Beyond Words: Discourse and Critical Agency in Africa - Couverture souple

Apter, Andrew

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0226023524 ISBN 13 : 9780226023526

Editeur : University of Chicago Press, 2007

Synopsis

Even within anthropology, a discipline that strives to overcome misrepresentations of peoples and cultures, colonialist depictions of the so-called Dark Continent run deep. The grand narratives, tribal tropes, distorted images, and "natural" histories that forged the foundations of discourse about Africa remain firmly entrenched. In Beyond Words, Andrew Apter explores how anthropology can come to terms with the "colonial library" and begin to develop an ethnographic practice that transcends the politics of Africa's imperial past.

The way out of the colonial library, Apter argues, is by listening to critical discourses in Africa that reframe the social and political contexts in which they are embedded. Apter develops a model of critical agency, focusing on a variety of language genres in Africa situated in rituals that transform sociopolitical relations by self-consciously deploying the power of language itself. To break the cycle of Western illusions in discursive constructions of Africa, he shows, we must listen to African voices in ways that are culturally and locally informed. In doing so, Apter brings forth what promises to be a powerful and influential theory in contemporary anthropology.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Andrew Apter is professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date d'édition: 2007
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0226023524
• ISBN 13: 9780226023526
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 192
• Coordonnées du fabricant: The University of Chicago Press; https://press.uchicago.edu/index.html; ; 5801 S. Ellis Avenue; Chicago; IL; 60637; Etats-Unis
• Personne responsable: non disponible