In this Book
- Crossroads of Culture: Christianity, Ancestral Spiritualism, and the Search for Wellness in Northern Malawi
- Book
- 2020
- Published by: Mzuni Press
summary
Combining history, ethnography, and culture theory, this book explores how residents in northwestern Malawi have responded over time to the early missionary assertion that local religious and healing practices were incompatible with Christianity and western medicine. It details how local agents, in the past and today, have constructed new cultural forms that weave facets of ancestral spiritualism and divination with Christianity and biomedicine. Alongside a rich historical review of the late-19th century encounter between Tumbuka-speakers and the Scottish Presbyterians of the Livingstonia Mission, the book explores the contemporary therapeutic dance complex known as Vimbuza and considers two case studies, each the story of a man confronting illness and struggling to understand the roots and meaning of his a?iction. In the process, the book considers the enduring missiological and anthropological topics of conversion and syncretism, and questions the assertion by some scholars that Western missionaries in Africa have been successful agents of religious hegemony.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Acknowledgments
- pp. vi-viii
- Note on Naming and Translation
- pp. xi-xii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-39
- PART ONE. History and Theory
- PART TWO. Ethnography and Analysis
- Conclusion
- pp. 551-589
- Bibliography
- pp. 590-602
Additional Information
ISBN
9789996060427
Related ISBN(s)
9789996060410
MARC Record
OCLC
1155069067
Pages
632
Launched on MUSE
2020-06-13
Language
English
Open Access
No