacks" to " rolls" corresponds not only to dance
movements but to the spirit in the Songhay pantheon which the zima is
sol iciting.
Like the godj i , the gasi appears i n Songhay myth . The drum was
played originally by river spirits which danced to its bea t . The i m portance
of the d ru m , be it a gasi or a tourou (a long s l i t drum used by Songhay
possession musicians in the n i neteen th century), is that it produces a
highly charged sound which, l ike the godj i , revivifies the ancestra l pas t .
Adamu Jeni tongo told me t h a t drums were played for t h e great warriors of
Songhay to render them i n v i ncible to their enemies . " The sound of the
drum explodes from the gasi and rem inds us of the ancients and their
strength ." And so the sound of this special dru m- i ts "clack " and " rol l "
intoxica tes the dancers as they part icipate in the possession ceremony, a
ri te of ancestral origi n . The drum sound, l ike that of the godj i , also exci tes
the spirits, creat i ng for them a con text in sound wh ich they find irresistible.
The Sound of Pra ise-Poetry

In the western Sahel of Africa the social-symbolic importance of praise
poetry-and the people who produce i t - i s widespread . Bards (griots) have
played major roles i n the h i s tories of the grea t empires of the western
Sudan (Ghana, Mal i , Songhay). In the epic poetry of these empires, " griots
appear as spokesmen and advisors to k i ngs , preceptors for princes , gen
ealogists for fam i l ies and clans, composers , si ngers and musicians who
perform for a l l segmen ts of society."2 1 Bards, i n fact , continue to play
important roles i n the nat ion-states of the contemporary western Sahel . In
the Republic of N i ger, for example, the late President Koun tche traveled
with a number of bards who reci ted praise-poetry not only about the
presi de n t 's accomplishments but also about the feats of his ancestors . Why
has praise-poet ry remai ned so sign i ficant in the western Sahe l ?
Sound in Songhay Possession lll
Irv i ne 's study of the rhetoric of praise-naming among the Wolof of

Senegal provi des a signi ficant hypothesis. Praise-nam i ng, she suggests ,
has a far-reaching " rhetorical effect ." People who are named during a
bard 's performance "are thought to be moral l y, socially, and even phys
ically transformed by the words that are said."22 During a praise-naming
cere mony among the Wolof, a strati fied caste society, the praise-naming
increases the addressee 's moral standing, augments his rank i n a rank
conscious society, and prec i p i ta tes some kind of physiological transforma
tion . It is believed that these transformations occur because the praise
naming ceremony arouses emotion i n the addressee w h ic h , in turn , alters
the balance of his bodily fluids . According to Wolof t heories , these bodily
fluids are the b iological determi nants of social position . The physiological
(magical) transformation i n the addressee is a lso i nfluenced by the physi
cal sounds of words.
Words d o n o t j u s t h a v e meaning-they are b reath and vibrations of a i r, con

s t i t u ted and shaped by the body and motives of the speaker, physically contact
ing and i nfluencing the addressee . So informants l i ken the effect of a griot 's
praise-song on his addressee to the effect of wind upon fire (both metaphorical l y
a n d l i tera l ly, since air a n d fire are supposed to b e basic const i tuents o f the
body).23
S i m i lar ceremonies w i t h simi lar effects occur throughout the western

Sahel . In Songhay the bard 's (jesere) performance enables people of h igh
rank (nobles or ma igey) to achieve and maintain high mora l , soc i a l , and
pol i t ical stature . This stature is achieved and maintained , i n part , through
the soun d of the praise-names in the context of a praise-naming ceremony.
It is perhaps because the sounds of the words the bards have mastered
carry the power of social , moral and physical (magical) transformation
that the bard in the western Sahel cont inues to maintain his significant
social role .
The significance of praise-naming i n Songhay extends beyond the
pol i t ical and social domains of l i fe , however. Praise-naming h as an essen
tial role i n possession ceremonies . The sound of praise-naming has the
same i mpact on Songhay spirits as it seems to have on Songhay addressees .
The sorko is the praise-si n ger to the 1 50 spirits of the Songhay pantheon .
Wh i l e the godj i " cries" and the gasi " c l acks" and " rolls" during possession
ceremonies, the sorko shouts out the names of the spirit s , recounting their
genealogies and their supernatural exploi ts. When the sorko performs his
praise-naming, he approaches a spirit medium who is not yet possessed
and shouts spiri t names i n to his or her ear. He may even poke the med i u m 's
shoul der w i t h his forefi nger. These act ions , according to Sorko Dj ibo
Moun mouni of Namarigungu (N iger), ensure that the sounds of the praise
names penetrate the med i u m 's body. As i n the Wolof case , the sound of the
praise-names precipitates a transformation as the spiri t , now in a frenzy

caused by the sounds of the godj i , gas i , and praise-names , takes the body of
the medium and throws h i m or her to the sand . The medium's body is
jol ted by the paroxysms that mark the onset of possession .
HEARING THE WORLD

Inspired perhaps by Cezanne's notion (and demonstration) that " nature is
on the inside , " Victor Zuckerkandl tells us that music (and sound . more
generally), too, is on the i nside; it penetrates us, fusing the material and
nonmaterial , the tangible and the i n tangible.24 Indeed , Zuckerkandl 's the
sis on the " i nner" di mension of sound merely reaffirms what informants
have been telling anthropologists si nce the beginning of ethnographic field
study : that sound is a di mension of experience i n and of i tself. The Tiv of
Nigeria covet song as power, energy, the veri table force of l i fe.25 For the
Dagomba and Ewe of Ghana, music reverbera tes with power.
In music, the con trasting, tightly organized rhythms a re powerfu l - powerfu l

because there is v i t a l i t y i n rhythmic confl ict , powerful prec isely because people
are affected and moved . As people part icipate in a musical situation , they
mediate the conflict , and their i m mediate presence gi ves power a personal form
so that they may relate to i t . Thus while people part i c i pate with power as a way
of relating effectively to each other at a musical or soc i a l even t , they also
participate w i t h power as a rel igious force. In l i m i t i ng and focusing Absol ute
power to specific forms, they encounter power as a rea l i t y which is not over
whe l m i n g and devasta t i n g , but strengthening and upbu i l d i n g .2 6
The Kalapalo of central Brazi l have a similar musical orien tation to the
world .
The mingling of sounds i n various s i t ua t ions of performed Kalapalo art is

therefore a truly ecological representation of the universe . Through sound
symbol s , ideas about rela t ionsh ips, ac t i v i t ies, causa l i t ies, processes , goa l s , con
sequences, and states of mind are conceived , represen ted and rendered appar
ent to the world . It is through sound that cosmic e n t i t ies are rendered i n to being
and represented by the Kalapalo-not as object-types but as beings causing
and experiencing action i n a veri table musical ecology of spiri t P
For t h e Songh a y t h e "cries" o f t h e monochord viol i n a n d the " clacks" o f the

gourd drum are the voices of the ancestors . voices fi l led with the power of
the pas t , powers-in-sound that can bring rai n , eradicate pesti lence, and
prevent epidemics .
Sound for the Songhay and other peoples around the world is bel ieved
to have an existence separate from the domains of human , a n i ma l , and
plant l i fe . Sounds carry forces which are not only good to think, but good to
fee l .
7 Sound in Songhay Sorcery
It was in the v i l lage of Mehanna i n the Republic of Niger that I learned my

first lesson i n Songhay hearing. I had been studying w i t h Dj ibo Moun
moun i , a v i l lage sorko , a healer who uses words as well as magical powders
to heal people who are suffering from il lness prec ipi tated by natural and
supernatural agents. For four days we at tended to a man of some 3 5 years of
age who was suffering from an il lness that to me had no discernible diag
nosis . The patient had been to the local Islamic healer, to the local health
uni t , to the regional hea l t h u n i t , and to the Nat ional Hospital-all to no
avai l . The man finally returned to Mehanna and called for Sorko Dj i bo. The
man was so weak he could not support his own weight , and he suffered
from chronic nausea and diarrhea. As it was a Thursday, a day when the
spirits are close to the social worl d , the time was right for a healing ritual .
Sorko Dj ibo determ i ned that the man was suffering from w i tchcraft . A
wi tch , known i n Songhay as a cerkaw, had stolen the man 's double and
would eat i t . If we cou ld not find the double and return i t to the man , Sorko
Dj ibo told me , the man would most certainly die .
We went about our work qu ickly. Sorko Dj ibo prepared a n ablution , a
mixture of twigs , perfume, and water w i t h which the man was to bathe .
The sorko then reci ted a ritual text over the ablution to infuse i t w i t h the
" force " of the heavens.
I m u s t speak to Ndebb i . and m y words m u s t t ravel u n t i l t hey a re heard . Ndebbi

was before human be i n g s . He showed the human bei ngs the pa t h . Now human
beings are on the pat h . My road came from the ancestors [ my teacher, my
teacher's teacher] . Now my path is beyond theirs. The pa th is war. When there
is war. men have t h i rty poi n t s of m i s fort u n e ; women have forty poi n t s of
Figure 1 2: Sorko Dj i bo Mounmou n i rec i t i n g an i n c a n t a t i on over a
sacri fi c i a l c h i c ken
Sound in Songhay Sorcery 1 15
misfortune . A person has many enemies on the pat h , enemies who w i l l seek h i m
out . The evi l w i tches c a n search a person o u t w i t h e v i l medicine, a n d a few of
them w i l l be overcome. They say that the evil genies w i l l search a person out
and a few of them w i l l be overcome . They say that the dev i l 's c h i ldren w i l l
search a person o u t a n d a few o f them w i l l b e overcome, a n d t h e spirits o f the
cold w i l l search a person out , and they too can be mastered . All of them are on
the path, some of them can be mastered . 2
" Wash h i m , " Sorko Dj ibo told the man's wife , "especially the joints of
the body : the ears , nose , and mou t h ." Sorko Djibo then took me by the hand
and led me out of the man's compound. We began our trek up a large dune
toward the outskirts of Mehanna. " Now we shall find the man 's doub le,"
said the sorko. " Fol low me."
And so I did, up the crest of the dune where there was a h i gh pile of duo
(the husk of the m i llet seed), for i t is outside of town that women let the
wind separate the husk from the seed . Sorko Dj i bo walked i nto the p i le of
duo and got down on his hands an d knees . He sifted through the husks ,
jumped up and exclai med : " Wo, wo, wo, wo" (by flapping the palm of his
hand over his open mouth).
He turned toward me . " Di d you hear i t ? "
" Hear what ? " I asked dumbfounded .
" D id you feel i t ? "
" Feel wha t ? " I wondere d .
" Did you see i t ? "
" Wh a t are you talking abou t ? " I demanded.
Sorko Dj ibo shook h i s head i n disbelief. He was disappointed that I had not
sensed i n one way or another the man 's double as he , Djibo, had l iberated
i t . He said to me : " You look but you do not see . You touch , but you do not
fee l . You l isten , but you do not hear. Wit hout sight or touc h , " he con t inued ,
"one can learn a great dea l . But you must learn how to hear or you w i l l
learn l i t t le about o u r ways ."
SOU N D S , WO R D S , A N D C U LT U RA L EXPERIENCE
The notion of the magical word has long been associated with cosmogony.
Myth makers and scholars a l i ke have grappled w i t h the preem inence of the
word . Tambiah suggests that i n Totem and Taboo Freud was speculating
that the deed preceded the word .3 Linguistic phi losophers , by contras t ,
have suggested t h a t t h e word is deed . T h e elega n t arguments o f Aus t i n and
Searle on performat i ve utterances certainly lend some credence to this
posi tion .4 Taking the anthropological perspective, Tambiah rem inds us of
Goethe's view of the chicken-and-egg question concerning the word and the
deed . In Faust, the protagonist progresses " from word to t hought , then to
the notion of power, and [ends] w i t h deed ."5 None of t hese philosoph ical
1 16 Sou nds in Cultural Experience
rum i nations, however, solves the problem Tambiah ra ises : when a person
is asked why a particular ritual or magic rite is effec tive, he or she invar
iably answers, " The power is in the words ."
Malinowski , among others , paid considerable attention to the relat ion
ship between words and magic . He was convi nced , in fac t , that for the
Trobriander the very essence of magic was the spel l : " Each ri te is the
product ion of force and the conveyance of i t , directly or indirec tly, to a
certai n gi ven object , which , as the natives believe, is affected by this
force ."6 Mali nowski 's notion of force was not one of some ex ternal energy of
supernatural origi n ; ra ther, i t was an outgrowth of his pragma tic view of
language, in which the force of an ut terance stems from the reproduct ion of
i ts consequences, a force which Austin calls " perlocut ionary."7
Malinowski 's contextual ethnographic theory of the language of magic
was a major con tribution ; Tambiah refines Malinowski 's view by conjoin
ing word and deed . He wri tes that language
i ngen iously conjoins the expressive and metaphorical properties of language

w i t h the operat ional and empirical properties of technical activi ty. It is this
which gives magical opera tions a " rea l i s t i c " colori ng and al lows them to
achieve their expressi veness through verba l subs t i tution and transfer com
bined with an ins trumen tal technique that i m i tates prac tical action . 8
In essence , Tambiah a t tempts to explain the power of words through a

description of their sociolinguistic mechanics . Such an analysis is fine, but
i t presents us with l i ttle more than a cursory look at the force of words.
Perhaps one reason for Tambiah 's reluctance to enter i n to the existen
tial space of magical words is that he v iews magic and the world from the
van tage of what Foucau l t called the classical episteme : words are objec
tified; they become neutral objects representing things and/or functions.9
As a consequence , Tambiah does not take i n to consideration how differi ng
modes of communication might correspond to differing i n terpretat ions of
the (magical) word . Ong wri tes :
cultures which do not reduce words to space but know them only as aural-oral
phenomena, in actua l i ty or in the i magi nation , naturally regard words as more
powerful than do l i terate cul tures . Words are powerfu l . Being powered projec
tions, spoken words themselves have an aura of power. Words in the aural-oral
culture are i nseparable from action for they are always sound.
I n ora l -aura l cul tures i t is thus eminently credible that words can be used
to achieve an effect such as weapons or tools can achieve . Saying e v i l things of
another is thought to bring him direct physical harm . This a t t i tude toward
words in more or less i l l i terate societies is an anthropological commonplace,
but the connection of the a t t i tude with the nature of sound and the absence of
wri ting has not until recently begun to grow clear. 1 0
Sound in Songhay Sorcery 1 17
Throughout Africa, and elsewhere i n the worl d , the sounds of words are
bel ieved to carry potent powers . The Jelgobe Fulani of Burkin a Faso " do
not find i t necessary to i mbue their words w i t h emotion when speaking of
pai nful things. To name pai n and suffering in a neutral tone is to master
them because words do not escape though tlessly but are spoken con
sciously." 1 1 Indeed , the everyday speech of the Jelgobe has a power of i t s
own . Among the Dinka i t is the spoken i n vocation " which is s a i d to affect
and weaken i ts object , whether a sacrificial victim or a human enemy." 1 2 In
the Bocage of western France ,
w i tchcraft is spoken words but these spoken words are power, not knowledge or
informat ion .
To talk in wi tchcraft is never to inform . Or if information is g iven it is so
that the person who is to k i l l ( the unwi tcher) w i l l know where to a i m his blows .
Informi ng an ethnographer, that i s , someone who has no i n tention of using this
information , i s l i tera l l y unthi nkable. For a si ngle word (and only a word) can tie
or untie a fate, and whoever puts h i mself i n a posit ion to u t ter i t is formidabl e .
I n short, there is no neutral posit ion w i th spoken words: i n w i tchcraft ,
words wage war. l 3
Words , then , are seen a s a kind of energy b y many peoples i n the world , an
energy which should be apprehended i n and of i tself rather than only as a
representation of something. Such is the case among the Songhay of N i ger,
for whom the sound of words is a foundat ion of a deep-seated cul tural
experience . 1 4
SOU N D IN SONGHAY SORCERY

As has been mentioned in severa l of the preceding chapters , Songhay has a
long, glorious history that dates to the latter part of the eighth century,
when the legendary A l i a man Za came to the Niger River and slew a river
serpent with his iron spear. 1 5 Demonstrating his overwhe l m i ng " force,"
A l i a man Za took cont rol of the indigenous people of the river and founded
the first Songhay dynasty. In all Songhay myths, whether of the origin of
the first Songhay dynasty or of the exploi ts of Faran Maka Bote, the first
sorko , the narrat ives highlight the culture 's hero 's control of i ntercon
nected resources : sorcery and the words that make sorcery possible. The
Songhay myth about Faran Maka Bote 's battle with the genie Z i nkibaru is
a case in poi n t .
Faran l i ved i n Gao. H e had a rice fiel d . Every night Zi nkibaru came t o the
rice fields to play his gui tar and the fish of the N iger came and ate Faran 's rice .
One day Fa ran went fishing and could find only two h ippos . It would be a shame
to bring home these small prizes from the river. He cal led his aide, Santana, and
left to fight Zinkibaru. Faran found Zinkibaru on an island at the juncture of
seven rivers . Zinkibaru was playing his gui tar and the genies of the river were
playing gourd drums and a monochord viol i n . And as the Tooru river spirits
were dancing, Faran said to Zinkibaru : " G i ve me your guitar." Zinkibaru said:
" You will have to fight for it. I f you win, you wi l l have my guitar and my Tooru
capt i ves . I f I win I w i l l take your dugou t canoe ."
Faran was short and fat and Zinkibaru was tall and thi n . The ba ttle went
on . Faran came to wa rd Zinkibaru , but Zinkiba ru said : " The palm leaf w i l l
never capture t h e h i ppo." T h i s spell was sufficient enough t o overcome Faran,

who fel l to the ground . Zinkibaru took Faran 's canoe and left . Faran returned to
his mother's house . He was ashamed . He cried . His mother asked h i m : " Why a re
you c rying? " Faran explained and his mother said to h i m : " Faran, you have a
big head with nothing in i t . To fight a spe l l you need a coun terspel l . If Zinkibaru
sai d : ' The pal m leaf w i l l never capture the hippo , ' you only have to say : 'And i f
t h e rays of the s u n are in front o f t h e leaf? ' " 1 6
In his second confrontation with Zinkibaru, Faran won this war of words
and took control of the river spirits.
In other Songhay myths the spirits reveal the words of i ncan tations to
the ancestors , who teach them to thei r sons, and their sons to their sons ,
and so on until the words are passed on to the present t i me . Whi le myths
about sorcery and powerful words are told publicly, the incan tations them
selves are precious secrets not to be revealed to outsiders . Among those
who possess the knowledge of powerful words are the sohanci , the patri l i n
eal descendants of Sonni A l i Ber. Sohancis are specialists in m i l i ta ry sorc
ery; they possess the power to cause or protect soldiers from being
wounded from arrows , spears , or bullets . They also know the words which
will cause or protect peop le from l i fe-threateni ng accidents . Like other
Songhay healers, they also have an impressive knowledge of the plants that
can be used to heal people of physiological and superna tural disorders .
Sorkos , a l l descendants of Faran Maka Bote, are praise-singers to the
spiri ts of the Songhay pantheon . Sorcerers i n their own righ t , sorkos know
the words that can repel wi tches and the spells of other sorcerers . The zima,
or ritual priest , is the i mpresario associa ted with the Songhay possession
troupe . These men and women know the words that have the force to
beckon the spirits from the spiri t world to the world of social life . A l l these
pract i tioners undergo long apprenticesh ips duri ng which they memorize
scores of ritual incantations and learn to apply these special words to the
substances they prepare for c l ients. A substance (a vine, tree bark , a stone
or a cowry shell) is withou t power un less a sohanc i , a sorko, or a zima has
i mbued it with force through words .
The Practice of Sorcery

Sorcery i n Songhay can be placed into two general categories : sorcery
w i th-spirits and sorcery-wi thout-spiri ts. Sorcery-without-spirits is prac
ticed only by sorkos and sohanci and takes two forms : dangbeli and sambeli.
Sou nd in Songhay Sorcery 1 19
Dangbe l i involves the use of topical poisons , which , are placed i n

powdered form o n a bed o r some other object that t h e victim is l i kely to
touch . The poison enters the bloodstream through the skin and kills its
victim in three days or less . In one case, a sorko publicly insul ted a power
ful sohanc i . The sorko died three days la ter after having defacated his
i n test i nes onto the sand . 1 7 Some of the poisons cause veins and arteries to
burst ; in this case the victim bleeds to dea t h . 1 8 In dangbel i , sorcerers do not
use i ncantations; it is sorcery-wi t hout-spirits, and is l i m i ted to the most
powerful sohancis and sorkos .
Sambe l i refers to the " magic arrow." Here the sorcerer reci tes an
incanta tion which , i n effect , shoots i n the d i rection of a victim a meta
phoric arrow whose ti p is loaded with sickness . If the arrow h i ts its targe t ,
w h i c h depends upon the power of t h e sorcerer, the victim becomes le
thargic, nauseous; he or she may experience violent diarrhea. If the victim
has protection ( i .e . wears a special ring or has eaten special foods), the
i mpact of the sorcery is strong but shortl i ved . If the arrow i s not located
and removed from an u nprotec ted v i c t i m - most people-he or she w i l l
w ither away a n d d i e a slow, horrible dea t h . Sambe l i is rarely practiced
today; l ike dangbe l i , i t is sorcery-wi thout-spirits, a practice also l i m i ted to
the most powerfu l and knowledgeable sohancis and sorkos .
Tengbeli, sorcery-wi th-spiri t s , is more w i dely practiced . In tengbe l i ,
sickness is brought o n b y t h e reci tation o f i ncantations t o specific spiri ts .
The sorcerer is h i red by an i njured party to punish a victi m . Reciting the
appropriate i ncantation to the appropriate spiri t , and naming the victi m ,
the sorcerer sends sickness-someti mes death-to the vict i m . If the sor
cerer is powerfu l , the res u l t is i m mediate. The v i c t i m becomes nauseous,
del irious, anx ious , partially para lyze d . The v i c t i m may shake w i t h palsy.
Tengbel i , which u t i l i zes powerfu l words to precipitate a desired effect , can
resu l t in the death of the victi m .
The Songhay sorcerers w i t h whom I have studied make n o distinction
between good magic and bad sorcery : for the m , sorcery is neither good nor
bad , but si mply an affa i r of power. Men and women who send "sickness"
also have the capacity to heal a v i c t i m suffering from another's sorcery. 1 9
There is no good or e v i l i n Songhay sorcery ; there is only power and the
words that enhance power.
THE S OU N D OF WO R D S
This brief review of the role of the word i n the Songhay u n iverse g ives only
a surface representation of t h i ngs Songhay. There is much more . Obviously,
one must learn to hear the words of i ncantations; and this, wi thout doubt ,
i s t h e most i m portant aspect o f a young sorcerer's apprenticeship. Learn
ing to hear is more than transforming the sound contours of a magical
incantation i n to one 's own speech , however; it is more than mastering the
li teral and metaphoric meani ngs of the narratives. To learn how to hear,
the Songhay sorcerer must learn to apprehend the sound of words much as
the musician learns to apprehend the sound of music . Just as sound is the
central feature of the world of mus i c , so sound is the cen tral feature of the
world of sorcery. This world of sound comes to l i fe in a network of forces
" that act in obedience to laws whose act ion in man i fest in the act ion
of tonal [sound] even ts, in the precisely determi ned relations of tones
[sounds] to one another in the norms that govern the course of tonal
[sound] motion ."20 While the laws governing sound movement differ from
melody to melody, from i ncantation to incantation , the laws have one thing
i n common : they are dynamic , referring to "states not objects, to relations
betweeen tensions, not to pos i t ions betwee n , to tendencies , not to magni
tudes ."l l Taking this logical sequence one step further, " the forces that
act i n the tonal world manifest themselves through bodies but not upon
bodies ."22 In this sense , a tone or an incantation is not a conveyor of action ,
as Malinowski would have sai d ; ra ther i t is action . The physical manifesta
tion of the word is signi ficance , to paraphrase Merleau-Ponty, before it has
signi ficance .2 3
When a musidan o r an appren tice Songhay sorcerer learns t o hear, he
or she begins to learn that sound al lows for the interpenetrat ion of the
inner and outer worlds, of the visible and the invisible, of the tangible and
intangible. A person 's spatialized " gaze " creates dis tance . Sound , by con
trast , penetrates the individual and creates a sense of communication and
part icipation . From the musical perspective, the "out-there" is replaced
by what Zuckerkandl calls the " from-ou t-there- toward-me-and-through
me."24 In this way outer and i n ner words in terpenetrate in a flowing and
dynamic universe , a universe in which sound is a foundation . Just as i n the
world of music , where there is no clear distinction between the ma terial
and i m material worlds, so i n the Songhay cosmos there is no discrete
boundary between the spiri t and social worlds. Zuckerkandl 's description
of the musical world can be applied d i rectly to the Songhay view of the
cosmos :
It is t rue that the musical concept of the external world-nature pervaded by
i m material forces , the purely dynamic transcending of the physica l , space
wi thout distinc tion of places , t i me in which past and fu ture co-exist w i t h the
prese n t , experience of the world in the mode of participation , the external and
inward i n terpenet ra t i ng- much more nearly resembles the magical and myth
ical i deas of pri m i t ive or preh istoric peoples than i t does the sc ien t i fic concep
tions of modern man .2 s
This musical view of the ex ternal world also corresponds to the theories of
modern physics .
Sound in Songhay Sorcery 121
And so when Sorko Dj ibo says that there are invisible forces i n the
universe and that words carry some of these forces to an intended targe t ,
are w e t o discount h i m ? Are w e t o discount t h e possibi l i ty t h a t words have
power?
TO H E A R O R N OT TO H EA R
The Jelgobe Fulani of Burki na Faso inform us of the " force" of everyday
expression . The Di nka of the Sudan say that the i nvocation has the power
to weaken a human enemy. The Trobrianders speak to the force of the spe l l .
The peasants of the Socage i n western France demonstrate how " words
wage war." The Wolof of Senegal bel ieve that the sound of praise-names i n
t h e con text o f a ceremony c a n physiologica lly transform t h e addressee .26
The Tiv covet song as power, energy, the veritable force of life P The
Songhay invite us to learn about the " force " of the sounds of words , praise
names , and sacred musical instruments .
As the anthropological record sugges ts, the peoples whom anthropolo
gists study often i n v i te us to learn how to see , how to think, and even how to
hear. Many of us accept these invitat ions genuinely. And once we decide to
fol low thei r paths of wisdom , we leave the comforts of a world in which we
are members of an intellectual elite and en ter worlds of experience i n
which our i l l i terate teachers scold u s for our ignorance .
Sorko Dj i bo had scolded me because of my intel lectual inab i l i ties. Why

had I not been able to hear the bewi tched m a n 's bia (" double") as i t
swooshed by me o n i t s way back t o its human counterpart ? Exhausted
from the frustration of instructing such a dullard , Dj ibo lapsed into silence
as we trudged down the sand dune . After what seemed an endless walk
back to the bewi tched man 's compound, we finally entered his courtyard .
To my surprise , and to Dj ibo's satisfaction , the man was vigorously walking
abou t . He stru t ted up to Sorko Dj ibo and lavished him with praise . Some
how, he had regained his streng t h . Sorko Dj ibo turned to me and sai d : " The
words were good for this one ."
My confusion mount ing, we left the man 's compound . Sorko Dj ibo led
me to his house so that I might receive my first lesson i n Songhay hearing.
While I had been learning numerous i ncan tat ions- i nstruct ions on how to
think-I had not yet begun to learn to hear. He taught me the fol lowing
i ncantat ion :
X is in the darkness . In the darkness it sees a rock . And the rock sees the e v i l
witch's gen italia. T h e l ights of t h e w i tch fl a s h o n and o ff . B u t w h e n i t [the w i tch]
l i fts i t s torc h , i t is worthless because now i t will fal l and fear w i l l escape . Men
1 22 Sou nds in Cultural Experience
w i l l not fear you . Women w i l l not fear you . You w i l l not know your front side
from your back side. The darkness will be upl i fted .2 8
The referential meaning of this incantat ion taught me about heari ng- that
the force of the words of the inca n t a t ion can incapac i ta te a wi tch . The
power of the i ncantation is not in the words as carriers of referential
meaning , bu t in the sounds of the words. " X " is the powerfu l word that
incapaci tates the wi tch by causing i t to fa l l from fligh t . When the sorko
reci tes the tex t , the sound waves of the word , " X , " and a l l the other words
that consti tute the i ncantat ion , enter i n to the night air. Through the dark
ness the powerful sound waves travel to find a rock which guides the sacred
sounds to the wi tch 's gen i ta l i a . The sound waves of the incantat ion pene
trate the wi tch 's gen i t a l i a and the l i gh ts of the witch begin to flash . The
wi tch raises i ts frightening red torch to scare away the sorko. But it is too
l a t e . The w i tch becomes disorien ted and no longer poses a threat to the
com munity. " The darkness is u p l i fted ."
Words are powerfu l and sounds ca rry force. I t is for these reasons that I
present the " X " incantation only in English .
PA R T I V
The Senses in Anthropology
Wha t can be shown cannot be said .
W i t tgenste in
The Reconstruction of
8 Ethnography
I na hay faabu wi i garu a ga naasu

" One k i l ls something thin only to discover that [ i nside] it i s fat ."
Songhay proverb
My first month of fieldwork among the Songhay of N iger in 1 976-77 was a

total fa ilure . Having prev iously l i ved a mong the Songhay, and hav ing
learned to speak Songhay, I had few problems adjusting to l i fe i n a rural
v i l lage. Sti l l , I did not know many people of the v i l lage of Mehanna. Fol low
ing the wisdom of the l i terature on fieldwork , I decided to conduct a survey
to get to know my neighbors . Soon after I se t t led i n a small mudbrick
house, I designed a questionna i re that wou ld generate, or so I thought ,
some demographic data. But I did not want to l i m i t m y survey only to
demographics, as the topic of my research concerned the use of language i n
loca l-level pol i t ics . I therefore added items t o t h e ques t ionnaire o n the use
of the various languages spoken in Songhay, which is mul t i l i ngua l . These
data on language use and language a t t i tudes , I though t , might prov ide
i nformat ion on relations between Songhay and non-Songhay groups living
in Mehanna. This informat ion on cross-ethnic relations , in turn , would
reveal pat terns of local- level pol i t ical processes .
After I designed the twenty- i tem survey, I conducted a p i lot test with
ten responden t s . None had difficulty answeri ng the ques tions . Encouraged ,
I administered the survey to a representative sample of townspeopl e . As i n
all thi ngs one does w i t h t h e Songhay, I h a d t o make excruci a t i ngly carefu l
arrangements for the survey 's a d m i n i stra t ion . Fi rst I con tacted the v i l lage
1 26 Th e Senses in Anth ropology
Figure I 3: Sorko Dj ibo Mounmouni , master of words
chief, who approved the proposa l . But before I surveyed individuals, the
chief told me , I should consul t with the eigh t neighborhood chiefs . After a
series of long visits with the chiefs , I at last began my survey. U nexpectedly,
each in terview was so long that I cou ld conduct only six i nterv iews a day. I t
took me thi rty days t o complete 1 80 i nterviews . As I collected d a t a I began
to analyze the m , and I discovered that mu l t i l i ngual ism was grea ter than I
The Reconstruction of Ethnography 1 27
had antic i pated . Moreover, a cursory examination of the language atti tude
data suggested much cross-e t h n ic enmity.
Toward the end of the Mehanna survey, I i nterviewed a shopkeeper
named Abdou Kano. Abdou told me that he spoke four languages ( Songhay,
Hausa, Fulan i , and Tamasheq). My work w i t h Abdou completed, I walked
next door to i nterv iew Mahamane Boulla, who, l i ke Abdou , was a shop
keeper. I asked him how many languages he spoke .
" How many languages does Abdou say he speaks ? " he asked me .
"Abdou , " I sai d , " says he speaks four languages."
" Hah ! I know for a fact that Abdou speaks only two languages ."
" Wha t ? " I exclai med . " How could he lie to me ? " I s tood up abruptly
and strutted over to Abdou 's shop.
Abdou smi led and greeted me. "Ah , Monsieur Paul , what would you
l i ke to buy today ? "
"Abdou , " I began firm ly, " Mahamane h a s just told m e t h a t you speak
only two l anguages . Is that t rue ? "
Abdou shrugged h i s shoulders . " Yes , i t is t rue . I speak only two lan
guages: Hausa and Songhay."
" Why did you tell me you spoke four languages ? "
Abdou patted me o n t h e shoulder. "What difference does i t make?" H e
glanced skyward . " Te l l m e , how many languages did Mahamane say h e
speaks ? "
" Mahamane , " I answered , " told m e t h a t he speaks three languages ."
" He can speak Songhay and that is a l l , " Abdou said .
" Wha t ? " I exclaimed. Turning red w i t h a nger, I stormed back t o Ma
hamane 's shop. "Abdou tel l s me that you speak on ly one language . But you
just told me that you spoke three languages . What is the t ru t h ? "
Mahamane smi led a t me. "Abdou is tel l i n g t h e tru t h ."
" Bu t how could you lie to me ? "
Like Abdou , Mahamane shrugge d . " What is the difference ? "
I spent t h e next week frantically consu l t i n g t h e other 1 78 people whom
I had in terviewed duri ng the previous mont h . To my d isgus t , I d iscovered
that everyone had lied to me , and that the data I had so laboriously
collected were worth less .
Any audience of fieldworkers , anthropologists or whatnots, can em
pathize with my predicamen t , for I am sure that such incidents are not
isolated ones . Informants rou t i nely lie to anthropologists for any number
of reasons . " Wh a t 's the d i fference ? " " We don ' t know you ." " We know you ,
but we don ' t trust you ." " S i nce you are too young we cannot tell you the
tru t h (but we are too pol i te to tell you to go away)."
I was lucky because I discovered early i n my fieldwork that people
were l y i ng to me; some of us are not so lucky, especially if we do not engage
1 28 The Senses in Anthropology
in long term fieldwork . Blessed by more luck, I was fortunate to find an

elder w illing to advise me on learning abou t things Songhay.
" You will never learn about u s , " he told me, " i f you only go i n to
people 's compounds, ask personal questions, and wri te down the answers .
Even i f you remain here one year or two years and ask us questions in this
manner, we would still l ie to you ."
"Then what am I to do ? "
" You m u s t learn to si t with people , " h e told me. " You m u s t learn t o sit
and listen . As we say i n Songhay : " One kills something thin only to dis
cover that [inside] i t is fat ."
During the remainder of my first year of fiel dwork , and su bseq uent
visits to the lands of the Songhay, I have followed my teacher's advice. I
learned to listen to a small number of men , to women , and to chi ldre n , and
as a result I learned something about Songhay cul ture .
I learned t o listen t o one woman i n particular. Fatouma Seyni h a d been
married three t i mes and , when I first met her, she was , as they say in
Songhay, "wi thout husband." She talked to me about her marriages : about
her first husband who gave her no money, about her second husband who
routinely bea t her, and about her last husband who often burned her with
cigarettes when she was asleep. Whenever Fatouma talked , I l istened .
Never did I attempt to " i n terview" her. She asked me questions about
myself. We rarely talked abou t m u l t i l i ngua l i s m , and we never discussed
local poli tics .
When I returned in 1 979-80 and i n 1 98 1 , I went to visi t this woman . On
each occasion she would greet me and then reci te a l i tany of sorrows . All
the while she observed me, saying much about herself and yet revea l ing
little. In 1 982-8 3 , I saw Fatouma once again i n the Mehanna marke t . Since
she had squash to sel l , I bought one for my dinner. As usua l , I gave her a
small tip of twenty-five francs (roughly ten cents). Fatou ma smi led and told
me that I was a kindhearted man . Then she bid me to kneel down close to
her.
"Go to one of the shops and bring me a vial of perfume this afternoon ,
around 5 p.m ."
" What for? " I asked dumbfounded .
"Just do i t . I w i l l see you later."
Later I bought a smal l vial of B ini al Hadash and trekked up the dune to
Fatouma's compound . She was s i t t i ng on a straw mat next to her mudbrick
house. I gave her the perfu m e .
" You brought t h e wrong kind o f perfume."
" What kind of perfume was I supposed to bring?"
" You were supposed to bring Bint al Sudan. How can I put this i n my
baata [a sacri ficial container possessed only by sorcerers] ? "
" You have a baata ! " I exclai med , overwhelmed .
" Of course I do."

" But you never told me . . . "
" One never talks of these things , one ac ts. You see , my father was a
sorko and he taught me what he knew."
"I have known you for seven years , and never once did you tell me."
Fatouma nodded . " Those of us who are serious never talk about our
ab i l i ties, or about our work ." She stood up and led me i nside her house and
showed me the baata on her sacrificial al tar. She turned to me: " I don ' t
know if t h e o n e i n t h e s k y [a name for Don go , spirit o f thunder] w i l l accept
my pu tting this perfume i n the baata. But I ' l l do i t anyway."
She opened the baata and placed the Bint al Hadash in i t . It was the
only one of i t s kind in the con tainer. Then we left the hut and sat on the
straw ma t . Fatou ma soon became clearly troubled . " I t 's not right to put the
wrong perfume i n the baata. Let us go and i nspect the container." We wen t
back i n to the hut . She picked up the baata and slowly l i fted its l i d . The vial
of Bint al Hadash I had purchased was broken i n to bits. " You see , " she sai d ,
s m i l i n g , " the o n e above d i d not l i ke t h i s perfume . Go and b u y some B i n t a l
Sudan. "
I returned to the same shop and bought the right kind of perfume .
Fatouma opened the perfume so I could learn its fragrance- very strong
and swee t . She then c losed i t rapidly, en tered her hut, and put the vial i n
the baata. We s a t down once aga i n o n t h e straw m a t a n d she took out her
divining cowry shells-seven of the m . " If the one who is above accepts your
offeri ng, you w i l l smel l the fragrance as it wafts from the hut over to us." As
she began to throw the cowries and d i v i ne my future , we looked at one
another. The sweet and strong fragrance of B int a/ Suda n was i n the air. She
told me to breathe it i n deeply. I did as she asked. The air around us was
premeated w i t h B int al Sudan. I did not ask her how this could happen . I
certai n l y did not know why this was happening. She threw the cowries
once again and said: " I t is t i me that you learn the secrets of reading
cowries."
Two vignettes from the field . Two v ignettes on the paradoxical nature
of anthropological work . My first attempt to learn about the Songhay
through a ques t ionnaire was an unqua l i fied fai lure; all of my respondents
l ied to me. Perhaps much of the blame was m i n e . Perhaps my questionnaire
was not wel l-designed . Perhaps I abandoned too rapidly an epistemology
in which the goa l is to produce idea l , verifiab le, and repl icable knowledge
that we might use as a data base for comparison . But my personal i nterest
i n rel igion and the i mponderables of magic , wi tchcraft , and sorcery pushed
me to choose a more subjective approach to fieldwork- letting the Song
hay teach me about their culture and society. 1 This approach led me over
the years to meet and know people, not i n formants; i t led me i nside a
sorko's h u t ; i t led me beyond an invisible threshold to a domain the Song
hay call the " world of eternal war." In this " world of eternal war" much has
happened that I have not been able to expla i n or understan d . How could I
expla i n , after a l l , the broken vial of B int al Hadash ? Sleight of hand,
remembering so vividly Lev i-Strauss's " Sorcerer and his Magic "?2 Perhaps
the force of the spiri t broke the vial ? Maybe this woman , despi te our
budd i n g re l a t ionsh i p , was , for any number of reasons, trying to decei ve
me ?
Wh i le I prefer to be led by others i n to murky worlds where I attempt to
unravel the mysteries of metaphor, i l l usion , humor, or symbolism , this
subject i ve approach is not foolproof. Even when an anthropologist has
gained the confidence of people after ten , twen ty, or thi rty years , he or she
may s t i l l be the victim of misin terpretation, innuendo, and decei t . I know
of Song hay who con ti nue their at tern pt to deceive Jean Rouc h , even though
he has been a sens i t i ve , knowledgeable and respected part icipant in Song
hay social l i fe for more than forty years .
What are we to make of these fundamental problems ? A re these cases
representative of most anthropological work ? If we transcend the l i m ita
tions of the Western empirical tradi t ion , whatever that may be, what
remains? Are we left w i th a subjectivism so laced with i mperfect ions that
it, too, is worthless ? Perhaps we shou ld be more realistic about the goa ls of
the human sciences and take the sober advice of David Hume, who wrote
that "all our reason i ngs concern ing causes and effects arc derived from
nothing but custom; and that belief is more properly an act of the sens i t ive,
than the cogi tative part of our naturc ."3
This chapter fol lows Humc's advice by assessing the sense of "anthro
pological science ." Can we discover the Tru th of Human Nature ? Arc there
underlying Laws of Culture ? Do we waste our t i me and resources through
endless theorizing, as we try to discover the U l t i mate and the Absolute in
our search for the Tru t h ?
Anthropology h a s one strengt h : ethnography, t h e original , a l b e i t i m
perfec t , product of o u r disc i p l i ne . Despi te i ts taken-for-granted status,
ethnography, rather than cul tura l materialism, structuralism, or any other
" is m , " has been and w i l l con t i nue to be our core con tribution . I t is t i me to
apprec iate ethnographers who produce works of art that become powerfu l
vehicles of theoretical exposi t ion .4
PLATO : THE EPISTEME A N D THE SCIENCE OF

ANTHROPOLOGY
Much of Michel Foucaul t 's work focused on the epistemc , " that appara tus
which makes possible the separation of not the true from the false, but of
The Reconstruction of Ethnography 131
what may from what may not be characterized as scient i fic ."5 I n his diverse
works on madness , sexual ity, crim i nal justice , medicine, and the h istory of
the human sciences , Foucaul t demonst rated how the episteme governs
what we see , what we think, what we say, and what we write . He a lso
described how h istorical forces have combined in different periods of time
to change a gi ven episteme. He wrote of the episteme of the Renaissance , in
which words had an existence of their own . He described the classical
episteme, an age of mathesis, in which words were neutra l , conveyors of
pure representation i n a mechanistic order. He discussed the modern epis
teme, in which scholars discovered the finitude of man , a d iscovery that
heralded the human sciences . And yet the human sciences present , as
Foucau l t suggested , an epistemological paradox :
Not only are the human sciences able to do w i thout a concept of man, they are
unable to pass through i t , for they always address themselves to that which
const i t u tes his outer l i m i t s . One may say of them what Levi-Strauss said of
ethnology : that they dissolve man .6
Levi-Strauss's comment may seem m i sguided , unless one considers

the development of the scient i fic epistemology that Whi tehead , among
others , considered Plato's legacy. Foucaul t notwi thstanding, the search for
Truth transcends any episteme and dissolves human being in the human
sciences .
The Legacy of Pla to

Plato emerged in Greek t h i nking at a t i me of systematic reflection , creating
order from chaos . Consider, for example, Herac l i tus's a t tempt to character
ize the perception of Being :
Do not l isten to me, the moral speaker, but be in hearkening to the Laying that
gathers; first belong to this and then you hear properly ; such hearin g is when a
letting-l ie-together-before occurs by which the gathering letting-lie, the Laying
that gathers, l ies before us gathered ; when a l e t t i ng-l ie-before occurs , the fate
ful comes to pass.7
From these philosophical fragments Plato devised the search for Trut h , to
paraphrase Richard Rorty, in which we turn away from subjec t i v i ty (Her
ac l itus's obl ique wri ting) to objecti v ity. Objectivity was Plato's solution to
the puzzle of i n fi n i te variab i l i ty i n the world of appearances . And so Plato
was the first t h i nker to distinguish appearance from rea l i t y : behind every
appearance there is a h idden , i mmutable Form . These Forms are the arche
types of knowledge , disti nguished from opinion , which , in Plato's view, is
as unstable as the flux of appearances. Knowledge , on the other hand , is an
i m mutable p i l lar of real i ty.s
From these simple distinct ions, the epistemology of Western phi loso
phy was born . These metaphysical distinct ions , I sugges t , have not been
disputed by others si nce Plato; ra ther, thinkers have disputed on ly how to
discover the real i ty hidden beh ind appearances, how to arri ve at Tru th .
Saussure 's S igns

Rousseau began an era in which scholars searched for Platonic Tru th in the
origins of things : the o r i gin of society through an examination of pristine
groups ; the origin of language in compara t i ve phi lology. Saussure , seeking
the structure (real i ty) behind the variable surface of speech , argued for the
synchronic study of language . In systematic linguistics, language (langue)
contrasts with speech (parole). Langue " i s not to be confused with human
speech (langage), of which i t is a defi n i te part . It (langue) is both a soc ial
product of the facul ty of speech and a collect ion of necessary convent ions
that have been adopted by a social body to perm i t i ndi viduals to exercise
that facul ty."9 Saussure considered speech (parole) beyond his study, for it
is so heterogeneous that " We cannot put it into any category of human
facts, and we cannot discover i ts uni ty." 1 0 Saussure further emphasized the
primacy of langue over parole: " Language [langue] . . is a self-contai ned
.
whole and a principle of classification . As soon as we give language [langue]

first place among the facts of speech , we introduce natural order i n to a
mass that lends i tself to no other classi fication .'' 1 1 In seeking the u l t i mate
Truth of language , Saussure , like Plato, sough t the One, la ngue, in this case
an elegantly self-con tained whole, in the Many, parole, a heterogeneous
tangle of variabi l i ty.
Saussure also distinguished signifier from sign i fied , and for h i m the
sign consisted of " the whole that resul ts from the associating of signifier to
signi fied ." 1 2 In i ts relat ionsh ip of the sign i fier to the signified , the sign is an
i m mutable form . Al though t i me does change li nguistic signs , the funda
mental relationship between signifier and signi fied transcends the tem po
rary; it remains unchanged . This is tantamou nt to saying that the relat ion
ship of signifier to signified is an i m m u table form , the One underlying the
Many.
The work of Saussure set the stage for two major move ments in social
science : structural li nguistics and structuralism . The structural l i nguists
were inspired by Saussure 's notion of synchrony, as well as by his idea that
l i ngu istics is the study of la ngue ra ther than parole. The Prague School of
Linguistics took up s t ructural analysis in phonology. In the U n i ted States,
by contrast , Bloomfield extended the structural analysis of langue to mor
phology, syntax , and seman tics . In both schools, units of analysis-pho
nemes , morphemes, syn tagmemes, and so on-were a l l - i m porta n t . For
structural l inguists the phoneme is a construct quite d i fferent from the
The Reconstru ction of Ethnography 1 33
phone , the sounds of which are i n fi n i tely variable . The phoneme , a m i n i

m a l u n i t o f sound that has distribut ive meaning, l i m i t s t h e i n fi n i te vari
abi l i ty of phones . I m mutable phonemes are isolated through contrastiv e
analys i s ; they are units that l i nguists i nduce from phones, or, put another
way, from fleeting appearances .
Lev i-S trauss's debt to structural li nguistics, especially to Roman Jak
obson , a Prague school l ingu i s t , is well known . The structural l i niguists
taught Levi-Strauss that language is a system of system s . And just as
language is a system of syste ms, so cul ture , in Lev i-Strauss's view, is a
system of system s . In cul ture , as i n language , there are h idden elemen tary
structures , discoverable through sc ient i fic analys i s , that link not only past
with prese n t , but also the Rousseaurian pri m i t ive w i th the modern . Fol
lowing i n the footsteps of Saussure , Levi-Strauss devised a method , struc
tura l i s m , in which the One, cogn i t i ve structures common to all human
beings , could be del i m i ted from the Many, individual structural relat ions .
In h i s monumental The Elementary Structures of Kinsh ip, Levi-Strauss
focused on the insti tution of marriage . Marriage pract ices seem beyond
explanat ion , as they are so alarmingly variable . But Levi-Strauss demon
s trated that what appears to be marriage is i n real ity the exchange of
wome n :
In the course o f this work , w e have seen the notion o f exchange become com
pl icated and diversified; it has constantly appeared to us in different forms .
Somet i mes exchange appears direc t . . . . Somet i mes it functions w i t h i n a total
system . . . and at others i t instiga tes the formation of an u n l i m i ted number of
special systems and short cycles unconnected among themselves . . . . Some-
t i mes the exchange is exp l i c i t . . . and at other t i mes it is i mplici t . . . . Some-
t i mes the exchange is closed , while at other t i mes it is open . . . . But no matter
what form it takes . whether d i rect or indirec t , general or special , i m mediate or
deferred , explicit or i m p l i c i t , closed or ope n , concrete or symbol i c , it is ex
change , al ways exchange , that emerges as the fundamental and common basis
of all moda l i t ies of the i n s t i t u t ion of marriage 1 3
To discover the meaning o f a given insti tution , l i ke marriage , the analyst

uncovers the reality obscured by the haze of appearances . Like h i s intel lec
tual ancestors from Plato on , Lev i-Strauss seeks the One among the Many :
The u l t i mate goa l of the human sciences is not to constitute man , but to dissolve
h i m . The critical importance of ethnology is that it represents the first step i n a
process which includes others. Ethnologic analysis tries to arrive at i nvariants
beyond the empirical d i vers i t y of soc ieties . . . . This i n i t i a l e n terprise opens the
way for others . . . which arc incumbent on the natural sciences: the rei ntegra
t ion of culture i n to nature and generally of l i fe into the whole of its physico
chemical condi t ions . . . . One can understand , therefore . why I find in ethnology
the principle of a l l research . 1 4
Ethnology is not only Levi-Strauss's principle for a l l research, but the basis
of the metaphysics founded by Plato more than 2 ,500 years ago.
A n th ropological Adages
What has been good for Levi-S trauss has been good for most anthropolo
gists . I do not suggest that all anthropologists are latent structuralists;
rather, I argue that most anthropologists are members of the community of
Western metaphysic ians . We , like Levi-S trauss, search for the One in the
Many; we seek out the Platonic Truth , the rea l i ty lurking behind appear
ances .
Radcliffe-Brown did not hesitate to place anthropological science
within metaphysics. In numerous articles he stedfastly suggested that
anthropology, or what he called comparative sociology, was a branch of the
natural sciences i n which scholars would induce social structures to be
compared . Through comparison , Radcliffe-Brown , argued , anthropolo
gists arrive i nduc tively at " laws of social statics" (what Levi-Strauss re
ferred to as " in variants"). 1 5 Plato, of course, referred to these " laws" as
Forms . Like Radc l i ffe-Brow n , Mali nowski thought that general p roposi
tions can be induced from a mass of data. One first col lects ethnographic
fact s , M a l i nowski tells us, and then analyzes them to see what patterns
unfold.
These metaphysical pat terns are present i n recent theoretical orienta
tions in anthropology. The eth nography of communication provides an
example. Hymes argues for describing society from the van tage of com
municat ion (speaking). He points, rightly, to the importance of descri bing
cul tural conceptions from the poin t of view of those who are being s tud
ied- the so-cal led "ernie gri d . " From ernie data, the ethnographer of com
munication classifies com munica t i ve acts , events, or si tuat ions within
their cul tural context . Hymes warns, however, that taxonomy is not an end
i n i tself; the object is the painstaking recording of ethnographic divers i t y :
" The work of taxonomy is a necessary part of progress toward models
(structural and generative) of sociolinguistic description , formulation of
universal sets of fea tures and relations, and explanatory theories ." 1 6 Join
ing the universal ists of the Pla tonic heri tage , Hymes adds : " I n sum , just as
a theory of grammar must have its uni versal terms , so must a t heory of
language use ." 1 7 Indeed , wi thou t the universal terms natural scentists use,
how can sociol i nguists or social scien tists compare data from highly di
verse societies ? How can they achieve theoretical wholes from the muddle
of variable data ?
The taken-for-granted Platon ic distinctions , which weave themselves
i n to so many theories, also appear in some contemporary theories of eth
nography. The New Ethnography was an at tempt to produce reliable and
valid ethnographic accounts . From Goodenough onward, the new eth

nographers , who later became ethnoscientists and ethnosemanticists, for
mulated ideational t heories of cul ture . Fol k taxonomies , componential
analysi s , cogni tive maps and rules, a l l of which were induced from care
fully col lected data, were etic reflect ions of the cogni t i ve processes of a
variety of peop les . As with the ethnography of communication , this re
search moved away from taxonomy toward a universa l observation lan
g u a g e to a i d the analyst i n the search for that ever-elusive rea l i ty hidden
behind the m i rage of data.
Agar has been particularly sensit ive to the need for an ethnographic
language . In one recen t article he and Hobbs, a computer scientist, call for
a theory of ethnography. They write that "ethnography needs theoretical
guideli nes for the analysis of ' informal ethnographic i nterviews .' " 18 They
propose "Artificial Intel legence Plann ing" as a way of bui lding a universal
vocabulary in ethnography to make ethnographic analysis more system
a t i c . As Agar points out , "we desperately need a language to talk about
ethnography in a general way." 1 9 Fol lowing the lead of Saussure's discus
sion of parole, and Lev i-Strauss's analysis of marriage , Agar suggests that
ethnographies , even on the same people or topic , are so diverse that they
are difficult to compare . Agar seeks to place the "embarrass ing" diss i m i lar
i t ies of wri tten ethnographic accounts i n to a more systematic framework
that he calls " knowledge representation ." Here aga i n , an i n novat i ve an
thropologist looks " beneath " the phenomenon , to paraphrase Merleau
Ponty, for genera l princi ples to account for diversi ty: the One, an eth
nographic language , in the Many.
Straw Men, Ep istemes, and Discourse

The great logicians taught that the construction of straw men in arguments
weakens a person 's con tentions . My discourse on Saussure and Levi
Strauss has been designed to demonstrate anthropology's taken-for
gra n ted membership in the Platonic tradi t ion .20 Were I to s top here , I
would be gui l ty not only of logica l fal l acy, but also of intel lectual negativ
ism . Heirs of the Platonic tra d i t ion, anthropologists are caught i n insti tu
tional webs ; they work w i t h i n an episteme that affects the d iscourse , the
written product of scholarship, that they produce . The search for Truth
dissolves humank i n d . In contemporary anthropology, as a consequence ,
theorizing becomes serious busi ness . Theoretical treatises-on ethnogra
phy, kinship, exchange, symbol ism , cog n i t ion-are much more highly val
ued than vivid description . Pub l i shed work i n anthropology therefore as
sesses ethnographic data from a Marxist perspective, from a cog n it i ve
perspective, from a Freudian perspec tive, ad nauseam.
Taken-for-granted metaphysics, Jacques Derrida warn s , makes schol-
ars lose sight of what is in the worl d .2 1 Merleau-Ponty and Langer suggest
in d i fferent works that scientific methods , assumptions , and discourse ob
scure rather than i l lumine questions of l i fe and consciousness .22 Caught in
the web of metaphysics , we posit post-Socratic uni versal theory as an
al ternative to pre-Socratic chaos . Caught in these metaphysical webs , we
produce a discourse that is flat and neutra l .
WRITI N G A N D T H E TEXT O F TEXTS

Fla t , neutra l , and " s l udgy " wri ting i s endemic i n anthropological dis
course . I find examples of i t every t i me I pick up a journal . I read a l i ne or
two, a page or two, rub my eyes, and put the journal down . No wonder,
when I consider some typical openings, which Tedlock, Said, and others,
consi der rhetorically significant _23
Example 1 . E t h nologists and archaeologists, in genera l , have expressed rela

t i vely l i t tle i nterest in the developmen t of a unified ecological view of aborigi
nal l i fe i n the Great Plains .24
Example 2. I n anthropological theory, variations i n the sexual division of labor

have often been seen as causes of variations in resi dence patterns, marriage
pract ices , beliefs about gender, social ization pat terns, and many other aspects
of human behavior and belief 2 s
Example 3. Interest in t h e way a " native" sees his o r h e r culture h a s a long

h i s tory in American anthropology, going back to Franz Boa s , Ruth Benedi c t ,
Robert Lowie, R a l p h Lin ton , a n d m a n y others act i ve in the fi r s t half of t h e 20th
century. This i n terest has con ti nued with new theories and methods of descrip
t i on , classifica t ion, and analysis of cultural phenomena.2 6
Example 4. Cul tural understandi ngs abou t ethnic identity typically entail be
liefs about personal i t y traits characteristic of particular ca tegories of people or
groups .27
Example 5. Anthropology in the English-speaking Caribbean is marked by an

analyt ical a n t i nomy that reflects the great historical ambiguity of Carribean
societies.28
Example 6. G i l bert ( 1 98 1 ) concludes that corpora te cognatic descent groups

exist in upper class Lima [Peru] society.29
Example 7. This paper concerns the communicat ion of affec t , and the role
therein of cul tural and l i nguistic systems. It explores some analyt ical issues in
cross-cul tural comparison and the notion of "expressive language " and it exam
i nes modes of affec tive expression i n a particular ethnographic case .3 0
Example 8. Kennan ( 1 97 3 : 49) has defined the pragmatic presuppos i t ion as the
" relation between the u t terance of a sen tence and the con text in which i t is
ut tered ."3 1
The Reconstru ction of Ethnography ! 37
This prose , including my own , reflects the a l ienation of the anthropological

episteme . " The a n thropologist who treats the indigene as an object may
define h imself as relatively free , but that is an i l lusion . For i n order to
objec t i fy the other, one is, at the same time, compe l led to objectify the
self."32 This object i fication is expressed i n anthropological discourse .
Monographs are not exempt from flat , neutral and sludgy writing,
a l though , given t he b rea d t h of this form , there is opportuni ty for eye
opening, i n vigorating prose . But before a reader gets to the good stuff of a
monograph-i f there is any to be found-he or she suffers prefaces and
introduct ions , which tend to be longer versions of the opening l i nes of
journal artic les . There are many exception s . of course , but i n prefaces or
introduct ions , contemporary authors discuss their subject and their ap
proach via a general review of the li terature . Then the data are presen ted to
underscore the major thesis of the book. Final ly, the author summarizes the
data a nd presen ts the conclusions .
How many recent monographs have begun like Raymond Fi rth 's clas
sic, We, The Tikopia, quoted i n Chapter 2 ?33 Fi rth 's description is the stuff of
classic ethnography, i n which the a n thropologist-as-writer considers the
reader-as-reader, interpreting silently a book's multi logued prose . While
one may view the ideas that seep out between the l i nes of We, The Tikiopia
as dated , the prose of this magni ficen t ethnography leaves a vivid i mpres
sion of the people of that island . Fi rth 's detailed ethnography - i mperfect ,
a s are a l l ethnographies-beca me part of the ethnographic record , an
eternal document in the his tory of humani ty.
There are more recent examples of splendidly wri t ten ethnographies .
One t h i nks of Michael Lambek 's Human Sp irits, with an introduction
called "Cul tural Zero , " i n which he describes his first encounter with spiri t
possession on the island of Mayotte .34 There is John M . Chernoff's penetrat
ing accou n t of the sociocul tural significance of drumming in Ghana.35
There is Vincent Crapanzano's rich descript ion of a Hamshida possession
ritual in Morocco,36 as wel l as his more recen t work in Sou th Africa.37 And
there is Jeanne Favret-Saada's highly personalized Deadly Words:
Take an eth nographer; she has chosen to investigate contemporary wi tchcraft
in the Bocage of Western France . She has already done some fieldwork ; she has a
basic academic tra i n i n g ; she has published some papers on the logic of murder,
v iolence , and i nsurrect ion in an a l together d i fferent tribal society. She is now
working in France to avoid having to learn yet another difficult language . . . .
Take an ethnographer. She has spent more than 30 mon ths in the Bocage i n
Mayenne, studying w i tchcraft . " How exc i t i n g , how thri l l ing, how extraordi
nary . . ! " " Tell us abou t wi tches , " s h e is asked aga i n and again w h e n s h e gets
.
back to the ci ty. Just as one might say: tell us abou t ogres and wolves , abou t
L i t t le Red Riding Hood . Fri g h ten us, but make it clear that i t 's onlv a storv . ; or
.
that they are just peasa n t s : credu lous , backward , and margina l .JB
This kind of lush , vivid, lyrica l , and personal writing lies beyond the
usual parameters of appropriateness that have been establ i shed within the
episteme of anthropology. Unfortuna tely, one does not become a distin
guished anthropologist because of the qua l i ty of one 's prose or the memo
rab i l i ty of one 's descript ions .
Anthropological discourse is characterized by the search for " invar
iants beyond the empirical d i vers i ty of societies ."39 The search must isolate
a n d accou n t for aspec ts of human behavior, and not the murki ness and
i mprecision of human existence . In a recent article on " Human Linguis
tics , " Ross ski l l fully highlights the relationsh ip between episteme and
discourse . Some l i nguists, he wri tes , are concerned with answering the
question : " What formal principles, both language-particular and univer
sal , are necessary and sufficient to characterize the distribut ion of and
relationshi p among l inguistic elements in each of the languages of the
world? "40 Human li nguistics is concerned with an al together d i fferent
question : " What can the study of language tel l us about human beings ? "4 1
Plato, Art, and Metaphys ics

The birth of metaphysics , of U l t i mate Forms , of the search for Truth , set the
boundaries between art and metaphysics . Plato wanted the dramatic art
ists expelled from his Repub l i c , for the sen t i ments that dramatists are
capable of provoking lead people back to the heroic myths and ignorance ,
ra ther than toward the discovery of U l t i mate Forms . Plato, quot ing Soc
rates , wrote :
When any one of these pantom i mic gen tlemen, who are so clever that they
i m i tate anythi n g , comes to us, and makes a proposal to exhibit hi mself and his
poetry, we w i l l fal l down and worsh i p h i m as a sweet and holy and wonderfu l
bei ng, but we m u s t a lso inform h i m that in o u r S t a t e such as h e are not
perm i t ted to exist; the law w i l l not a l low them.42
And why not ? Because i n the State, the poe t or dramatist does not fi t i n to
any of the social categories prescribed by the doctrine of U l t i mate Forms .
Put another way, art and metaphysics become mutually exclusive; hence
the presence of flat, neutral , and sludgy prefaces , pretexts, and texts in the
discourse of the human sciences .
Yet , when anthropologists are confronted with something they cannot
explai n , they find that the foundation of this aged metaphysics begins to
crumble, that the d iscourse that worked so wel l in a previous study cannot
adequately represen t a particular field inciden t .
Art a n d science shou ld complement one another. Indeed , if w e focus on
anthropological texts not as explicit logico-deductive/i nductive state
ments, but rather as texts that describe the texture of a society to a reader,
the possi b i l i ty of this complementarity stares us i n the face. Merleau-Ponty

called on p h i losophers to use language to bring readers i n to contact w i t h
" bru te and w i l d b e i n g " (see Chapter 2).43 Anthropologists, t oo , need to
confront language in i ts full being and not as a neutral mechanism of
representation . Cons i der the words of Heidegger:
To undergo an experience with l anguage, then, means to let ourselves be prop

erly concerned by the claim of language by enteri ng i n to and sub m i t ting to i t . If
it is true that man finds the proper abode of h i s existence i n language-whether
he i s aware of it or not-then an experience we undergo with language w i l l
touch t h e i nnermost nexus o f our existence . We who speak language may there
upon become transformed by such experiences, from one day to the nex t or i n
t h e course of t i m e . B u t now i t cou ld b e t h a t an experience w e undergo w i t h
language is t oo m u c h for us moderns, e v e n i f i t strikes us o n l y to the extent t h a t
for once i t draws o u r a t tention to o u r relation t o language, s o that from t h e n o n
we m a y keep this relation i n mind 44
Ross seems to have experienced the Being of l anguage ; h i s article, " Human
Linguistics" is a poem that is a multi logue . It not only concerns a current
debate i n theoretical l inguistics, but also suggests a fundamental shift
toward humanism in the most positivistic of the social sciences . Favret
Saada and Contreras wrote an ethnography in the l i terary form of a diary,
where they record Favret-Saada's experience in the Bocage of western
France . This diary becomes a n open window through which the reader is
swept i n to the Bocage . Readers experience the authors' joy, doubts , fears ,
and disappointments.45
THE RECO N STRUCTION O F ETH N OGRAPHY

Even i f one has experienced the Being of language , one is still caught i n the
strai tjacket of the episteme , anthropological or otherwise. One cannot
perceive, conceive, speak, or wri te in a cul tural vacuum . M y d iscourse i n
t h i s chapter h a s fol lowed a standard form (introduct ion, review o f the
pert i nent l i terature , argument , and conclusion). We anthropologists are all
caugh t i n an episte mological double b i n d : we seek Truth , the O ne i n the
Many ; we covet abstract principles as we distinguish opinion from knowl
edge ; we create categories of appearance and real i ty ; we pos i t domains of
metaphysics (or science) and of art ; we create one d iscourse for meta
physics and one for art . And even i f we transcend the l i m i ta tions posed by
all these binary oppos i tions-to blend science with art-our categories, as
Hume wrote , are s t i l l derived from custom .46
Wha t remains in this phi losoph ical rubble ? Perhaps I can say that
anthropologists can never be engi neers ; we must remain bricoleurs rum
maging through the debris of deconstructed ideas for something new and
meaningfu l . But that somethi n g new for which we search endlessly has but
one fate: to be deconstructed in i ts own turn . For Derrida, " knowledge is

not a systematic tracking down of truth that is hidden but may be found. It
is rather the field of 'free play. ' that i s to say, a field of infinite substitut ions
i n the closure of a fi n i te ensemble .' "47 Derrida's crit ique of Western phi los
ophy offers no al terna tive to a world wi thout metaphysical foundation .
Must we go to these Derridean extremes ? I think not . Real istical ly, an
anthropology formulated on posi tivistic or phenomenological grounds is
ful l of i mperfections . But from the debris of these i mperfec tions, I suggest
the possi b i l i ty of a reconstruction of ethnography.
This reconstruction would not concern a theory to discuss ethnogra
phy in a general way.48 Indeed , a theory of ethnography would only make
anthropology more l ike a " real science , " to al low us to avoid the "embar
rassme n t " of not having a theory of something-ethnography-which " i s
at the heart o f anthropologies that deal w i t h l i v i n g peoples ."49 The recon
s truction of ethnography is ra ther a call for a humanistic anthropology, a
call for meaningful descriptions of what Armstrong called " human bei ng,"
a cal l for fine ethnographies l ike Fernandez's Bwiti and Rose 's Black Ameri
can Street Life. 50
The reconstruction of ethnography, however, implies a great deal more
than a valorization of ethnographic wri t i ng ; it i m plies a fundamental
epistemological shift toward Others and away from ethnographic rea l i s m .
We need to describe others as people and give t h e m a voice in our discourse .
We need to write ethnographies as mu l t i layered texts that communicate to
a number of audiences . We need to acknowledge in the text the presence of
an ethnographer who engages in dia logue w i t h his or her subjec ts.
I returned to Mehanna in 1 982-83 to conti nue my studies of the Songhay.

One morning as I trudged along the paths that cut th rough the wal led
compounds of the town , I gree ted Amadu , a bent-over old man well i n to his
seventies . For more than five years , I had greeted this man as I walked by
his compound . " How is your w i fe ? " " How are your w i fe 's people ? " " How
are the people of your compound ? " " How is your heal t h ? " He would always
respond that all was well and would ask after my health . U n t i l that day in
1 98 3 I knew nothing else about this man .
" I am glad to learn you are in good hea l th , my son , " he said to me that
morning. (Songhay elders often call younger men , " my son .")
"That I am, Baba [father) ."
" For five years you have greeted me ."
"That is true ."
"And you have asked nothing of me ? "
The Reconstruction of Ethnography 141
" For five years I have watched you , and today you shall know me. Come
into my house . I l ike you and this is why I shall give you the story of me l i fe ."
I wondered what he would tell me. Inside h i s dark thatched hut was an
al tar. M i n iature leather sandals and small clay jugs tied to pieces of cloth
hung from bundles of st icks that formed the skeleton of the hut .
" I am a zima, and I have been one for more than fifty years ."
"I did not know, Baba."
" We Songhay do not talk of our strengths to anyone . We must know
peop l e firs t . I know you now, my son , and I want you to know me . Go and
get your mach ine [tape recorder] so you can open it and learn my story."
I went to get my tape recorder and " opened " i t for this warm , wise
man . An orpha n , he left the island of his birth , Si nder, as a young man . He
traveled about the Sahel i n search of work , mos t ly as a farmhan d . He then
traveled to Aribinda, the grea t center of farming magic i n Burkina Faso,
where he apprenticed h i mself to a master sorcerer. After seven years i n
Aribinda, he traveled t o t h e Borgu i n northern Togo, where he again ap
prenticed h i mself to a master sorcerer. Seven years later he returned to
Niger and spent one year i n Sangara, one of the magic v i l l ages of Songhay.
There he learned about the Songhay spirits and became a zima. After
fifteen years of training he se ttled in Mehanna, where he became the priest
of the local possession t roupe . By the t i me I met h i m , A madu Z i ma's body
was bowed w i t h age- like the dessicated trunk of a giant acacia dying ever
so slowly. He had long since given up being a zima, but clients s t i l l sough t
his serv ices-for sorcery. He never left his compound .
After recounting in detail the h i s tory of h i s l i fe , Amadu Zima d iscussed
with me Songhay phi losophy and sorcery. He spoke about the spiri ts,
reci ted i ncantations and praise-poetry, revealed the secret names of medic
inal plants, and performed three rites that would protect me from the
vicissi tudes of enemies and spiri ts al i ke .
We talked for weeks , a n d throughout our discussions Amadu Z i ma
continued to proclaim how much he liked me . " I would never tel l this to
anyone , " he sa i d . " But I tell my l i fe , my secrets, to you , Paul , because I l ike
you . You like me . You ask questions . You want to learn my ways . You are
l i ke the son I never had ."
A madu Z i ma does not represen t all the Songhay; his story is his own .
Yet how can we ignore such a man in the name of ethnographic realism ?
How can we i gnore what the Amadu Z i mas and Fatouma Seynis teach us
about ourselves, about l i fe ? Is i t not their voices that w i l l help us to
reconstruct ethnography ?
9 Detours
We shall not cease from explora t ion .

And the end of all our exploring
Wi l l be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the fi rst time.
T . S . Eliot
In the actual use of expressions we make detours , we go by sideroads. We see the

straight highway before us, but of course we cannot use i t , because it is perma
nen tly closed .
Wittgenstein
In language and l i fe , human beings are meanderers; we con t i nually take

detours . Artists , philosophers and ethnographers often take sideroads
which lead them i n to di mensions of ti me-space that stray far from the
main highway. But too many of us describe those sideroads as if they were
s t i l l the main h ighway. The resu l t is a "straigh t " discourse-someti mes
analogic, sometimes digital-suggesting that we have taken highways that
lead us d i rec tly to our theoretical destinations, suggesting that we " know
the place for the first t i me."
Thi s straight discourse permeates the social sciences . We use it to write
research proposa ls. Imagine a proposal i n which the a l l - i mportant meth
odology sections listed a series of i mprovisations-Hey, I ' l l just fol low
my i n t u i t ions-rather than a carefully prepared research design . We use
s traigh t d iscourse to write most of our articles and books , which consis
tently present i n the t i meless present scien t i fic results in the prescribed
Detours 1 43
Figure 14: Sohanci Adamu Jeni tongo, master of " detours"
forms I discussed in the prior chapter. Imagine articles and books which
dwe l l upon the sideroads of d iscovery rather than the main highway of
resu l t s .
I t wou ld be fool ish t o suggest t h a t t h e " conve n t ions o f representation "
in the soc i a l sciences completely exclude surrealist methodologies and
epistemological essays . ' They don ' t . Michel Le iris's magni ficent Afrique
fa nt6me, his journal of the famous Dakar-Dj ibou t i M i ssion ( 1 93 1 - 3 3 ) is a
product of automatic wri ting.2 In Deadly Words Jeanne Favret-Saada uses

the subject of witchcraft in France to explore the epistemology of the social
sciences .3 And yet these works do not conform to the representational
conventions of contemporary social science.4
The question of human meandering makes ethnographers uncomfort
able, for it once again forces us to confront some of the more embarrassing
debates i n anthropological history-Redfield vs. Lewis; Freeman vs . Mead .
These were cases in which anthropological studies of the same village
(Redfield and Lewis i n Mexico) or the same society (Mead and Freeman in
Samoa) produced drastical l y d i fferent resul t s . Does this mean that Red
field and Mead were correct and Lewis and Freeman wrong in their assess
ments of Mexican villages and Samoan society ? Are scholars ever correct
or accurate i n the human sciences ? Can we extract from ethnographic data
first principles, laws , axioms , theorems? What do we see i n the worlds of
others ? Some of us see rules; others see theoretical refinements of Marxis m ,
structura l i s m , functionalism . Scholars also see systems-soc i a l , ethno
medical , ethnosemantic , or otherwise . We a l l see "society" and "cul ture , "
the elusive terms w e created t o make sense o f other worlds. In exploding
the myth of conversational " rules , " the late Erving Goffman put the matter
of what there is i n a clear perspective :
An adjacent hearer can elect to let the matter entirely pass , tacitly framing i t as
though it were the stomach rumblings of another's mind, and con t i nue on
undeflected from his task i nvolvements; or, for example, he can h i t upon the
venting as an occasion to bring the remaining company i n to a focus of conversa
tion attention for a j i be made at the expense of another person who i n t roduced
the i n i t ia l distraction , which efforts t hese others may dec l i ne to support , and if
declining, provide no display of excuse for doing so. In these circumstances the
whole framework of conversational constraints-both system and ritual-can
become something to honor, to i n vert , or to disregard , depending as the mood
strikes . On these occasions i t 's not merely that the lid can 't be closed ; there is no
box .5
And if this kind of " free play" pops out of illusionary conversa tional boxes ,
what can be said of the m i nd-boggling " free play " that explodes from the
i l l usionary boxes of society and cul ture ?
How does t h e ethnographer apprehend t h e elusiveness of worlds i n
which he o r s h e tries t o close t h e l i d t o discover t h a t there is n o box ? Keats
long ago had an answer i n his concept of " negative capabi l i ty." Dewey
notes that , for Kea ts, Shakespeare was a man of enormous " negat i ve capa
b i l i ty, " the capac i ty of " being i n uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, wi thout
any i rri table reaching after fact or reason ."6 Keats con trasted Shakespeare
with Coleridge , who lacked the great playwright's " negative capabili ty."
Coleridge would " let a poetic insight go when it was surrounded wi th
Detours 1 45
obscurity, because he could not intellectually justify i t ; could not , i n Keats's

language, be satisfied with ' half-knowledge .' " 7 In worlds rife w i t h ambi
gui ties , indeterminacies , and obscuri ties , " reason at i t s height cannot at
tain complete grasp and self-contained assurance . It must fall back upon
i maginat ion-upon the embod i ment of ideas in e motional ly charged
sense ."8
In t h i s chapter I suggest that detours are paths that lead us to the real m
o f " negative capab i l i ty, " paths that ethnographers clearly need to take to
set themselves straight with the world as it i s . To demonstrate the eth
nographic applicabi lity of detours , of " negative capab i l i ty, " I shall discuss
the sel f-acknowledged detours taken by a philosopher, Richard Rorty, and
an art i s t , the late Joseph Beuys . Both of these men traveled the secondary
roads of inner space and have conc luded that scholars and artists can no
longer nestle within the comfortable confines of their Truth-seeking disci
p l inary institutions; ra ther scholars must extend themsel ves to others in
order to ini tiate and maintain a dialogue- to keep the conversation going,
to heal i m balances between the " savage " and the " c i v i l ized ," the natural
and the mechanistic . Discussion of these phi losophic and artistic detours
sets the stage for an excursion i nto the pragmatist notion of radical empiri
cism-a detour leading, perhaps, to a more sensual , open ethnography.
PHI LOSOPHICAL D ETOU R S : RICHARD RORTY

Richard Rorty was trained in analyt ic phi losophy, the a i m of which has
been to discover a universal objective language , a truthful language that
consti tutes an objective reality. But in his monumental book , Ph ilosophy
and the Mirror of Nature, he describes his long i n tel lectual journey from a
phi losophy that m irrors " Man's Glassy Essence " to a phi losophy w ithout
m i rrors in which human bei ngs stand in relation to one another in the
clasp of group sol idari ty. Rorty 's book , to return to Wit tgenstei n , is the
story of his acknowledged detour-taking. By fol lowing various tracks ,
Rorty traveled from systematic phi losophy to an edifying phi losophy, the
major goal of which is not to uncover the Trut h , but to maintain the
conversation of humankin d .
Ph ilosophy With M irrors

Since Plato, the great thrust of phi losophical work has been in the area of
systematic con templation , the major thoroughfare of phi losophy. The con
structivists from Plato and Aristotle to Descartes and Leibniz have all been
concerned with the relationship of human beings to a nonhuman reali ty
to an objec tive real i ty. From classical t i mes through the Enlightenment to
today, the phi losopher has sought to distance hi mself " from t he ac tual per
sons around h i m not by thinking of h i mself as a member of some other real
or i maginary group, but rather by at taching hi mself to something which

cannot be described with reference to any particular human beings ."9
Plato was the master m irror-maker. From the ph i losophical fragments
of the pre-Socratics he devised the notion of the search for Trut h , i n which
we turn away from subjective involvement to objectivi ty. As we have seen
in Chapter 7, Plato's quest for Truth (or Forms) through objectivity was his
solution to the puzzle of the i n fi n i te variabi l i ty found i n the world of
appearances . For Plato, knowledge becomes an i mmutable p i l lar of reality.
Arising from Plato's foundation , " the picture that holds trad i tional phi loso
phy cap t i ve is that of the mind as a great mi rror, containing various
representations-some accurate, some not-and capable of being studied
by pure , nonempirical methods ." 1 From this conception of mind there is
derived the notion of " Our Glassy Essence " :
Our Glassy Essence was not a philosophical doctrine, but a picture which
l i terate men found presupposed by every page they read. It is glassy- mirror
l i ke-for two reasons. Fi rs t , it takes on new forms wi thout being changed-but
intel lectual forms , rather than sensible ones as material mi rrors do. Second ,
mi rrors are made o f a substance t h a t is purer, finer grained, more subtle, and
more delicate than mos t . U n l i ke our spleen , which , in combi nation w i t h other
equa l l y gross and visible organs, accoun ted for the bulk of our behavior, our
Glassy Essence i s something we share with the angel s , even though they weep
for our ignorance of its essence . The supernatural worl d , for the sixteenth
century i n tellectuals , was modeled upon Pla to's world of Ideas, just as our
con tact with i t was modeled upon his metaphor of vision . ' '
In short , Our G lassy Essence-the m i nd as m irror-is that which sepa

rates human from anima l , civilized from savage ; it is a crea tor of meta
phoric guardra i l s along the phi losophical highway.
In the developmen t of systema tic ph ilosophy, a phi losophy with which
Rorty and all professional philosophers have been affil iated, the bound
aries between appearance and real i ty, mind and body, self and society,
civil ized and savage, nature and cul ture , idealism and ma teria lism-all of
these-become reified . They become reflections of Our Glassy Essence .
Accordingly, Rorty writes of his grand tour on the sideroads of behavior
ism , skepticism , materi a l i s m , epistemology and the philosophy of mind ,
epistemology and empirical psychology, epistemology and the phi losophy
of language, and epistemology and hermeneutics. On each sideroad, he
describes i n lucid prose the logica l potholes of say, behaviorism, material
ism , or epistemology and the phi losophy of m i n d . He demonstrates-at
times quite bri l l iantly-the phi losopher's desperate search for frameworks
that would al low for the Truth of propos i t ions, to uncover the One in the
Many. More relevant to discourse today, phi losophy " has made it its busi
ness to present a permanent neutral fra mework for culture . This frame
work is bui l t around a distinction between inquiry i n to the rea l- the
Detours 1 47
disci p l i nes which are on the ' secure path of a science'-and the rest of
culture ." 1 2
This p h ilosophical framework may be fi ne for t hose engaged i n the
natural sciences , but it is l i m i t ing for many scholars i n the human sciences
who struggled to make the study of human i ty a n inquiry i n to the real , a
veri table science . As indicated i n Chapter 8 , Levi-Strauss's structuralism is
an extreme expression of this tendency.
Scient i s m , in fac t , reigns in the human sciences because we continue to
bel ieve the m i n d to be a pure m i rror and that Our G l assy Essence enables
us to find the One in the Many, the i rreducible i nvariants beneath the
surface divers i ty of appearances. In this trad i t ion scholars search for sim
ple sociobiological explanations of human behavior, and for theories of
ethnography. 1 3 The search for uni versal Truth in the hard sciences , social
sciences, and philosophy is business-as-usual ; i t i s phi losophy with m i r
rors .
Ph ilosophy Without M irrors

Rorty suggests that so long as phi losophers believe in essences-that the
world is const ituted by clearly bounded and knowable things-phi losophy
will conti nue to be a search for i m m u table knowledge , the search for Trut h .
Si nce the latter part o f t h e n i neteenth century, however, a few wandering
wayfarers have been bold enough to challenge the absolutist visions of
knowledge and tru t h . " Truth l i ves, in fact , " W i l l i a m James wrote , " for the
most part on a credi t system . Our though ts and beliefs ' pass ,' so long as
nothing challenges them , just as bank notes pass so long as nobody refuses
them ." 1 4 My quoting James i s not to assert that object i ve tru t h is i mpossi
ble, but to point to the complementary notion of edification . Rorty says
there are those phi losophers who construct systems of knowledge ; t hey
ramble on the roadway of Western metaphysics, the descendants of Plato
and Aristotle. On the access roads are those philosophers who write to
edify, to educate , to keep the conversation going in the com munity of
scholars . " For Heidegger, Sartre , and Gadamer, object i ve inquiry is per
fec tly possible and frequently actual- the only thing to be said against it is
that it prov ides only some , among many, ways of describing ourse lves, and
that some of these can h i nder the process of edification ." 1 5
A phi losophy w i t hout mi rrors , then , i s a suggestive and educa tive
phi losophy. I t is also a kind of pragma tic philosophy that seeks practical
sol idarity i n a l iving com munity rather than rarefied object i v i ty i n a mech
anistic system . Rorty compares systematic phi losophy (with m irrors) to
ed ifying phi losophy (wi thout m i rrors).
Great constructive philosophers are constructive and offer argument s . Great

edifying philosophers are react i ve and offer satires, paraodies, aphorisms. They
know their work loses i ts poi n t when the period they were react i n g to is over.
They are i n tentionally periphera l . Great systematic phi losophers , l i ke great

scientists, build for eterni ty. Great edifying phi losophers destroy for the sake of
their own generation . Systematic phi losophers want to put their subject on the
secure path of science . Edifying phi losophers want to keep space open for the
sense of wonder which poets can someti mes cause-wonder that there is some
t h i ng new under the sun which is not an accurate representation of wha t was
a l ready there, something which (at least for the moment) cannot be explai ned
and can barely be described . 1 6
Tru t h , indeed , l i ves o n a credi t syste m . And so Rorty leaves u s a fleeting

sense of tru t h ; his series of detours have led us to a bleak place where
conversation has replaced Tru t h , where prac tical solidarity (filiation) has
replaced absolute objec t i vity (affi liation)P Rorty 's arguments weaken
considerably the 2500-year tradi t ion of Western metaphysics . But has
Rorty taken us on so many detours that we have gone beyond the fringe ?
ARTISTIC DETOU R S : JOSEPH BEUY S

The late Joseph Beuys is known as the founder of the performance art
movement . As an outgrowth of his early work i n sculpture , he staged
Happenings , mul t imedia events that chal lenged the artificial
boundaries-disciplinary boundaries- that have been established in the
human i ties and the sciences . Like Rorty, Beuys took many detours , all of
which were acknowledged i n his art , to reach the destination of the Hap
pening, or what Beuys cal led "Actions."
During World War I I Beuys was a pi lot i n the German Air Force . During
one mission over Russia in the dead of w i n ter he was shot down over
Crimea. The Tartars who discovered him wrapped h i m i n fel t and fur,
keeping h i m warm and a l i ve . After the war, Beuys became an artist who
transformed concretely elements of his personal past into his artistic ex
pression ; fur and fel t-which saved his life i n the Crimea- became the
major materials of his sculpture . Al though many art historians wri te of
Beuys as a sculptor, it would be a mistake to classify his work as " sculp
ture " or "kinetic art " or anything else, for the message i n his work is that
there are no discrete boundaries i n a world that is i n conti nuous flux; there
are only ongoing processes . And so Beuys's Actions involved elements of
scu lpture , theater, poetry, phi losophy, and exposi tory discourse-all ele
ments of a Happening, the purpose of which is to challenge the major
themes of Western epistemology.
Of Beuys's many Act ions , one of the best known was cal led How to
Expla in Pictures to a Dead Hare. In this Action , Beuys covered his head with
gold leaf and honey and tied an i ron sole to his right foot and a fel t sole to
his left foot . Meanwhile, he cradled a dead hare in his arms .
The i mage of the artist anoi n ted , silently mouthing to a mute animal what
cannot be said to his fel low man, became one of the most resonant i mages of the
Detours 1 49
1 960s . But beyond that the appeal of How to Expla in Pictures to a Dead Hare l ies
in the combination of that title, which says much about our anxious need for
explanations, w i t h the ritual mask through which the iden t i ty of man is psycho
logical l y obscured, and the i n t i mate i nclusion , where we are excluded , of an
a n i mal i n a total state of vul nerab i l i ty. 1 8
Veering off the art istic path , Beuys was eager t o discuss the whys and
wherefores of his art , for h i s exposi tory discourse was an essential aspect of
his work . Symbol ically, Beuys l i n ked the hare to wome n , birth , and men
struation , and he suggested the hare i ncarnates h i mself i n to the eart h . The
hare rubs, pushes , and digs i tself i n to the earth and enters i ts law; human
beings, by cont ras t , are fundamentally mental creatures who incarnate
themselves in the earth through thought . The honey coating Beuys's head
referred to thinking. Human bei ngs do not produce honey ; they produce
ideas . When Beuys put honey on h i s head he infused l i fe i n to non-animate
thinking .
Gold and honey i ndicate a t ransformat ion of the head , and therefore natura l l y
and logical ly, t h e bra i n and o u r understanding of thought , consciousness and
all the other levels necessary to explain pic tures to a hare : the warm stool
insulated with fel t , the " radio" made of bone and electrical components under
the stool and the iron sole w i th the magne t . I had to walk on this sole when I
carried the hare round from picture to picture , so along w i t h a strange limp
came the clank of i ron on the hard stone floor- that was a l l that broke the
si lence , si nce my explanat ions were mute , and the radio was on an a l most
i naudible wavelength .
This seems to have been the action that most captured people's i magina
tions. On one level this must be because everyone consciously or unconsc iously
recognizes the problem of explaining things , particularly where art and cre
a t i ve work are concerned , or anything that involves a certain mystery or ques
tioni ng. The idea of explaining to an animal conveys a sense of secrecy of the
worl d and of existence that appeals to the i magi nation . Then , as I have sai d ,
even a dead animal preserves more powers o f i n t u i t ion t h a n some human
beings with their stubborn ra tion a l i t y. ' 9
Beuys bel ieved that understanding is mul t i leveled , encompassing i magi

nation , i n tu i t ion as wel l as rat ional though t . For Beuys , then , art became a
form of sensual epistemological criticism .
Social Sculpture
Once one has become sens i t ive to Beuys's frameworks , the melange of
forms that comprise his Actions , then he or she can apprehend the social
signi ficance of this sculpture . Beuys's theory of social sculpture is best
exemp l i fied in his work , Fat Corner. In Fat Corner, fat , generally margarine ,
is wedged into a corner of a room in the form of an equilateral triangle .
There i t is left to decompose . Eventually the fa t is absorbed by the walls
and the floor of the room ; i t has been transformed from a solid form with
extrinsic order to a liquid form without order.
1 50 The Senses in A nthropology
Some scholars have suggested that the fa t in Fat Corner is the best
substance to demons tra te Bueys's theory of sculpture . At warm tempera
tures , fa t is a mal leable sol id that can be molded i n to desired shapes; it is
an ordered sol i d . Fa t is therefore "a paradox when it is placed i n that mos t
ordered of forms, a right-angled corner or wedge ."20 In Western society the
corner symbolizes our space: bui ldings , rooms, c i ty plans. The righ t angle
is the cornerstone of our orientation to space . Indeed, the right angle
reaches the l i m i t of the continuum, Chaot ic-Ordered . Just as the shaman
manipulates a com bination of symbols to bring about healthful social
harmony, so Beuys's jux taposit ion of diverse elements i n Fat Corner demon
strates the l i n k of the chaotic to the ordered i n a world wi thout myths and
boundaries .
Idea l l y a balance should be achieved , though the overriding tendency today is

towards the i n tel lec tual pole . Balance, rein tegrat ion and flexible flow between
the areas of thinking, feeling and wi l l , all of which are essent i a l , are the objec
t i ve of the Theory. The moulding processes of art are taken as a metaphor of
society; hence SOCIAL SCULPT U R E . 2 1
SHAMANISM IN A RT A N D PHILOSOPHY
In his various Actions , Joseph Beuys took the role of the shaman , a person
who a t tempts to cure i l l ness through rites that are designed to restore
soci a l balance . Through shamanistic performance the artist acts out his or
her art . In most artistic circles it is considered appropriate to let a piece of
sculpture , a pai nting, or a poem stand for i tself. Why act it ou t ? Why did
Beuys place his sculpture i n a dramatic con tex t ?
Some cri tics suggest t h a t individual ized drama constitutes t h e signifi
cant expressive form i n the contemporary worl d .
a s our mythic structure deteriorates, the archetypes vanish a n d i t is the trials

and psychodramas of the individual that provide us with our sense of direc
tion . . . . At this most crucial and sens i tive poi n t the artist focuses upon the
minimal aspects of h i s own crea t i ve mot i va tion .22
At first glance one wou ld expect that these individualized dramas are
grossly narcissistic; Beuys , after a l l , was the central character in all of his
Actions .
In the contemporary world , however, there is emerging a new defini
tion of self in aesthetic doma ins; i t is an opaque self, the catalyst for
expression . Along the route of performance art-theater, Beuys presen ted
his Actions in what Barthes cal led " the mi ddle voice ."
the middle voice corresponds exac t l y to the state of the verb to wri te: today to
write is to make oneself the center of the action of speech [parole] ; it is to effec t
Detours 151
wri t ing in being a ffected oneself; i t is to leave the wri ter [scripteur] i nside the
wri t i n g , not as a psychological subject . . . but as an agent of the action .23
Like certa in modern writers who let language speak for itself, Beuys used
hi mself as a tool to let his Act ions express themse lves . He became a modern
ritual special ist-an artistic shama n . " Beuys' exerc ise of the shaman 's
position , operating i n the middle voice , provides a frame w i t h i n which
phi losophy may be rethought ."24
Just as Beuys's shamanistic performances i n the m i ddle voice provide
a new detour for art , so Rorty 's new pragmatism yields new d i rections for
phi losophical inquiry. Both men fi t the category of edification . The purpose
of art-phi losophy for them is to educate, to restore balance (Beuys) and
sol idarity ( Rorty) i n a human communi ty. The work of both men seeks to
heal the world of its most pernicious malady: the totalizing terror the
absolutism of which threatens to destroy humankind . They say we need to
keep our conversat ions going; they show that we need to feel the threads
that connect the chaotic to the ordered .
A N T H ROPOLOGICAL D ETOU RS : RA DICAL EMPIRICISM

Most anthropologists today walk a l i m i nal path that meanders through the
sciences and humanities. Are we real social scientists who seek to discover
the in variate truths of social existence ? Or, are we real storytellers who
seek to recreate for our readers the texture of social life i n other societies .
Or, as one young anthropologist put i t recently, is the ongoing debate about
the putative scientific nature of anthropology depressingly boring?
Such questions have been asked for centuries . I n classical t i mes, Plato
wanted Greek storytel lers (poets and dramatists) expelled from his Re
pub l i c . But Sextus Empiricu s , the principal Pyrrhonian skep t i c , deplored
Plato's philosophy and warned the Greeks of the evils of the l a t ter's " dog
matism."25 Over t i me the influence of Plato's mainstream " dogmatism" far
outdistanced the i mpact of Sex tus's m inority tradition of skepticism . The
classical human ism of Kant and Hegel bui lt on Platonic foundations the
phi losophical edifices that became the Enl ightenment, a body of i deas i n
which i n tel lectua l i s m , the power o f pure thought , reigns over such other
human facul ties as feeling and act ion (see Chapters 1 and 2). Such a perva
sive body of ideas left little room for the storytellers , who were s t i l l ex
cluded from Reason 's castle .
Early in the twentieth century the storytel lers , a motley assortment
of artists and dramatists, experi mented with real ity. They transformed
dreams i n to tableaux and effects i n to causes . Their artistic movements
(futuris m , cubism , dadaism, surrealism) savaged the reigning i ntel lectual
ism of their t i me through the imagery of objects and words arranged in
new, disquieting ways .26 They were l i ke the Greek skept ics i n a way : they
offered no detailed al ternatives to i n tellectua l ism . The storytellers pre-
ferred to poi nt to the dangers of contemporary " dogma tism , " and to the
l i berating effects of piercing through the world 's superficialities. While
high " modernism " rocked the world of the arts, i t had l i t tle impact on the
sciences , human or otherwise .
But the tradi tion of skepticism did not die with high modernism . In the
past twenty years a new skepticism has appeared on the i n tel lectual hori
zon . Such wri ters as Foucaul t , Derrida, and Lyotard have further exposed
the fai lures of i n tellectua l i s m , suggesting that it has not brough t us free
dom from ignorance-as promised by the likes of Socrates, Plato, Kant ,
and Hegel; rather, i t has brough t u s terror and total i tarianism P The
i mpact of Derridean " free play" or Lyotardian "gaming" has eroded as
never before the solid foundation of Reason . The certainty, determin is m,
a n d clarity of classical humanism h av e been replaced by t h e uncertainty,
indeterminacy, and ambiguity of the con temporary age . " Human scien
tists" have meandered on to the detour of Keats's aforementioned " negative
capabi l i ty."
According to John Dewey, two major premises emerge from Keats's
ideas on " nega t i ve capabili ty." The first is that the origin of reasonings has
a spontaneous " i nstinctive" qua l i ty which makes reason i ngs i mmediate ,
sensuous, and poetic. The second is that " no ' reasoning' as reason ing, that
is, excluding i magination and sense, can reach t ru t h . "28
Experience , of course, is what Keats's " negative capabi l i t y " is all
abou t . As Dewey strongly suggested , experience is a radically empi rical
domain in which thoughts, feelings, and actions are inseparab le . Experi
ence is conti nuous for every human being; it is not only ethereal , but
fundamentally aestheti c . For Dewey, the aesthetic , an i ntrinsic component
of experience , " is no intruder in experience from withou t , whether by way
of idle luxury or transcendent idea l i ty, but . . . it is the clarified and in ten
sified development of traits that belong to every normally complete experi
ence ."29 For Dewey, then , there is no intel lectualist separat ion of ideal
expression , Art , from prosaic expression , art or folk art . Art is part of
experience and experience is part of art . There can be no ideal izat ion of
experience , aesthetic or otherwise. In the tradi t ion of Shakespeare , Mon
taigne, Kea ts, Nietzsche , Dewey, James , Foucaul t , Derrida, Rorty, and
Beuys-skeptics all -the notion of truth " never signifies correc tness of
intel lectual statements about thi ngs or truth as its mean ing is i nfluenced
by science . It denotes the wisdom by which men l ive ."30 The aesthetic
awareness of the senses, then , plays a foundat ional role in experience,
whic h , i n turn , is the heart of ethnographic fieldwork .
Radical E mpiricism in A n th ropology

Anthropologists have not turned a deaf ear to the emergent skepticism of
deconstructionist theory and Rortian neo-pragmatism . Books and articles
Detours 1 53
by a growi ng number of scholars have focused on the theoretical implica

tions of a changing world i n which the indetermi nate undermi nes our
" quest for certainty."3 1 Although most of the authors of these works probe
the pol i t ics of representation-disc i p l i na ry, intercul tural , or i nternat ion
al- they ge ne rall y fai l to consider concretely how the shift toward the
indeterminate w i l l affect anthropological writing.
I n prev ious chapters I have focused on how our i n tel lectual heri tage
a veri table escape from the senses-has affected the way we see , feel , smel l ,
hear, think, and wri te . We sha l l now focus even more concretely on how
taking the exit marked " Radical Empiricism " w i l l con tribute to the re
genera tion of ethnography.
By now most of us know that cul ture , society, fieldwork are all con
tingent , ever-changing, sli ppery concepts . By now most of us admit that
soc i a l theory has fai led to predict human behavior re liably and validly.32
What is left , then , i n a world so fi l led with uncertainties? For a few anthro
pologists, t hese uncerta i n t ies are l i berating; they al low us the lati tude to
play with establ ished discipli nary and l i terary convention s . In a radically
empirical ethnography devoid of i n tel lectualist presuppos i t ions , the un
seen i nterpenetrates with the see n , the audible fuses with the tac t i l e , and
the boundaries of l i terary genres are blurred . Elements of l i fe his tory and
autobiography may be molded i n to an exposi tory ( realist) tex t . Confessions
may be problem-orien ted . Ethnographic prose may take on a more l i tera ry
character w i t h deep characterizations , vivid descrip t ions of place, sound ,
sme l l s , tastes, dia logue , plot , a n d drama. By taking a radically empirical
detour, anthropologists enter the sensual world of evocation , which, for us,
entails two forms of expression : fi l m and narrative ethnography.
Ethnographic Film
Fi l m can be a powerfully evocative medium , projecting to an audience a
narra t i ve which may be infused with sensual sights and sounds . But sen
sual sights and sounds do not carry the burden of a fi l m : that is the job of
the narrative, whic h , if constructed with care and c reativi ty, can be mov
ing.
The master of evocative ethnographic film is unques tionably the
French fi l m m aker and anthropologist Jean Rouch . Rouch 's films of the
Songhay and Dogon peoples do not analyze the social phenomena that t hey
portray. Rather, they present i magery of such unforgettable power, as i n
the possession scenes o f the classic , Les Ma itres fous, that the viewer i s
affected . Some viewers are repel led b y the brutali ty o f the Hauka spirits
who chomp on the boiled mea t of a freshly slaughtered dog . O thers are
awed by the power of these spirits who put their bare hands into boi l i ng
cauldrons without i l l effect . The i mages also compel most viewers to re
spect Songhay and Dogon living in their own worlds. Rouch 's films are a
1 54 The Senses in A n thropology
repudiation of i ntellectua l i s m ; their power stems from the sensua l i ty of

Rouch 's cinematography. Rouch is a s torytel ler who fuses though t , action ,
and feeling to make an i ncon trovertible poi n t : Songhay and Dogon , despite
their lack of technological sophistication , understand unseen , inexplicable
forces that most of us i n the West have fai led to grasp. These i m portant
points are never stated i n the narration ; they are evoked through the
i magery and narrative force of his films.
Narrative Ethnography
An ethnography wi th a strong narrative presence can also be powerfully
evocative. Ethnograph ic narratives , like ethnographic fi l m s , are not sim
ply stories wi thout discip l inary consequence . Narrative ethnographies
usua l l y underscore , albeit i ndirec tly, themes of great theoretical i m por
tance . In fac t , narrative ethnographies can be more attuned to the senses
than ethnographic fi l m s ; they, after a l l , can focus on smells and tastes as
wel l as on sights and sounds. Narra t i ve ethnographers also have the luxury
of space to ponder at length the thoughts, feel ings , and actions of their
others-as wel l as their own .
In Tales of the Field John Van Maanen has placed what I call narrative
ethnographies i n to two categories : i m pressionistic tales and l i terary tales.
Just as i m pressionist painters l ike Monet used color, light, and form,
a mong other thi ngs, to shock their audiences , so, Van Maanen claims,
i mpression i s t ethnographers , few of whom have published book-length
works, try to awaken their audiences with startling stories . The l i terary
tools these i mpressionist ethnographers use include : " words , metaphors ,
phrasings, i magery, and most i mportant l y, the expansive recall of field
work experience ."33 These tales of recal led events are usually told in the
first person , and often have the feel of a fast-paced novel . " Impressionistic
writing tries to keep subject and object i n constant view. The epistemologi
cal aim is then to braid the knower wi th the known ."34 These " i mpres
sionistic tales" are radically empirica l , fusing though t , action , and sen ti
ment wi thout suffering the solipsism of many confessional texts.
Van Maanen disti nguishes impression ist from l i terary tales . Both
kinds of tex ts are much more l i kely to attract general audiences than the
ethnographic confessional or the rea list ethnography. Anthropologists , ac
cording to Van Maanen , generally don 't write l i terary tales , which others
cal l new journalism or cul tural journa l i s m . " Li terary tales combine a
reporter's sense of what is noteworthy (newsworthy) with a nove l i s t 's sense
of narration . Dense charac terization , dramatic plots, flashbacks (and flash
forwards), and al ternative poi nts of view are i l l ustrative techn iques ."35 A l l
these techn iques emotionally engage a broad audience, a n d t h e resul t is
brisk sales of works that are often ethnographically significant and may
encourage reticent professional ethnographers to i mprove their wri ting.36
Detours 1 55
Participation and Narrative Ethnography

There are a great many anthropologists , however, who w i l l not leave the
main h ighway. So m i red are they i n their " quest for certainty" that they
move forward on the h i ghway a t a snai l 's pace . And even if they came upon
the signpos t ,
Radical Empiricism Exit

1 mile
they might not see it. And why not ? There may well be institutional rea
son s . One is today rewarded more for theoretical than for descriptive
contributions to the l iterature . My v iews about textual quality, which are
spelled out in my own narrat i ve ethnography, In Sorcery's Shadow, devolve
from the depth of participation in the other's world . Put simply, the narra
tive depth of an ethnography is related directly to the nature of the author's
participation in society. If a fieldworker a t tempts " participant observa
tion , " anthropology 's most famous oxymoron , his or her disinterested
stance will l i kely surface i n a l i feless text . Lifeless texts const i tute, I ' m
afra i d , the large majori ty o f anthropological works . They are often based
on a relatively superficial penetration of the other's world and reflect the
uncertainty of an author who a ttempts to participate and observe a phe
nomenon at the same t i m e . More disquieti n g , however, are those l i feless
texts written by anthropologists who have i mmersed themselves i n the
study of others . These men and women have compe l l i ng stories to tel l , but
recoun t them only i n informal set t ings where i t has been appropriate to
reconnect thought w i t h feel i ng and action .
I mmersion or fuller participation in other worlds, however, can yield
striking resul t s . Take Jean Rouch 's forty-five years of association w i t h the
Songhay of N i ger. In h i s case , the spi rits-i n the bodies of mediums-told
the great magicians of Wanzerbe to teach Rouch about Songhay sorcery
and possession . In my case thirty years later, the spirits also paved the way
for my en try i n to the world of Songhay sorcery. These powerful experiences
steered Rouch onto the detour of fi l m and me onto the detour of narrative
ethnography. I n both cases , we became apprent ices-fu l l participants i n
Songhay l i fe . A s appren tices our first lesson was : one is ignorant ; one
knows nothing. From that t i me on we bui l t our knowledge ; we cont i nue to
! 56 The Senses in Anthropology
build i t . Apprenticeshi p demands respect . "Wi thout respect , " Adamu Jeni
tongo once told me, "one learns nothing. You must always show us your
respec t . " If there is one underlying theme in Rouch 's films and in my books ,
i t is that such a deep respect for other worlds and other ideas , ideas often
prepos terous to our own way of thinking, is central to the ethnographic
endeavor.
This kind of respect demands a different kind of text or fi l m ; it is a text
or film i n which the sensua l i t y of life is fused with the filmic or narrative
i mage ; the smell s , the tastes , the sounds , the colors-lyrical and unset
t l i ng-of the lan d . This kind of respect , born of deep i m mersion in other
worlds , demands that nameless informan ts be portrayed as recognizable
indi viduals who suffer defeats and win victories i n their social worlds . This
kind of respect d i rects wri ters and fi l mmakers onto a rad ically empirical
detour a long which we can achieve the most si mple ye t most al lusive goa l
of ethnography : to give our readers or vi ewers a sense of what it is l i ke to
l i ve in other worlds , a taste of ethnographic things.
When we veer off the highway, we take many risks , for detours often lead us
to dista n t , isolated places . And when we try to describe the wonders of
these faraway places , many people don 't want to listen. " Why did you go
there ? " ' ' I 've never heard of that place ? " " Why did you wander so far off the
path ? " By taking the detour leading us toward a radica lly empirical an
thropology, however, we will reach a destinat ion where we will no longer
have to write about writing ethnography; we w i l l simply write our tales
and sense that they are right .
Notes
INTRODUCTION . A RET U R N TO T H E SENSES

I . R . Burns, from the poem , " To a Mouse , " in J. Ki nsley (ed.), 1 969: 1 02 .
2 . Differences i n sensual b iases between Europeans and Africans are noted in
M . Wober, 1 966: 1 82 , who suggests that sensory pat terns " may be predominantly
visual i n one cul ture , while i n another cul ture , audi tory or proprioceptive senses
may have a much h igher relat ive i mportance ." Wober presents evidence suggesting
that i n African societies, especially those i n southern Nigeria, the sensory biases are
more audi tory and proprioceptive than visual .
3 . L. Rotkrug, 1 98 1 : 95 .
4 . D. Howes , 1 98 8 .
5 . S . Langer, 1 94 1 : 1 3 .
6 . M . Foucau l t , 1 97 5 .
7 . B . Malinowski , 1 96 1 : 1 08 .
8 . This orientation is found i n A . Schutz, 1 962 .
9. These works include , among others , J. C l i fford , 1 98 8 ; J. C l i fford and G . E .
Marcus, 1 986; G . E . Marcus and M . Fischer, 1 98 5 ; and S . Tyler 1 988 .
1 0 . A good example of such wri t i ng is S . Tyler, 1 986: 45:
Post-modern experi ments i n ethnographic writing are the inverse of the mod
ernist experi ment . Where modernists sought by means of ideographic method
to reveal the i nner flow of though t h ieroglyph ical ly-as in Joyce or Pound, for
example-post-modern wri ting focuses on the outer flow of speech , seeking not
the though t that " underlies" speech , but the though t that is speec h . Where
modern ists sought an iden t i ty between thought and language , post-modernists
seek that " i nner voice " which is the equ ivalent of thinking and speaking. Mod
ernists sought a form of writing more in keeping w i th " things , " emphasizing, i n
i m i t a t ion of modern science , t h e descriptive funct ion o f wri t i ng-wri ting as a
"picture of real i ty." This is not " real ism" but " surrealism." Post-modern wri t i ng
rejects this modern ist m imesis i n favor of a wri ting that "evokes" or "calls to
m i n d , " not by completion and s i m i larity but by suggest ion and difference.
CHAPTER I . THE TASTE OF ETH NOG RAPHIC THINGS

I . Michel de Montaigne, [ 1 580-88) 1 94 3 : 343 .
2 . The Songhay arc a peop le of some 800 ,000 who l i ve along the banks of the
1 58 Notes
N i ger River from as far north as Ti mbucktu, Mal i , to as far sou th as Sansane-Hausa
i n the Republic of N i ger. There are also some 2 .5 m i l l ion first-language Songhay
speakers l i ving i n Mal i , N i ger, and northern Ben i n . These Songhay speakers , how
ever, are members of other ethnic groups (Wogo, Kurtey, Zerma, Dendi) which have
distinct social histories . Djebo's fam i l y is from Say, a town on the west bank of the
N i ger some 200 ki lometers south o f T i l l aberi ; it was the center of Fu lan power i n the
n i neteenth century.
3. Seneca, [63-65 ACE] 1 962 , Book 2: 28 1 .
4 . V. Kah n , 1 980: 1 27 1 .
5 . Ibid. : 1 269.
6 . I. Kant, [ 1 790] 1 966: 3 2 .
7 . R . Wi l l iams, 1 976 .
8. Ibid. : 264.
9 . M. de Mon taigne, [ 1 580-88] 1 943: 320.
1 0. Ibid. : 345 .
I I . G. U l mer, 1 98 5 : 5 2 .
1 2 . J . Derrida, 1 974: 1 6 1 .
1 3 . J. Derrida, 1 974: 1 09 as ci ted in U l mer, 1 98 5 : 5 5 .
1 4 . G . U l mer, 1 98 5 : 5 5 .
I S . G . E . Marcus and D . Cush man , 1 98 2 : 29.
16. P. S toller 1 984c: 1 02-03 .
1 7 . G. E. Marcus and D. Cush man, 1 98 2 : 3 1 -36.
1 8 . Some of the wel l-known con tributions include J . C l i fford , 1 98 8 ; V. Crapan
zano, 1 980, 1 98 5 , 1 98 7 ; J-P. Dumon t , 1 97 8 ; K. Dwyer, 1 982; G. Marcus and M. Fis
cher, 1 98 5 ; P. Rabinow, 1 97 7 ; P. Stol ler, 1 984a, 1 984b , 1 986; P. Stoller and C . Olkes,
1 987; D . Rose, 1 987; S . Tyler, 1 984 , 1 98 8 .
1 9 . J. Fabian, 1 98 3 : 1 64 .
20. American Anthropological Association, 1 984.
2 1 . American Anthropological Association, 1 98 5 : 2 .
2 2 . I . C . Jarvie, 1 97 5 .
2 3 . H . Dryfus a n d P . Rabi now, 1 98 2 : 1 07 .
24. J. Agee , 1 94 1 : 1 39-40.
25. J. M. Chernoff, 1 979: 39.
2 6 . C . Geertz , 1 97 3 : 347 .
2 7 . C. Levi-Strauss , [ 1 955] 1 974 : 362 .
2 8 . M . Merleau-Ponty, 1 964a : 1 59 .
CHAPTER 2 . E Y E , M I N D , A N D WORD IN ANTHROPO LOGY
I . M. Merleau-Pon ty, 1 964a : 2 2 .

2 . G . Bachelard [ 1 957] 1 964 uses the term " reverberations" i n h i s discussion
of poetics . He suggests that the i mpact of a poem, for example, lies not i n its
referential content but i n how this referential con tent carries a message that strikes
a resonant chord (" reverbera tes") in the reader.
3. M. Merleau-Ponty, 1 964a : 1 6 .
4 . G . Charbonnier, 1 959, ci ted b y Merleau-Pon ty, 1 964a : 3 1 .
5 . M . Foucau l t , 1 963: IX.
6 . See J. Favret-Saada, [ 1 977] 1 980; L. Peters . 1 98 1 ; P. Stoller and C . Olkes,
1 98 7 .
7 . Merleau-Pon ty, 1 964a : 2 5 .
8 . H . Lascaul t a s ci ted in J . Cassou , 1 968: 73 .
9. R . P. Armstrong, 1 97 1 .
1 0 . As explained i n Chapter I , Songhay society is characterized by social asym
metry. There are nobles who trace their descen t patri l i neal l y to Askia Mohammed
Toure, King of the Songhay Empire from 1 493 to 1 52 7 . There are free commoners
Notes 1 59
who have no patri l i neal l inks to Askia Mohamm Toure . Ther are also descenda ts
of ( former) s laves who trace their descen t patnlmeall y to pnsoners of p_recolomal
wars who were incorporate d into Songhay society. And t here are the foreigners , the
aforementio ned Wogo , Kurtey, Zerma, and Dendi (see Chapter I , n. 2) as well as such
groups as the Hausa, Tuareg, and Fu lan i . These peoples have m igrated to and settled
in Songhay over the centuries .
I I . See P. Stoller, 1 97 8 , 1 98 1 .
1 2 . A fuller treatment of these incidents is rendered i n P. S tol ler and C . Olkes' In
Sorcery's Shadow ( 1 987).
1 3 . See P. Stoller, 1 980.
1 4 . Ibid.
I S . M . Foucaul t , 1 966 .
1 6 . G . E. Marcus and D. Cushman , 1 98 2 : 3 1 .
1 7 . M . L . Pra t t , 1 98 2 : 1 40 .
1 8 . A . Moravia, 1 97 2 : I . Consider t w o further examples o f t h e " monarch-of-all
I-survey " convention of representation. The first i s from Sir Richard Burton 's The
Lake Regions of Central Africa ( 1 97 1 ) : 307 .
Nothi n g , in sooth , could be more picturesque than this first v iew of the Tan
ganyika Lake , as it lay in the lap of the mountains, basking in the gorgeous
tropical sunsh i n e . Below and beyond a short foreground of rugged and pre
cipi tous h i l lfold , down which the footpath zigzags painful ly, a narrow strip of
emerald green, never sere and marvelously fertile, shelves towards a ribbon of
gl istening yel low sand, here bordered by sedgy rushes , t here cleanly and clearly
cut by the breaking wavelets.
The second example comes from Paul Theroux 's The Old Patagorzian Express ( 1 97 8 :
1 23:
Guatemala Ci ty, an extremely horizontal place, i s l i ke a c i t y o n i t s bac k . Its
ugliness, which has a threatened look (the low morose houses have earthquake
cracks in their facades; the buildings w ince at you w i t h bright l i nes), is ugl iest
on those streets where , just past the last topp l i ng house, a blue volcano cone
bulges . I could see the volcanoes from the window of my hotel room . I was on
the third floor, which was a l so the top floor.
In both cases , these excerpts, fol lowing Pra t t 's ( 1 98 2 : 1 49) arguments, use d i fferent
stylistic devices-generated by the historical periods i n which the works were
wri t ten-to produce the rhetorical effec t of seer over see n . Burton uses beauty and
wonder to express his conquest of the lake ; Moravia and Theroux use bizarre aes
thetic juxtapos i t ion to trivial i ze their descriptions.
1 9 . M . L . Pratt , 1 98 2 : 1 52 .
20. See pp. 25-26, and Chapter I , n . I S .
2 1 . A . N . Whi tehead , 1 969: 5 3 .
2 2 . R . Rorty, 1 98 3 .
2 3 . F . d e Saussure , [ 1 9 1 5] 1 959: 2 5 .
24. C . Levi-Strauss , 1 967a : 549 .
25 . C . Levi-Strauss as quoted in C . Geert z , 1 97 3 : 346.
26. G . E . Marcus and D. Cushman, 1 98 2 : 29.
2 7 . R . Fi rth , [ 1 936] 1 959: 3.
2 8 . S . Fel d , 1 98 2 : 3.
29. See J . Clifford , 1 98 8 .
3 0 . G . E . Marcus a n d D. Cushman , 1 98 2 : 4 7 .
3 1 . Ibid. : 48. See also P. Rabinow, 1 97 7 ; J-P. Dumont , 1 97 8 ; P. Riesman , 1 97 7 ;
V . Crapanzano, 1 980. 1 98 5 ; K . Dwyer, 1 98 2 ; D . Rose , 1 987 ; a n d P. Stoller and
C . O l kes , 1 987 .
3 2 . M . Foucaul t , 1 966: 7 2 .
3 3 . N . Goodman , 1 96 3 : 3 2 - 3 3 .
34. G . Hartma n n , 1 980: I SO .
3 5 . F. N ietzsche , [ 1 876] 1 95 6 : 93.
1 60 Notes
36. M . Merleau-Pon ty, 1 96 8 : 66.

37. Ibid. : 66 .
38. Ibid. : 1 22-33.
39. M . Merleau-Ponty, 1 964b: 1 39.
40. M . Merleau-Ponty, 1 969: 20.
41 . Ibid.
CHAPTER 3. " GAZI N G " AT THE SPACE OF SONG HAY POLITICS
I . A. N. Whi tehead , 1 969.

2. P. S tol ler, 1 97 8 .
3 . See P. Stol ler, 1 978, 1 98 1 ; J-P. Oli vier d e Sard i n , 1 982, 1 984 .
4 . See P. Stol ler, 1 97 8 , 1 980b .
5 . P. Stoller, 1 980b .
6. P. Stoller, 1 978 .
7. Ibid.
8. J. Duvignaud, 1 969: 452 .
9. M . Godel ier, 1 978 .
1 0 . M . Sahl ins, 1 97 2 ; J. Lizot , 1 97 1 .
I I . G . Sjoberg , l 96 1 : 96-97 .
1 2 . See H . Mi ner, 1 966, R. Hul l , 1 976; and D. G i l more , 1 978 .
1 3 . C. Levi-Strauss , 1 967b: 1 28-59.
14. M . Griaule and G . Dieterlen , 1 954 .
I 5 . R . H u l l , 1 976: 4 5 .
1 6 . See A. N . Whi tehead, 1 969; R . Rorty, 1 979.
1 7 . Aristotle, [ca. 335 BeE] 1 96 1 : 65-66.
1 8 . A . Gurwi tsch , 1 97 8 : 80-8 1 .
1 9 . P. Tempels, 1 949.
20. M . Merleau-Ponty, 1 964b : 47.
2 1 . E . Husser) , [ 1 93 1 ] 1 960.
2 2 . M. Merleau-Ponty, 1 962 : 243-44 .
2 3 . A. Schutz, 1 962 .
CHAPTER 4 . SIGNS IN THE SOCIAL ORDER: RIDING A SONGHAY BUSH TAXI
I . This chapter is a hermeneutical analysis of the nature of anthropological

understanding. My use of the term "sign" should not be taken as an i n trinsic part of a
strict semiological analysis of Songhay bush taxi in teraction. Here I use the term to
denote the presence of a fact , condi tion , or qua l i ty not immediately evident to an
observer.
2. P. Ricoeur, 1 979.
3 . C . Geertz, 1 973; K . Basso, 1 979.
4 . See J-P. Olivier de Sardan, 1 982, 1 984; P. Riesman, 1 977; P. Stoller, 1 978 .
5 . Ti l laberi and Niamey are the major urban centers of the western most
regions of the Republic of N i ger. Most of the passengers boarding at Bonfebba,
however, pass through Til laberi en rou te to Niamey, a city of more than 400,000,
which is also the capi tal of Niger.
6. While I have presented a corpus of interactional data i n this chapter, my
presentat ion and analysis of it do not fit within the conventional parameters of
conversat ional analysis (see M . Schegloff, G. Jefferson , and H. Sachs, 1 972 ; W. Labov,
1 97 3 ; D. Sudnow, 1 972). Here , in terac tional data are not seen as sources from which
ru les and/or structures can be induced , but rather as indicat ions of deeper symbolic
and metaphoric relat ionships that arc central to a more profound comprehension of
Notes 161
akin to
the complex i ties of Songhay social l i fe . I n this light , my analysis i s more
some of the earlier works of E . Goffman ( 1 97 1 , 1 974).
7. P. Riesman poi n ted this out to me.
8 . P. Ricoeur, 1 979: 79.
9 . " Saying " refers to metacomm unicative action. As G . Bateson ( 1 972), among
others. has poi nted out , the ut terance of a simple sentence may carry any number of
metacommun icative messages , some of which are deeper than others .
1 0 . G . Bachelard , [ 1 957] 1 964 .
I I . Ibid. : XV.
1 2 . J. Edie , 1 97 6 : l S I .
1 3 . J. D . Sapir, 1 97 7 : 6 .
1 4 . B . Beck, 1 97 8 : 8 3 .
I S . J. Fernandez, 1 97 7 : 1 00-02 .
1 6 . N . Good m a n , 1 963 : 80.
1 7 . M . Johnson and G. Lakoff, 1 980.
1 8 . M. Black, 1 962 .
1 9 . R . P. Armstrong, 1 980: 77-7 8 .
2 0 . P . Stol ler, 1 97 7 .
2 1 . I n t h e Songhay l anguage there e x i s t a s e t of expressions such as Ni manti
(ala ( l i terally, " You are not easy "), which means i n context " You are hard , " and hal
manti mosso ( l i t . , " u n t i l not a l i tt le"), which means "a whole lot" or " very much ." One
therefore finds a sentence such a A ga ba n i hal manti mosso ( l i t . , "I l i ke you u n t i l not a
l i ttle"), which in context means " I l i ke you a whole lot ."
2 2 . See R . F. Thompson , 1 974; J. Fernandez, 1 97 7 ; B. Beck, 1 97 8 .
2 3 . See P. S tol ler, 1 980b .
2 4 . See P. S tol ler, 1 98 1 .
2 5 . P. Ricoeur, 1 97 9 : 1 00 .
2 6 . See E . Albert , 1 97 2 ; D . Hymes. 1 974 .
2 7 . P. R i coeur, 1 967 : 7 1 .
CHAPT E R 5 . SON OF ROU C H : SONGHAY VISIONS OF THE OTH E R
I . The chain-swa l lowing episode occurs i n t h e second part of t h e fi l m . The

sohancis gather for a dance . As their dancing to the sound of the tam-tam becomes
frenzied , one man goes into t rance and vomits his sisiri, his magical chain that
materializes during these trances . The chain is the manifestat ion of his power as a
sorcerer.
According to the late Sohanci Adamu Jeni tongo, only a few sorcerers receive
these chains. A sohanci receives a chain when his master prepares for him a paste
which is eaten . When the sohanci enters into a t rance , the paste is transformed into a
chain that is vomi ted and swal lowed . In some circumstances , the chain is passed
from a dying sorcerer to his successor. Just as he is about to die, the master sohanci
vomits his chain and tells his successor to swal low it. I n this way the chain is passed
from one generation to the nex t .
2 . See J . Rouch, [ 1 97 1 ] 1 97 8 .
3 . Ibid.
4 . J. Rouc h , 1 960 : 5 .
5 . Ibid. : 6 .
6 . Other aspects o f this trip t o Wanzerbe in 1 977 are explored i n P . Stol ler and
C . O l kes, 1 98 7 .
7 . S e e M . Griaule , 1 95 7 ; J . C l i fford , 1 98 8 .
8 . See P. Stoller 1 984c ; P . Stoller a n d C . Olkes , 1 98 7 .
9 . See D . Kondo, 1 98 6 ; V . Crapanzano, 1 980; E . Bruner, 1 986. Recen t articles
on the reflexivity of anthropological fieldwork reflect bri l l iantly the complexity of
1 62 Notes
doing ethnography. Feld ( 1 987: 1 9 1 ) has engaged in what he calls " ialogic d i t i n g , " '
which is " the impact of K a l u l i voices o n w h a t I tel l you about t h e m m m y voice; how
their take on my take on them requires reframing and refocusing on my part." And
yet ,
Whatever we wri te, whatever we speak, whatever we perform , whatever we
render through music, fi l m , poetry, holography, or some sort of compu ter lan
guage, precipitates a difference-a counter-rendi tion or its possibi l i ty at
least- that despite all our efforts to encompass will always ( i n both its contem
porary sense of escape and its etymological one of play) elude us . . . . The point
is that we and they-the transform of the I and you of the field encoun ter-can
never be ful l y speci fied (Crapanzano 1 98 7 : 1 88-89).
Crapanzano is correc t . We can no longer seriously seek to represent the Other's
rea l i tv i n our texts; rather we must attempt to describe as fai th fully as possible the
textures of their l i ves i n their worlds . Crapanzano is one of the few anthropologists
whose ethnographic works , i n which he takes considerable professional risks, reflect
this orientation to the world . More of us need to fol low his lead, risking v i l i ficat ion
for potentially bri l l iant failures of ethnographic description. Crapanzano's poi n t is
further rei n forced by V. Y. Mudi mbe ( 1 988) who discusses bri l l iantly how discourses
about (African) rea l i ty have been invented and rei nvented .
1 0. S. Scarr, 1 98 5 : 499 .
I I . See A. N . Kanya-Forstner, 1 969; I. Kimba, 1 98 1 ; J-P. Olivier de Sardan , 1 984.
1 2 . See J-P. Oiivier de Sardan, l 969, 1 976, 1 984; P. Stoller, l 98 1 , 1 984a .
1 3 . M. Klein and R. Roberts, 1 980: 393 .
1 4 . See I. Kimba, 1 98 1 ; J-P. Olivier de Sardan, 1 984.
I S . C. De Brosses, 1 760; J. Gobineau , [ 1 853-55] , 1 967.
1 6 . J. Bousset , 1 836; as ci ted and translated by C. M i l ler 1 98 5 : 4 2 .
1 7 . H . Cole, 1 98 1 .
1 8 . U . Beier, 1 964 .
1 9 . J. Rouch , 1 960: 74-75 .
20. I . Wal lerste i n , 1 984 ; J. Comaroff, 1 98 5 .
2 1 . S . Scarr, 1 98 5 : 499 .
2 2 . R . Wagner, 1 98 1 .
2 3 . See J . Dewey, [ 1 929] 1 980a, [ 1 934] 1 980b; W. James , [ 1 909] 1 978.
24. J-F. Lyotard , [ 1 979] 1 984 : 4.
2 5 . See I . Wal lerstein, 1 984.
2 6 . A particularly pernicious example of this kind of wri ting is J. W. Beu l 's
Heroes of the Dark Continent [ 1 889] 1 97 1 .
2 7 . Olson 's Travelworld , 1 986.
28. Edward Said's Orienta/ism ( 1 978) has i nspired a number of studies of the
imagery that western wri ters , Africanists , use to portray Africans . The most recent is
M i ller's Blank Darkness: A{ricanist Discourse in French ( 1 985).
29. V. S . Naipau l , 1 984: 530.
30. H i storical themes are expressed dramatically during Songhay possession
ceremonies. These themes are embedded i n the music, dance , ritual objects, and
words of possession ceremonies. History is also re-enacted during Islamic cere
monies-holidays, births, marriages, deaths-when bards reci te epic poetry and the
genealogies of local nobles, a l l of whom are descendants of Askia Mohammed Toure .
CHAPTER 6 . SOU N D I N SONGHAY POSSESSION
I . See M . Foucault, 1 97 5 .
2. See W . O n g , 1 967; J . Goody, 1 97 7 .
3. V . Zuckerka nd l , 1 95 6 .
4. Ibid. : 70.
5. M. Foucau l t , 1 97 5 : 3 .
Notes 1 63
6. In Sound and Symbol ( 1 956) Zuckerkand l distinguishe s sound from tone . If I

am i nterpreting his text correct l y, he associates tone w i t music, w ich i , of course
,

distinct from other k inds of sounds (words, noise , etc.). Given the existential perspe
t he m
tive of this chapter, I would extend Zuckerkan d l 's musical stanc toward
w
verse to praise-poet ry and ritual incantation s (see Chapter 7, especially) . In my I
the sounds of praise-songs or ritual i ncantations carry the same forces and quah ues
which Zuckerkandl ascribes to the music of the tonal world .
7 . V. Zuckerkandl , 1 95 6 : 68.
8 . Ibid. : 69.
9 . Ibid. : 7 1 .
1 0 . S . Feld, 1 98 2 : 3 .
I I . See A . Jackson , 1 96 8 ; R . Needham, 1 968; W. S turteva n t , 1 96 8 .
1 2 . In genera l . possession emerges during times o f social crisis a n d change .
O l ivier de Sardan ( 1 982) suggests that Songhay possession dates to Askia Moham
med Tou re , who a t tempted to Islamize the Songhay empire. Such a move under
mined the loca l l y-based l i neage as the principal govern ing body of Songhay society;
i t also lessened the i mportance of the l i neage rel igion , which was based upon
making sacrifices to the l ineage ancestors . Songhay possession emerged, or so it is
bel ieved , during this time of great sociocul tura l and religious upheaval . See also
Stoller ( 1 989).
1 3 . See J . Rouch, 1 960; P. S tol ler, 1 989.
1 4 . See P. Stol ler, 1 989.
I S . Ibid.
1 6 . Ibid.
1 7 . B. Surugue , 1 97 2 : 29.
1 8 . The string of the godj i is plucked from only two of the many kinds of horses
found in Songhay. These are the sobe and the guro, which are distinguished by the
color of their bodies and their feet . These horses, in fact , are ment ioned in the
fol lowing praise-song , which is recited by a sorko, a t a possession dance :
Sobe hamno a min Kalam bisa a min Ouallam bisa.
" The hair of the sobe w i l l not pass Kalam or Ouallan [two centers of i n tense
possession activity)."
Guro hamni a min Ka/am bisa a min Ouallam bisa.
" The hair of the guro w i l l not pass . . . .. "
1 9 . Sohanci Adamu Jeni tongo, personal communication .

20. Ibid. See also P. S tol ler, 1 98 9 .
2 1 . See T. Hale, 1 982 : 4 ; also M . Kati 1 9 1 1 ; D . T . Niani, 1 96 5 ; G . Innes , 1 974; and
J. W. Johnson , 1 98 6 .
2 2 . J . T . Irvine, 1 980: 6 .
2 3 . Ibid: 7 .
24. V . Zuckerkand l , 1 95 6 .
2 5 . C . Kei l , 1 979.
2 6 . J . M . Chernoff, 1 979: 3 1 .
2 7 . E . Basso, 1 98 5 : 3 1 1 .
CHAPTER 7 . SOU N D IN SONGHAY SORCERY
I. In the Songhay view of the world , the human body consists of flesh (ga), l i fe
force (hundi), and the double (bia). The w i tch (cerkaw) has the capac i ty to steal a
person 's double. When this occurs , usual l y after a frightful confrontation during the
nigh t , the bewi tched person becomes i l l , suffering from chronic fat igue , nausea, and
diarrhea. The symptoms are the results of the bewitched person 's loss of bia. Typ
ical ly, the wi tch w i l l find a hiding place for a victim's double. The symptoms
associated w i t h w i tchcraft con t inue until a sorko i ntervenes and helps to return the
double to its human counterpart , or u n t i l the w i tch transforms the double into a
1 64 Notes
sacrificial animal and s l i ts the anima l 's throa t . When this sacrifice occurs, the
bewi tched person dies. See P. S toller and C . Olkes , 1 987.
2 . Sorko Djibo Mounmouni , Mehanna, Apri l , 1 977.
3 . See S . Freud, 1 9 1 3 ; S . Tambiah , 1 968.
4. See J. L. Aust i n , 1 96 2 ; J. Searle, 1 96 8 .
5 . S . Tambiah, 1 96 8 : 1 75 .
6 . Ibid. : 2 1 5 .
7. Ibid. : 1 85 .
8 . Ibid. : 202 .
9. M . Foucau l t , 1 970.
1 0 . W. Ong, 1 967: 1 1 3 .
I I . P. Riesman, 1 97 7 : 1 48 .
1 2 . G . Lienhard ! , 1 96 1 : 236.
1 3 . J. Favret-Saada, [ 1 977) 1 980: 9- 1 0.
1 4 . See C. Kei l , 1 979; J. M . Chernoff, 1 979.
1 5 . See J . Boulnois and B. Hama, 1 95 3 ; J . Rouch, 1 95 3 , 1 960; J . 0. Hunwick,
1 966, 1 972 , 1 98 5 .
1 6 . J. Rouc h , 1 960: 47 .
1 7 . See P. Stol ler, 1 989.
1 8 . See P. Stoller and C. O l kes , 1 98 7 ; P. Stol ler, 1 989.
1 9 . See P. Stoller and C . Olkes, 1 98 7 .
2 0 . V . Zuckerkandl , 1 95 6 : 364 .
2 1 . Ibid. : 364.
22. Ibid. : 364 .
2 3 . M. Merleau-Ponty, 1 968.
24 . V. Zuckerkandl , 1 95 6 : 364 .
2 5 . Ibid. : 366.
2 6 . See P. Riesman , 1 977; G . Lienhard ! , 1 96 1 ; J . Favret-Saada, 1 980; J . T. I rvine,
1 980.
27. See C. Kei l , 1 979.
28. Sorko Djibo Mounmouni , Mehanna, Apri l , 1 97 7 .
CHAPTER 8 . THE R ECONSTR UCTION OF ETH NOGRAPHY
I . See P. Stoller and C. Olkes, 1 987 for a ful l description of the Songhay world
of eternal war.
2. C. Levi-Strauss , 1 96 7 : 1 6 1 -8 1 .
3 . D . Hume, [ l 777) 1 902 , vol . l , part 4 , sec . l .
4 . This chapter concerns the broad phi losophical underpinn ings (as opposed
to the strictly visual underp i n n i ngs discussed in Chapter 2) of anthropology as they
are reflected in anthropological discourse . A growing li terature-an excellent li tera
ture-discusses ethnographies as tex ts. The works of Marcus and Cushman ( 1 982)
Marcus and Fischer ( 1 985), and C l i fford 1 988), for example, discuss indirec tly the
anthropological episteme. They consider such topics as ethnograph ic realism, the
authori ty of ethnographic tex ts, the displaced authority of experi mental ethno
graphic texts, ethnographic rhetoric , and the relat ionship between the wri ters and
readers of ethnography. My focus here is s i m i lar but broader. Instead of consideri ng
style , form , or ethnographic rhetoric d i rectly, my i n terest lies i n the epistemological
constraints that govern insti tutional judgments of anthropological wri ting. More
exposi tions, especially historical ones , are needed . See also C. Geertz ( 1 984).
5. M. Foucau l t , 1 980: 1 97 .
6 . M . Foucau l t , 1 970: 399.
7 . Heracl i tus as translated in M. Heidegger, 1 97 5 : 7 5 .
8 . See R . Rorty, 1 979, 1 98 3 .
9 . F . d e Saussure, [ 1 9 1 5) 1 959: 9 .
Notes 1 65
1 0. Ibid. : 9 .
I I . Ibid. : 9 .
1 2 . Ibid. : 9 .
1 3 . C . Levi-Strauss , 1 969: 478-79 .
1 4 . C. Levi-Strauss as quoted in C . Geertz , 1 97 3 : 346 .
1 5 . See A. R. Radc l i ffe-Brown , 1 95 3 .
1 6 . D . Hymes , 1 974 : 3 5 .
1 7 . Ibid. : 4 3 .
1 8 . M . Agar a n d J . Hobbs . 1 98 3 : 3 3 .
1 9 . M . Agar, 1 98 2 : 7 7 9 .
20. See S . Diamond , 1 974: 1 72-74.
2 1 . See J . Derrida, 1 97 6 .
2 2 . See S . Langer, 1 94 2 ; M . Merleau-Ponty, 1 964a.
2 3 . See D. Ted lock, 1 98 2 ; E. Said, 1 97 5 . My " sludge l i s t " of anthropological
wri ting is undoubtedly skewed or unrepresenta t i ve , since I selected from the begin
n ings of journal articles or books. I selected these beginnings del i berately; with Said ,
I bel ieve beginnings are rhetorically and philosophical l y significant . They are i nten
t ional . Lyrica l , revelatory beginni ngs reflect , generally, a humanistic or critical
i nterpretation to fol l ow. Beginnings w i th theoretical contentions or general assump
tions , by contras t , signal a more pos i t ivistic approac h . My own v iew, of course , is
pre l i m i nary.
24 . A. J. Osborn , 1 98 3 : 563 .
2 5 . D . White, M . Burton , and M . Dow, 1 98 1 : 824 .
2 6 . F. Kapla n , and D . M . Levine, 1 98 1 : 869.
27. G. White and C . Prachuabhmoh , 1 98 2 : 2 .
2 8 . D . 1 . Austi n , 1 98 3 : 2 2 3 .
29. G . Appe l l , 1 98 3 : 202 .
30. ]. T. Irvine, 1 98 2 : 3 1 .
3 1 . P. Stoller, 1 97 7 : 3 1 .
32 . S . Diamond , 1 97 4 : 93.
3 3 . R . Firth , [ 1 936] 1 959: 3.
34 . M . Lambek, 1 98 1 .
3 5 . J . M . Chernoff, 1 979 .
36. V. Crapanzano, 1 97 3 .
37. V . Crapanzano, 1 98 5 .
3 8 . J . Favret-Saada, 1 980 : 3-4 .
39. C . Levi-Strauss as ci ted in C . Geertz, 1 97 3 : 346 .
4 0 . Ibid. H . Ross, 1 98 2 : 5 .
4 1 . Ibid. : 6 .
42 . Plato as c ited i n S . Diamond , 1 974: 1 87 .
43 . M . Merleau-Ponty, 1 96 8 .
44 . M . Heidegger, 1 97 1 : 57-58 .
45 . J. Favret-Saada and J. Con t reras , 1 98 1 .
46. D . Hume, [ 1 777] 1 902 : vol . I , part 4 , sec . I .
47 . G . Spivak , 1 97 6 : x i x .
48 . M . Agar, 1 98 2 : 779 .
49 . Ibid. : 779.
50 . J. W. Fernandez, 1 98 2 : M. Jackson , 1 986; D . Rose , 1 98 7 .
CHAPTER 9 . DETOU RS
I . This is a term used by Mary Louise Pra t t ( 1 982) to denote a set of l i terary
convent ions used by wri ters during a variety of l i terary epochs. See also Chapter 2 .
2 . The surrealist assumpt ion that Leiris employed i n Afrique fant6me was to
wri te a journal as a firs t , i m mediate i mpression-automatic wri t i n g . As a conse
quence, the first draft and publ ished version of the book are vi rtually identica l .
166 Notes
3. J. Favret-Saada, 1 980.
4. See R. Bernstein , 1 976; see also Chap ters I and 2 .
5. E . Goffman, 1 98 1 : 74.
6. J. Dewey, [ 1 934] 1 980: 32.
7. Ibid. : 3 3 .
8. Ibid. : 3 3 .
9. R . Rorty, 1 979: I .
1 0. Ibid. : 2 .
II. Ibid. : 42-43 .
12. Ibid. : 269.
1 3. See M . Agar, 1 98 2 .
1 4. W. James, [ 1 909] 1 978: 1 00 .
I S . R . Rorty, 1 979: 36 1 .
1 6 . Ibid.: 370.
1 7 . See E . Said, 1 984.
1 8 . C . Tisdale, 1 979: 1 0 1 .
1 9. Ibid. : 1 04-05 .
20. Ibid. : 7 2 .
2 1 . Ibid. : 72 .
2 2 . J. Burnha m , 1 974: 1 39 .
2 3 . R . Barthes , 1 97 2 : 1 64-65 .
24. G . U l mer, 1 98 5 : 232 .
2 5 . See D. H i ley, 1 98 8 .
2 6 . See J . Berger, 1 96 5 ; H . Rich ter, 1 980; H . Read , 1 972; A . Breton , 1 969, 1 97 3 ;
L . Lippard , 1 970 .
2 7 . See M . Foucau l t , 1 970, 1 980; J. Derrida, 1 976; J-F. Lyotard , [ 1 979] 1 984,
1 986.
2 8 . J . Dewey, [ 1 934] 1 980: 3 3 .
29. Ibid. : 4 6 .
3 0 . Ibid. : 3 4 .
3 1 . See J . Dewey, [ 1 929] 1 980a ; see also G . Marcus a n d M . Fischer, 1 98 5 ;
J . C l i fford , 1 98 8 ; J . C l i fford and G . Marcus, 1 986; S . Tyler, 1 98 8 .
3 2 . See P. Stol ler, 1 98 8 .
3 3 . J . Van Maanen , 1 98 8 : 1 02 .
34 . Ibid. : 1 03 .
3 5 . Ibid. : 1 32 .
3 6 . Ibid. : 1 32 .
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Sjoberg, G .
1 96 1 The preindustrial city. G lencoe , I I . : The Free Press .
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1 976 I n t roduct ion to J . Derrida, Ofgrammatology. Ba l t imore : The Johns
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Stol ler, P.
1 97 7 Ri tual and personal insults i n Songrai son n i . A nthropology 2( 1 ) :
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1 978 The dynamics ofbankwano: Communication and legitimacy among
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1 98 1 Social interact ion and the management of meaning among the
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1 984a Horrific comedy : Cultural resistance and the Hauka movement
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1 984b Sound in Songhay cul tural experience . American Ethnologist 1 1 :
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S toller, P. , and C . Olkes
1 986 Bad sauce , good ethnography. Cultural Anthropology I : 336-52 .
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S turtevan t , W.
1 968 Categories, percussion and physiology. Man (NS) 3 : 1 33-34 .
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1 972 Studies in social interaction. New York : The Free Press .
Surugue , B .
1 972 Contribution a /'etude de Ia musique sacree Zarma-Songhay. Etudes
N i geriennes #30. Niamey : U n i versite de N iamey.
Tambiah , S .
1 968 The magical power o f words . M a n (NS) 3 : 1 7 5-203 .
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1 982 Anthropological hermeneutics and the problem of alphabetic l i t
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Theroux , P.
1 978 The old Patagonia n express. Boston : Houghto n-Mifflin .
Thompson , R . F. . .
1 974 African art in motion: Icon and art in the collectiOn of Katherme
Coryton Wh ite. Berkeley : U niversity of Cal i forn ia Press .
Tisdale, C.
1 979 Joseph Beuys. New York : Thames and Hudson .
Tyler, S . .
1 984 The vision quest in the Wes t , or what the mmd s eye sees . Journal
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1 988 The unspeakable. Madison : Univers i ty of Wi scons i n Press .
U l mer, G .
1 98 5 Applied grammatology. Balti more : T h e Johns Hopkins U n i versity
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Van Maanen , J .
1 988 Tales of the field: On writing ethnography. Chicago: U n i versity of
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Wagner, R .
1 98 1 The invention of culture. Ch icago : U n i vers i ty o f Chicago Press.
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1 984 The politics of the world economy. New York : Cambridge U n i ver
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W i l l iams, R .
1 976 Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society. New York : Oxford
U n i vers i ty Press .
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1 98 1 Sexual division of labor i n African agricul ture : A network auto
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1 969 Process and reality. N e w York : T h e Free Press .
Wober, M .
1 966 Sensotypes . The Journal of Social Psychology 7 0 : 1 8 1 -89.
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1 974 Cocorico, monsieur poulet. Paris : Com i te des Fi lms Ethnographi
ques .
Index
Ada mu Jeni tongo, I , 5 , 1 5- 2 2 , 3 2 - 3 5 , Colonialism , 95

42-43 , 46, 9 1 , 1 6 l n . l Construct ionism, 93 , 9 5 . See also Scarr
Afrique fan/orne, 1 43 . See also Leiris Conventions of representation, 30, 47-
Agee , James, 30 50. See also Pratt
A l i a man Zia, 5 Conversat ional analysis, 1 60n.6
Amadou Zima, 5 , 1 4 1 Crapanzano , V incen t , 1 37
American Anthropological Association, Critique ofJudgment, 8 , 23
2 7 , 1 58nn . 20, 2 1
Anasara, 92, 98 Deadly Words, 50, 1 37 , 1 44 . See also
Askiad , 5 Favret-Saada
Askia Moha m med Toure , 5, 6, 59, Deconst ructionism, 1 52 . See also Der
1 58 n . I O rida
Automatic wri t i ng, 1 44 Derrida, Jacques , 24, 25, 27, 30, 1 35 -
Ayoru , 46 36, 1 40 , 1 52 . See a l s o Glas; Of Grarn
rnatology
Bab ' i zey, 34 Dewey, John , 1 44-4 5 , 1 52
Bachelard , Gaston, 32, 37 , 1 58 n . 2 . See Discourse : anthropological aspects of,
also Reverbera tions 39, 5 1 , 84, 1 38 ; ethnographic aspec ts
Bacon, Francis, 1 3 of, 32; experi ments of, 50; phi losoph
Bards (griots), 1 1 0 , 1 1 1 - 1 2 . See also ical aspec ts of, 53
Praise-poetry Djebo, Zeinabou , 1 5-22
Bast ide, Roger, 43 Dogon , 63
Baudelaire , Charles , 99
Beuys , Joseph , 1 45 , 1 48-5 1 The Elementary Structures of Kinsh ip,
Biographically determi ned si tuation , 1 32 . See also Levi-Strauss ; St ructural
6 5 . See also Schutz ism
Bush taxis, i n Songhay society, 69-83 Eliot , T. S . , 1 42
El Mansur, 6
Carlyle, Thomas , 5 1 Empiricism , 8 , 3 5 , 38
Cezanne, Paul , 3 7 , 3 8 , 5 4 , 1 1 2 Enlightenment , 7 , 30, 1 45
Chernoff, John M . , 30, 1 37 Episteme, 1 30 . See also Foucau l t
Ci nema veri te, 4 5 . See also Rouch Epistemology, 1 0, 1 32 ; of t h e Western
C l i fford , James , 9 , 1 64n .4 philosophical trad i t ion , 48-49
1 80 Index
Epistulae morales, 23 Herac l i tus, 69, 83

Ethnography : i mages in, 9 1 -98 ; prose Howes, David, 7
of, 1 5 3 ; tastefu l aspec ts of, 27- 3 2 ; Human Sciences, 1 47 . See also Foucau l t
wri t i n g of. 7 H u m e , D a v i d , 1 30
Ethnography of commun icat ion , 1 34 , Hymes, Del l , 1 34 . See also Ethnography
1 35 . See also Hymes of communicat ion
Ethnographic fi l m , 1 53-54. See also
Rouch In Sorcery's Shadow, I , SO, I 55
In terpretation , 1 0
Faran Maka Bote , 4 1 , 1 1 7 . See also Intel lectualism, 4, I 52
Sorko
Favret-Saada, Jeanne, 39, SO, 1 37 , 1 44 . Jarv ie, I. C. I 5 8 n .22
See a l so Deadly Words James, W i l l i a m , 1 47
Fe l d , Steven , 50, 1 03
Fernandez, James W. , 1 40, 1 65n .SO
Fieldwork , 57; part icipation in, I SS- Kan t , Immanuel , 8 , 2 3 , 24, l S I
56; subjec t i ve approaches to, 1 29; Kea ts, Joh n , 1 44-4 5 . See also Nega t i ve
tastefu l aspec ts of. 2 9 . See also Meth capabi l i t y
K l e e , Paul , 3 8 , 54
odology
Fi n i tude, 1 3 1 . See also Foucau l t Knowledge/power, 96-98 . See also
Foucault
Firth, Raymond, 49, 1 37 . See also We,
the Tikopia
Forms , 48, 1 3 1 , 1 46 ; ult i mate varieties Lambek, Michae l , 1 37
of 1 38 . See also Plato Langer, Suzanne, 7 , 1 36
Foster, George , 6 Language , indirect aspects of. 32-55
Foucau l t , M iche l , 8 , 38, 47, 1 0 1 , 1 1 6 , Lei ris, Miche l , 1 43 . See also Afrique
1 30 , 1 3 1 , 1 52 , 1 59nn . I S , 32 fan tome
Free play, 1 40 , 1 44 , 1 52 . See also Der- Levi-Strauss, Claude , 3 1 , 49, 6 3 , 1 30 .
rida See also The Elementary Structures of
Fulan (Peul), 1 9 , 20 Kinsh ip; Structuralism
Funct iona l i s m , 1 44 Lizot , Jacques, 62
Fusion of the Worlds, I I Lyotard , Jean-Fran<;ois , 96-97 , I 52
Gao, 5 Ma l i nowski , Bron islaw, 8 , I I , 1 08 , 1 1 6

Gas i , 1 09 ; sound of 1 09- 1 0 Marcus , George E . , 9, 1 64n.4
Gaze , 3 8 , 39, 5 2 , 5 6 , 1 0 1 , 1 03 ; Euro- Mehanna, 1 6 , 59
centric aspects of, 84 . See also Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, 32, 37, 38, 5 2 ,
Foucau l t 6 4 , 1 20, 1 36 , 1 39
Geertz , C l i fford , 32 , 72 Metacom munication , 1 6 1 n . 9
Genet , Jean , 30 Metaphor, 77; non l i ngu istic varieties
Glas, 2 4 , 30 of. 80-82; theories of 77-80
Godel ier, Maurice, 62 Methodology, 5-7, 1 0, 63 -64
Godj i , 89, 1 0 1 ; sound of. 1 08-09. See M i mesis , 1 57 n . I O
also Monochord v io l i n Monochord viol i n , 89, 1 0 1 . See also
Goffman , Erving, 1 44 Godj i
Griaule , Marce l , 6 3 ; perspective of. 90 Mon taigne, M icheal de , I 5 , 24, 34
Governme n t , of N i ger, 96 , 1 05 , 1 07 Moru Ada m u , 1 5-22
Mounmouni Koda, 42
Hardness , 69, 8 1 , 82 Moussa Adamu, 1 5-22
Hartman , Geoffrey, 5 I Mult iple rea l i ties, 6 5 , 68 . See also
Hauka, 94 . See also Spiri t possession ; Schutz
Colon ialism
Hausa, 20 Naipau l , V. S., 97
Heidegger, Mart i n , 5 2 , 1 39 Narra t ive ethnography, I 54-55
Hege l , G . F. W. , 2 7 , 30, l S I Ndebbi , 1 1 3
Index 181
Nega t i ve capabi l i ty, 1 44 , ! 52 . See also Schutz, Alfred , 6 5 , 66. See also Bio
Keats graphica l l y determi ned situation ;
Neopragmatism, 1 52 . See also Rorty Multiple reali t ies
N ietzsche . F. W. , 5 1 , 52 Science , 32
N i s i le Bote , 4 1 . See also Sorko Scien tism , 8
N uer, 29 Seneca, 2 3 , 1 58 n . 3
Senses : a n d sensual i s m , 7-9; a return
Odor, 2 5 to, 3- 1 1 ; non-theore tical aspects of.
Odor of sanc t i ty, 7 24 ; of sight and sound , 29, 30; theo
O( Gramma tology, 24 . See also Derrida retical aspec ts of. 24, 30
Ong, Wal ter, 1 03 , 1 1 6 Sense data, 7
Sensual biases . 1 57 n .2 . See also Wober
Perce p t ion : delusion of. 57 Shamanism; in art and phi losophy,
Phenomenology, 64-68 1 50-5 1 . See also Beuys
Phi losophy: edi fying versions of, 1 47- Signs, 1 60n . l
48; of language , 77; post-Socra t i c va Sjoberg , G ideon , 63
rieties of. 64 ; systematic versions of, Social change, 6
1 47 ; Western tradi t ion of. 23 Social negotiat ion , 82
Plato, 48 , 1 30-3 2 , 1 45 . See also Forms Social theory, 8 , 39
Pos tmodern ism, 30, 1 57n . 1 0 Social scu lpture , 1 49-50
Pra t t , M . L . . 47-4 8 , 1 59nn . 1 7 , 1 9 , 1 65 n . Sohanci , 34, 1 1 8 . See also Sonn i Ali Ber
I . See also Convent ions o f representa Songhay, S , 6 , 1 5 , 2 9 , 40, 66 , 1 1 7 , 1 25 ,
t ion ! 53 ; colonialism i n , 93-94 ; history
Praise-poe t ry : sound of. 1 1 0- 1 2 . See of, 57 , 72-73, 1 1 7- 1 8 , 1 58 n . I O ; lan
also Bards guage of. 5; myths of, 1 1 7- 1 8 ; social
Pyrrhon ian skept ics , 1 5 1 organizlation of. 57-59; spatial orga
niza t ion of. 57-59, 60 , 6 1 , 62 ; spirit
Radical empiric i s m , 1 5 2-56 pantheon of. 4 1 , 1 04-05 ; spirit pos
Readi n g , 82. See also Ricoeur session in 1 0 1 . 1 04- 1 0
Rea l i s m , 25 Sonni A l i Ber, 42
Reflex i v i tv, 1 6 1 n .9 Sorcery, 39, 4 1 , 43, 47 . 54, 1 1 8- 1 9
Represen ta t ion : and anthropology, 39; Sorko , 4 1 -4 3 , 1 1 8
and ethnographic real i s m , 47-50; Sound: in Songhay possession , 1 08- 1 2 ;
and rea l i sm i n anthropology, 25-26 i n Songha y sorcery, I I 7- 1 9 . See also
Republic of Ben i n . 6 Zuckerkandl
Republic of Ghana, 32 Space : and anthropology, 67-6 8 ; i n
Republic of Mal i , 5 Songhay pol i tics, 57-67
Republic of N iger, I , 5 , 40 , 5 6 , 69 , 84 , Spirit possession : and spiri t medium
1 1 3, 1 25 ship, 1 0 5 ; ceremonies of. 1 05-06 , I I ,
Reverberat ions, 3 7 . 7 7 . See also Bache 1 62 n . 2 ; history of. 1 63n . 1 2 ; i n Song
lard hay, 1 04- 1 0; troupes , 1 06-08
R iesma n , Paul , 9 1 Spirit sickness , 4 1
Rortv, Richard , 48 , 1 3 1 . 1 45-48 , 1 52 . Structura l i s m , 6 3 , 1 30 . 1 33 , 1 44 . See
See also Neopragmat ism also Levi-Strauss
Rose , Dan , 1 40 Style, and anthropological wri t i n g , S0-
Rouch , Jean, 5 6 , 8 3 , 84-9 1 , 97 , 1 30, 55
! 53 , 1 55 ; books of, 8 5 ; fi l ms of. 85-
86; son of, 84-98 Tambiah , Stanley, 1 08 , 1 1 5
Taste : etymology of in English, 23-24;
Sah l ings , Marshal l , 62 in anthropology, 25-27. 29; Kan t 's
Sa i d , Edward , 1 36 , 1 65n .4 sense of. 24; of ethnographic t h i ngs ,
Santayana, George , 35 1 5-35
Saussure , Ferdinand de , 1 32-33 Tastefu l wri t i n g , 29-32
Scarr, Sandra, 93 , 9 5 . See also Con- Tedloc k , Denn i s , 1 34 , 1 65 n .23
structionism T i l laberi , I , I 5 , 1 7 . 32-35, 46 . 9 1
1 82 Index
Trobriands, 8 , 29 VVhi tehead, Al fred Nort h , 49, 56

VV i l l i a m , Raymond , 23
U l mer, Gregory, 25, 1 58n . l l VV i ttgenste i n , Ludwig, I , 1 23 , 1 4 2 , 1 4 5
VVober, Marianne, 1 57n.2
Vision , 57 VVords : power of, 1 1 6 ; sound of, 1 1 9
Visua l i s m , 9
Zinkibaru , 1 1 7 . See also Faran Maka
VVanzerbe, 6, 43-47 , 5 2 , 5 3 , 54, 87, I S S Bote
We, the Tikopia, 1 37 Zuckerkandl , Victor, 1 03-04 , 1 1 2 , 1 20
11111 1111111111111111111 11
C P S I A i n fonnation can be obtained at www ICGtesting com
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Stoller, Paul (1989) The Taste of Ethnographic Things. The Senses in Anthropology PDF

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The Taste of

Ethnographic Thi ngs

Contemporary Ethnography Series

Dan Rose and Paul Stoller, General Editors

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS Philadelphia

Copyright 1 989 by the University of Pennsylvania Press

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publ ica tion Data

Stol ler, Paul .

Introduction: A Return to the Senses 3

1 T he Taste of Ethnographic Things 15

2 Eye, Mind, and Word in Anthropology 37

3 "Gazing" at the Space of Songhay Politics 56

4 Signs in the Social Order: Riding a Songhay Bush Taxi 69

5 Son of Rouch: Songhay Visions of the Other 84

6 Sound in Songhay Possession 101

7 Sound in Songhay Sorcery 113

8 The Reconstruction of Ethnography 125

Frontispiece : A lamb roast in Mehanna

1 Preparation of"kilshi" at market in Mehanna 16

3 Gazing at space in Mehanna 38

4 The Friday mosque in Mehanna 55

5 Distribution of fields in Mehanna 58

6 Distribution of compounds in Mehanna 60

7 Exceptions to the normative distribution of Songhay space 61

8 A Songhay bush taxi on the Dosul to Markoy route 70

9 "Son of Rouch" in Niamey, Niger, 1976 85

10 Musicians at a possession ceremony in Mehanna, 1977 102

11 A possession ceremony in Mehanna, 1977 107

12 Sorko Djibo Mounmouni reciting an incantation over a

13 Sorko Djibo Mounmouni , master of words 126

14 Sohanci Adamu Jenitongo , master of"detours" 143

the American Ethnologist 9 : 7 50-62 . Material in Chapter 5 was revised from

I real ly do think with my pen , because my head often knows nothing

The best laid schemes o' mice and men

who were i mpressed by my command of the Songhay language , but despite

T H E S E N S E S A N D ETH N O G RAPHIC WRITIN G

As Howes argues, here is an analysis based on an olfactory as opposed to a

S i nce Malinowski 's t i m e , however, anthropology has become more and

ethnographies that describe the sensual aspects of the fi e l d . Such a tack

A FOU R COU RSE MEAL

book : the sensualization of my approach to the study and representation of

Some books are to be tasted , others to be swallowed , some few to be

Figure 2: Spice bazaar (photo by Chery l Olkes)

T H E ETI O LOGY OF BAD SAUCE

THE ETIOLOGY OF TA STE

How does Djebo's sour sauce-her calculated distastefu lness-fi t with

In order to disti nguish whether anything is beau t i fu l or not , we refer the

The Etymology of'Taste in English

The Sensual Tastes of Monta igne

In addi tion, the American Anthropological Association gives prospective

A " good" abstract shou l d b e an inform a t i ve summary o f a longer work . I t

TASTEFU L ETH N O G RAPHY

digestible food for though t . Examples of these comments from Stoller's

Example 3 [Comments of Stoller to anonymous au thor] . I n this piece the reader

Example 6 [ Reader's comments on Stoller's manuscript] . . . . There is no ques

And so i t goes in the modern era of anthropology, an era that i n many

Consider finally an example from Levi-Strauss's Tristes tropiques, " which ,

O N E MONTH OF BAD SAUCE AMONG THE SONGHAY

Visions in the Field

The empiricist . . . t h inks he bel ieves what he sees, but he is much

Nature is on the inside .

To know nature is to know the texture of i nner space , for, as Merleau-Ponty

Figure 3: Gazing at space in Mehanna