Synopses & Reviews
and#147;Werbner makes an outstanding contribution to the growing field of Anthropology of Christianity, ethnographically and historically. His writing is engaged and engaging, certain to appeal to a readership beyond the circle of specialists on the topic and field.and#8221; -Johannes Fabian, University of Amsterdam
and#147;Richard Werbner is certainly one of the preeminent anthropologists of our time. I pity the ethnographies that come unaccompanied by film. How threadbare they will appear in comparison with this masterpiece Werbner has served up. Or, perhaps I should pity the ethnographic films that come unaccompanied by text from a masterful theoretician and storyteller with Werbner's facility. This exercise in the anthropology of ritual performance and the cinematic is but the latest example of Werbner's ability to continually reside at the cutting edge of the anthropological enterprise.and#8221; -James A. Pritchett, Professor of Anthropology and Director of Africa Studies at Michigan State University
and#147;Holy Hustlers is a masterand#8217;s work and the summum bonum of a long career in central African ethnography. Few could contribute more knowledgeably than Richard Werbner, as this study shows, to our understanding of the search for surcease of sorrow and for spiritual salvation. Werbner keeps a keen eye on the and#147;hustlingand#8221; aspect of this search, to be sure, but accompanying this perspicacity of observation is a deeper respect, perhaps even a reverence, for the meaningfulness that his Apostolics, his co-participants, in the search achieve.and#8221; -James W. Fernandez, The University of Chicago
and#147;This book is a sensuous and empathetic account of young Christians in urban Botswana, providing thoughtful insights into the work of charismatic prophecy and healing, the dialectics of and#147;individualityand#8221; and and#147;dividualityand#8221; and the generational dynamics of reformation in African Christianity. A fine piece of scholarship.and#8221; -Thomas Kirsch, University of Constance, Germany
Review
and#8220;Extremely relevant, state of the-art portrait of contemporary African Christianity. . . . A fascinating read for any anthropologist, regardless of expertise.and#8221;
Synopsis
This book examines the charismatic Christian reformation presently underway in Botswanaand#8217;s time of AIDS and the moral crisis that divides the church between the elders and the young, apostolic faith healers. Richard Werbner focuses on Eloyi, an Apostolic faith-healing church in Botswanaand#8217;s capital. Werbner shows how charismatic and#147;prophetsand#8221;and#151;holy hustlersand#151;diagnose, hustle, and shock patients during violent and destructive exorcisms. He also shows how these healers enter into prayer and meditation and take on their patientsand#8217; pain and how their ecstatic devotions create an aesthetic in which beauty beckons God. Werbner challenges theoretical assumptions about mimesis and empathy, the power of the word, and personhood. With its accompanying DVD, Holy Hustlers, Schism, and Prophecy integrates textual and filmed ethnography and provides a fresh perspective on ritual performance and the cinematic.
Synopsis
There is no female religious figure so widely known and revered as the Virgin Mary. Throughout history, Mary has inspired in a multitude of cultures around the world a deep affection, a desire to emulate her virtue, and a strong belief in the power of her apparitions and miracles. Perhaps no population has been so deeply affected by this maternal figure as Filipino Catholics, whose apparitions of Mary have increasingly emerged and responded to recent events, drawing from a broad repertoire of the Catholic supernatural as they draw media attention to the global south.
and#160;
In Mother Figured, historical anthropologist Deirdre de la Cruz offers a detailed examination of several appearances and miracles of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines from materials and sites ranging from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. By analyzing the effects of the mass media on the perception and proliferation of apparition phenomena, de la Cruz charts the intriguing emergence of new voices in the Philippines that are broadcasting Marian discourse globally. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork and hitherto unexplored archives in the Philippines, the United States, and Spain, Mother Figured documents the conditions of Marian devotionandrsquo;s modern development and tracks how it has transformed Filipinosandrsquo; social and political role within the greater Catholic world.
About the Author
Richard Werbner is Professor Emeritus in African Anthropology at the University of Manchester. He is the author of many books, including Reasonable Radicals and Citizenship in Botswana.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Note on Spelling
Introduction
Part One: Images
Chapter One: The Authority of Appearances
Chapter Two: First Filipino Apparition
Part Two: Visions
Chapter Three: Mary, Mediatrix
Chapter Four: Petals for the Public
Part Three: Mass Movements
Chapter Five: Of Crusaders and Crowds
Chapter Six: Coincidence and Consequence
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index