The Listening Ebony: Moral Knowledge, Religion, and Power among the Uduk of Sudan

by Wendy James

Overview

This groundbreaking study explores the notions of person, and the foundations of bodily and moral experience among the Uduk-speaking people of the Sudan-Ethiopian border. James focuses particularly on enduring elements of personal knowledge in the context of a hunter's world-view, how alien religious discourse has affected the Uduk in the course of the region's political history, and the rise of a new diviners' movement based upon the oracular consultation of the burning ebony wood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198234166
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/09/2000
Pages:	420
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

University of Oxford

Editorial Reviews

"A rich, compassionate ethnography, full of passages where Uduk speak for themselves, moving gracefully and confidentlly between description and analysis."—American Anthropologist

"Provides an excellent account of the complex ideological structures and dynamics of the middle Sudan-Ethiopia border area....A truly impressive piece of scholarship....I can only say read it if you have any interest in African peoples and cultures, ideological systems, or culture change."—International Journal of African Historical Studies

"Examines [Uduk] mental life, mainly in the form of mythological and religious experience and practice....In addition to its intrinsic scholarly value, this book is important for it adds to the scant literature available in recent years on this troubled part of Africa."—Choice

From the Publisher