Knowledge and practice in Mayotte : local discourses of Islam, sorcery and spirit possession / Michael Lambek.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In a witty, evocative style accessible to both the specialist and non-specialist reader, Michael Lambek provides a significant contribution to writing on African systems of thought, local forms of religious and therapeutic practice, social accountability, and the place of explicit forms of knowledge in the analysis of non-western societies.

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CHOICE Review

A detailed, personable ethnograpy of the role of religious knowledge in the social life of people in Mayotte, an island off East Africa. Lambek treats several distinct kinds of knowledge: the sacred knowldege of Islam based on Arabic-language religious texts; cosmological (or astrological) knowledge, also based on Arabic writings; and knowledge of spirit possession, a regionally important way of healing and of formulating commentaries on society. Each discipline of knowledge has its own roots and historical associations with Arabian, Malagasy (thus ultimately Malayo-Polynesian), and African components of Mayotte culture. Possession is particularly interesting in this regard, in that the spirits involved may be either from Afro-Islamic or Malagasy traditions, and people appear to select spirits to emphasize one or the other of the traditions. Each knowledge also has its own specialists, and Lambek is principally concerned with their practice in everyday life, i.e., how knowledges are "embodied" and performed. The great value of the book is in its attention to cases and individuals, and in the good humor and clarity with which it is written. Advanced undergraduates and above. J. R. Bowen; Washington University