Burying SM: The Politics of Knowledge and the Sociology of Power in Africa / Edition 1

by David W Cohen, Atieno Odhiambo

Overview

The distinguished Kenyan lawyer S.M. Otieno died intestate in 1986; the ensuing struggle between his Kikuyu widow and his Luo clan became a matter of national concern. Debates raged over what legal, cultural, social, and historical grounds should govern the disposition of SM's remains, what legal rights should be enjoyed by widows, and over the interests of the state.

While closely scrutinizing the legal case record, the authors examine how history was constructed by the various litigants, counsel, jurists, and witnesses, including an elderly gravedigger and mason, a cook, and a professor of philosophy.

The authors invited a half-dozen scholars from different disciplines to discuss "what the case was really about" and "how the story should be told." These brief commentaries are included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780435080631
Publisher:	Heinemann
Publication date:	05/04/1992
Series:	Social History of Africa Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.36(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David William Cohen is Professor of Anthropology and History and Director of the Program of African Studies, Northwestern University.

E.S. Atieno Odhiambo is Professor of History at Rice University.

Table of Contents

S.M. Otieno's Genealogy
Introduction
One Body, Two Funerals
Orations of the Dead
Silences of the Living
Living Bodies and Their Knowledge
The Productions of Culture
The Constitution of an African State
Owino Misiani's Lamentation, 1987
Commentaries
Conclusion
Afterpiece
Notes
Texts Cited in Court
Bibliography
Photographs

Editorial Reviews

Cohen and Odhiambo have shown the potential synergy and transformative capacity of joint insider-outsider authorship.”–African Studies Review

From the Publisher