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 20 Dreams vs. reality From the school of hard knocks With his fabulous deconstruction of Western philosophy’s commonsensical notion of common sense, Geertz (1983: 77) gives an illuminating example for how anthropology can be of use for approaching fundamental philosophical questions (such as the question of the “nature” of common sense). He writes: Anthropology can be of use here in much the same way as it is generally: providing out-ofthe -way cases, it sets nearby ones in an altered context. If we look at the views of people who draw conclusions different from our own by the mere living of their lives, learn different lessons in the school of hard knocks, we will rather quickly become aware that common sense is both a more problematical and a more profound affair than it seems from the perspective of a Parisian cafe or an Oxford Common Room. Jackson (2004) heads into a similar direction. Towards the end of his account on post-war Sierra Leone, he entangles his ethnographic descriptions with some reflections upon the (fundamental, philosophical) questions of trust and betrayal – thereby also enriching the oeuvre of philosophical reflections upon these questions (and their answers). His concern with these questions arose from his everyday life and fieldwork in Sierra Leone. As he writes, “[h]ardly any day passed during my stay in Freetown that I was not confronted by the vexed issue of trust” (ibid.: 192) – or, in fact, by the “endemic lack of trust in Sierra Leone” (ibid.). Unlike other ethnographers who tried to explain the peculiar Sierra Leonean manifestation of the universal phenomenon of trust (and betrayal) by approaching it via psychological paths and depths (e.g. Ferme [2001] and Shaw [2002] who both point towards the traumatic memories of the slave trade deeply inscribed into Sierra Leoneans’ collective imagination as an explanatory factor), Jackson cuts the long (or “deep”) path short and approaches trust via ethnographic observations of everyday life. From these observation and lessons taken from “the school of hard knocks”, he derives an explanation of the “trust issue” DISCOnnections 212 as plain as pellucid: Sierra Leoneans’ preoccupation with trust and with the lack thereof, he writes, is a consequence of scarcity – of the “hungry time” during the last couple of months of the growing season, when people tell “white lies” about how much rice they have in their granaries lest the little that is left for their own needs will be claimed by hungry neighbours and distant kin. Or as a fear of in-marrying women and visiting strangers, whose loyalties and intentions can never be readily divined […]. (Jackson 2004: 193) As Jackson mainly aimed at delving into the matters of the history and aftermaths of war and violence, his ethnographic lens in Sierra Leone was, at least for this particular account and fieldwork, calibrated on these very matters of the history and aftermaths of war and violence in Sierra Leone. And, as it might be alleged, from these matters and the however implicit, underlying ethnographic lens he took on in order to study them, it is a short skip to the issues of trust and betrayal – which are both fundamental to the realms, histories and realities of war and violence. Jacksons’ observation of the phenomena of trust and betrayal – and his daily encounter with them –, it might be further alleged, stemmed from and were promoted by his ethnographic intentions and interests. As he was looking for the remains of a war, the vexed issues of trust and betrayal were not far off his daily tracks. During my fieldwork in Freetown, the ethnographic lens I had taken on had quite a different calibration. Mainly, I aimed at delving into the matters of Freetonians ’ musical practices and preferences and at exploring how social structures and concerns are reproduced and subverted in the realms of music consumption. With this ethnographic lens, and with its (i.e. my) underlying intentions and interests, the encounters I made in Freetown and the realms and realities I delved into were of quite a different “caliber” than Jackson’s. Unlike him, I was not much concerned or confronted with the matters of trust and betrayal. I did, however, encounter a particular phenomenon virtually during every day of my stay in Freetown and which – as I would in turn assume with regard to my own ethnographic lens – mainly stemmed from and was promoted by my interests in people’s perceptions and practices of musicking; that is: dreams and hopes. In this last...

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