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Shrines in Africa: History, Politics, and Society . By Allan Charles Dawson (ed.) . University of Calgary Press, Calgary, 2009, 210 pp. ISBN 978-1-552382-46-2 (paperback). CAD $ 39.95.

Shrines in Africa: History, Politics, and Society . By Allan Charles Dawson (ed.) . University of... Dawson proposes here a collection of papers on the theme of shrines in Africa. As stated in his introduction, shrines consist of durable natural or man made features of the landscape. They embody historical and socio-political dimensions of the communities that own them. Dawson proposes shrines as first material vessels. That is, as receptacles for deities, ancestors and spirits as well as for offerings that are manifest in the form of sacrifices occurring during particular life events. Second, shrines are also defined as symbolic containers or a`network of boundary markers'. Following Colson's thesis (1997), the six contributions oscillate between a definition of shrines as `shrines of the land' and as `places of power'. While the first refers to prominent, fixed objects (occasionally mobile like in Lentz's paper) or fragments standing out in the land that embody spirits, the latter, refers to shrines as `intrinsically sacred' and as natural features of the landscape which are associated with supernatural beings. The volume places particular emphasis on shrines as materializing the autochtony of a group of people. In this way, collective shrines serve to legitimate people's existence on a particular territory with which they identify and thus assert its ownership. Although http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of African Archaeology Brill

Shrines in Africa: History, Politics, and Society . By Allan Charles Dawson (ed.) . University of Calgary Press, Calgary, 2009, 210 pp. ISBN 978-1-552382-46-2 (paperback). CAD $ 39.95.

Douny, Laurence
Journal of African Archaeology , Volume 8 (1): 131 – Oct 25, 2010
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1612-1651
eISSN
2191-5784
DOI
10.3213/1612-1651-10150
Publisher site
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Abstract

Dawson proposes here a collection of papers on the theme of shrines in Africa. As stated in his introduction, shrines consist of durable natural or man made features of the landscape. They embody historical and socio-political dimensions of the communities that own them. Dawson proposes shrines as first material vessels. That is, as receptacles for deities, ancestors and spirits as well as for offerings that are manifest in the form of sacrifices occurring during particular life events. Second, shrines are also defined as symbolic containers or a`network of boundary markers'. Following Colson's thesis (1997), the six contributions oscillate between a definition of shrines as `shrines of the land' and as `places of power'. While the first refers to prominent, fixed objects (occasionally mobile like in Lentz's paper) or fragments standing out in the land that embody spirits, the latter, refers to shrines as `intrinsically sacred' and as natural features of the landscape which are associated with supernatural beings. The volume places particular emphasis on shrines as materializing the autochtony of a group of people. In this way, collective shrines serve to legitimate people's existence on a particular territory with which they identify and thus assert its ownership. Although

Journal

Journal of African Archaeology – Brill

Published: Oct 25, 2010

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