Harri Englund
2018
Englund, Harri
The front line of free speech: Beyond parrhêsia in Finland's migrant debate: The front line of free speech Journal Article
In: American Ethnologist, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 100-111, 2018.
@article{Englund2018,
title = {The front line of free speech: Beyond parrhêsia in Finland's migrant debate: The front line of free speech},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1111/amet.12602},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-02-01},
urldate = {2018-02-01},
journal = {American Ethnologist},
volume = {45},
number = {1},
pages = {100-111},
abstract = {Among Finland's public-service broadcasters, there is a contrast between professional ethics and the “fearless speech” of parrhêsia. This contrast reveals some of the diverse forms in which free speech is pursued in contemporary liberal polities. In 2015, Kansanradio (The people's radio), a popular Finnish radio show, became a site for fresh controversies over free speech when the so-called migrant crisis dominated its discussions. Caught between the parrhêsia of public intellectuals and bigoted listeners, Kansanradio’s hosts pursued a dialogical approach to truth telling. Whereas parrhêsia risks the relationship between interlocutors, this dialogical modality rests on a carefully cultivated multivocality of viewpoints. It challenges the assumption—common to both the scholarship on parrhêsia and some (but not all) liberal orientations—that voice is a person's private property. [free speech, parrhêsia, truth telling, migrant crisis, radio, voice, Finland].},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Among Finland's public-service broadcasters, there is a contrast between professional ethics and the “fearless speech” of parrhêsia. This contrast reveals some of the diverse forms in which free speech is pursued in contemporary liberal polities. In 2015, Kansanradio (The people's radio), a popular Finnish radio show, became a site for fresh controversies over free speech when the so-called migrant crisis dominated its discussions. Caught between the parrhêsia of public intellectuals and bigoted listeners, Kansanradio’s hosts pursued a dialogical approach to truth telling. Whereas parrhêsia risks the relationship between interlocutors, this dialogical modality rests on a carefully cultivated multivocality of viewpoints. It challenges the assumption—common to both the scholarship on parrhêsia and some (but not all) liberal orientations—that voice is a person's private property. [free speech, parrhêsia, truth telling, migrant crisis, radio, voice, Finland].
2017
Englund, Harri
Rights after Wrongs: Local Knowledge and Human Rights in Zimbabwe. Shannon Morreira Journal Article
In: American Ethnologist, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 554-555, 2017.
@article{Englund2017,
title = {Rights after Wrongs: Local Knowledge and Human Rights in Zimbabwe. Shannon Morreira},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1111/amet.12540},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-08-01},
urldate = {2017-08-01},
journal = {American Ethnologist},
volume = {44},
number = {3},
pages = {554-555},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2016
Englund, Harri; Steinv, Felix; Lazar, Sian; Candea, Matei; Diemberger, Hildegard; Robbins, Joel; Sanchez, Andrew; Stasch, Rupert
Human Rights Journal Article
In: Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 2016.
@article{Englund2016,
title = {Human Rights},
author = {Harri Englund and Felix Steinv and Sian Lazar and Matei Candea and Hildegard Diemberger and Joel Robbins and Andrew Sanchez and Rupert Stasch},
doi = {10.29164/16rights},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-09-01},
urldate = {2016-09-01},
journal = {Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology},
abstract = {Human rights, as described in documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are a set of moral and legal principles that apply to all human beings irrespective of their age, sex, religion, nationality, and other such characteristics. Yet they can only ever be claimed and applied in specific historical and cultural circumstances. It is from recognising this basic paradox between a universal principle and its practical application that the anthropological study of human rights arises. It allows anthropologists to confront some of the fundamental questions in their discipline, while also contributing a distinct perspective to actual human rights controversies. How wedded is the discipline to cultural and moral relativism? What can be learned from those anthropological studies of justice and morality that were written before the current interest in human rights began in the 1980s? What form of human rights activism can anthropological knowledge foster, or is anthropological analysis a necessarily separate type of pursuit from activism? This essay addresses these and other questions by considering anthropologists’ varied responses to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and their efforts to harness anthropological knowledge in the service of human rights advocacy. Critical perspectives on actually existing human rights administrations are also discussed. While some anthropologists identify problems in activists’ and governments’ efforts in order to make human rights more acceptable locally, others demonstrate the extent to which the emphasis by human rights activists on liberties rather than socio-economic rights has been compatible with the continuing influence of political and business elites, in particular postcolonial contexts. Anthropological work has also asserted its separation from the human rights agenda by exploring what other means ordinary people have at their disposal to make their claims and grievances heard. The essay concludes by considering the future of human rights in the light of the penetration of human rights law into ever more intimate spheres of life, such as sexuality and gender relations. Anthropology’s particular strengths are also apparent here: kinship, the body, and personhood are classic themes that can provide unique perspectives on controversies over intimate human rights.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Human rights, as described in documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are a set of moral and legal principles that apply to all human beings irrespective of their age, sex, religion, nationality, and other such characteristics. Yet they can only ever be claimed and applied in specific historical and cultural circumstances. It is from recognising this basic paradox between a universal principle and its practical application that the anthropological study of human rights arises. It allows anthropologists to confront some of the fundamental questions in their discipline, while also contributing a distinct perspective to actual human rights controversies. How wedded is the discipline to cultural and moral relativism? What can be learned from those anthropological studies of justice and morality that were written before the current interest in human rights began in the 1980s? What form of human rights activism can anthropological knowledge foster, or is anthropological analysis a necessarily separate type of pursuit from activism? This essay addresses these and other questions by considering anthropologists’ varied responses to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and their efforts to harness anthropological knowledge in the service of human rights advocacy. Critical perspectives on actually existing human rights administrations are also discussed. While some anthropologists identify problems in activists’ and governments’ efforts in order to make human rights more acceptable locally, others demonstrate the extent to which the emphasis by human rights activists on liberties rather than socio-economic rights has been compatible with the continuing influence of political and business elites, in particular postcolonial contexts. Anthropological work has also asserted its separation from the human rights agenda by exploring what other means ordinary people have at their disposal to make their claims and grievances heard. The essay concludes by considering the future of human rights in the light of the penetration of human rights law into ever more intimate spheres of life, such as sexuality and gender relations. Anthropology’s particular strengths are also apparent here: kinship, the body, and personhood are classic themes that can provide unique perspectives on controversies over intimate human rights.
2015
Englund, Harri
Law, law everywhere Journal Article
In: HAU Journal of Ethnographic Theory, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 267-271, 2015.
@article{Englund2015,
title = {Law, law everywhere},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.14318/hau5.3.017},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-12-23},
urldate = {2015-12-23},
journal = {HAU Journal of Ethnographic Theory},
volume = {5},
number = {3},
pages = {267-271},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Englund, Harri
Multivocal morality: Narrative, sentiment, and Zambia’s radio grandfathers Journal Article
In: HAU Journal of Ethnographic Theory, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 251-273, 2015.
@article{Englund2015b,
title = {Multivocal morality: Narrative, sentiment, and Zambia’s radio grandfathers},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.14318/hau5.2.015},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-10-20},
urldate = {2015-10-20},
journal = {HAU Journal of Ethnographic Theory},
volume = {5},
number = {2},
pages = {251-273},
abstract = {Multivocal morality concentrates attention on the ideologies of voice in efforts to narrate boundary-crossing moral dilemmas. This article’s focus on the relationship between narrative and sentiment in moral transgression brings together two distinct bodies of literature. One is anthropologists’ recent statements about a disciplinary shift from the study of law-like morality to ethical reasoning. The other is literary scholars’ emphasis on the novel as the privileged genre of narrative in generating moral sentiments such as sympathy and compassion. While anthropologists risk turning a blind eye to their discipline’s past achievements in understanding the complex interplay between customary obligation and moral sentiment, literary scholars foreclose an open discussion about the genres and media by which narrative may generate moral sentiments. The importance of attending to the notion of voice is elaborated through the work of two self-styled grandfathers on Zambian radio who, thirty years apart, performed the same story about strangers within. Despite the different eras of broadcast, they both assembled multiple voices in order to generate the moral sentiment of sympathy. The customary codes of elderhood informed multivocality not by giving others their voices as an act of charity or justice but by having moral authority to assemble those voices in the first place.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Multivocal morality concentrates attention on the ideologies of voice in efforts to narrate boundary-crossing moral dilemmas. This article’s focus on the relationship between narrative and sentiment in moral transgression brings together two distinct bodies of literature. One is anthropologists’ recent statements about a disciplinary shift from the study of law-like morality to ethical reasoning. The other is literary scholars’ emphasis on the novel as the privileged genre of narrative in generating moral sentiments such as sympathy and compassion. While anthropologists risk turning a blind eye to their discipline’s past achievements in understanding the complex interplay between customary obligation and moral sentiment, literary scholars foreclose an open discussion about the genres and media by which narrative may generate moral sentiments. The importance of attending to the notion of voice is elaborated through the work of two self-styled grandfathers on Zambian radio who, thirty years apart, performed the same story about strangers within. Despite the different eras of broadcast, they both assembled multiple voices in order to generate the moral sentiment of sympathy. The customary codes of elderhood informed multivocality not by giving others their voices as an act of charity or justice but by having moral authority to assemble those voices in the first place.
Englund, Harri
Forget the Poor Journal Article
In: Current Anthropology, vol. 56, no. S11, pp. S000-S000, 2015.
@article{Englund2015c,
title = {Forget the Poor},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1086/682059},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-08-27},
urldate = {2015-08-27},
journal = {Current Anthropology},
volume = {56},
number = {S11},
pages = {S000-S000},
abstract = {Gogo Breeze, a popular radio personality in Zambia’s Eastern Province, responds to his listeners’ frequent evocations of poverty by refusing to consider them as members of the generic poor. Instead, he deploys idioms of kinship by which his status as the listeners’ grandfather on air assigns him moral authority that is both intimate and infallible. In this article I examine radio kinship in the context of abundant labor and scarce opportunities to be gainfully employed in Chipata, the provincial capital. A labor dispute between Zambian workers and Chinese management brought to the fore grievances about wages and conditions. When the grievances fell on deaf ears with both management and the government, the workers turned to Gogo Breeze with a letter in which they asserted themselves as children. The radio grandfather responded by visiting the provincial labor office and by broadcasting a richly allusive story about exploitation. The article concludes by discussing hierarchy and conflict as intrinsic to the mutuality and dependence that the workers yearned for. Radio kinship as one modality of mutual dependence offered a frame for making claims that was compatible with what the workers demanded.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Gogo Breeze, a popular radio personality in Zambia’s Eastern Province, responds to his listeners’ frequent evocations of poverty by refusing to consider them as members of the generic poor. Instead, he deploys idioms of kinship by which his status as the listeners’ grandfather on air assigns him moral authority that is both intimate and infallible. In this article I examine radio kinship in the context of abundant labor and scarce opportunities to be gainfully employed in Chipata, the provincial capital. A labor dispute between Zambian workers and Chinese management brought to the fore grievances about wages and conditions. When the grievances fell on deaf ears with both management and the government, the workers turned to Gogo Breeze with a letter in which they asserted themselves as children. The radio grandfather responded by visiting the provincial labor office and by broadcasting a richly allusive story about exploitation. The article concludes by discussing hierarchy and conflict as intrinsic to the mutuality and dependence that the workers yearned for. Radio kinship as one modality of mutual dependence offered a frame for making claims that was compatible with what the workers demanded.
Englund, Harri
Anti Anti-Colonialism: Vernacular Press and Emergent Possibilities in Colonial Zambia Journal Article
In: Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 221-247, 2015.
@article{Englund2015d,
title = {Anti Anti-Colonialism: Vernacular Press and Emergent Possibilities in Colonial Zambia},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1017/S0010417514000656},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-01-06},
urldate = {2015-01-06},
journal = {Comparative Studies in Society and History},
volume = {57},
number = {1},
pages = {221-247},
abstract = {African newspapers published in vernacular languages, particularly papers sponsored by colonial governments, have been understudied. A close reading of their contents and related archival sources provides insights into diverse ways in which the colonized framed and made claims. New kinds of claims were mediated by the government-sponsored vernacular press no less than by nationalists. Just as vernacularism was not nativism, African aspirations that posed no direct challenge to the colonial order did not necessarily entail mimicry. I show also how Europeans who debated a newspaper for Africans in the 1930s Zambia voiced diverse approaches to print culture, addressing a variety of objectives. The newspaper that emerged, Mutende, was replaced by provincial newspapers in the 1950s, and I focus on one of these: the Chinyanja-language Nkhani za kum'mawa, published under African editorship in Eastern Province between 1958 and 1965. Its modes of addressing African publics were neither nationalist nor colonial in any straightforward senses. Its editors and readers deliberated on what it meant to be from the province in an era of labor migration, how African advancement and dependence on Europeans were to be envisaged, and how relationships between women and men should be reconfigured. To hold divergent views on a world in flux, they had to keep something constant, and the order of governance itself remained beyond dispute. But this did not preclude emergent possibilities. The newspaper's columns and letters to the editor reveal claims on novel opportunities and constraints of a sort that mainstream nationalist historiography, with its meta-narrative of anti-colonialism, has rendered invisible.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
African newspapers published in vernacular languages, particularly papers sponsored by colonial governments, have been understudied. A close reading of their contents and related archival sources provides insights into diverse ways in which the colonized framed and made claims. New kinds of claims were mediated by the government-sponsored vernacular press no less than by nationalists. Just as vernacularism was not nativism, African aspirations that posed no direct challenge to the colonial order did not necessarily entail mimicry. I show also how Europeans who debated a newspaper for Africans in the 1930s Zambia voiced diverse approaches to print culture, addressing a variety of objectives. The newspaper that emerged, Mutende, was replaced by provincial newspapers in the 1950s, and I focus on one of these: the Chinyanja-language Nkhani za kum'mawa, published under African editorship in Eastern Province between 1958 and 1965. Its modes of addressing African publics were neither nationalist nor colonial in any straightforward senses. Its editors and readers deliberated on what it meant to be from the province in an era of labor migration, how African advancement and dependence on Europeans were to be envisaged, and how relationships between women and men should be reconfigured. To hold divergent views on a world in flux, they had to keep something constant, and the order of governance itself remained beyond dispute. But this did not preclude emergent possibilities. The newspaper's columns and letters to the editor reveal claims on novel opportunities and constraints of a sort that mainstream nationalist historiography, with its meta-narrative of anti-colonialism, has rendered invisible.
2012
Englund, Harri
Poverty Journal Article
In: A Companion to Moral Anthropology, pp. 283 - 301, 2012, ISBN: 9780470656457.
@article{nokey,
title = {Poverty},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1002/9781118290620.ch16},
isbn = {9780470656457},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-08-22},
urldate = {2012-08-22},
journal = {A Companion to Moral Anthropology},
pages = {283 - 301},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2008
Englund, Harri
Extreme Poverty and Existential Obligations: Beyond Morality in the Anthropoogy of Africa Journal Article
In: Social Analysis, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 33-50, 2008.
@article{nokey,
title = {Extreme Poverty and Existential Obligations: Beyond Morality in the Anthropoogy of Africa},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.3167/sa.2008.520302},
year = {2008},
date = {2008-12-01},
urldate = {2008-12-01},
journal = {Social Analysis},
volume = {52},
number = {3},
pages = {33-50},
abstract = {The suggestion that the anthropological study of morality is theoretically undeveloped carries with it the risk of caricaturing ideas of moral obligation in mid-twentieth-century social anthropology. The need for recovering aspects of these ideas is demonstrated by the tendency of moral philosophers to reduce the issue of world poverty to a question of ethical choices and dilemmas. Examining the diplomatic tie that had existed for almost 42 years between Malawi and Taiwan and an ill-fated project of Taiwanese aid in rural Malawi, this article maintains that honoring obligations indicates neither a communitarian ethos nor rule-bound behavior. As the mid-twentieth-century anthropology of Africa theorized ethnographically, the moral and existential import of obligation lies in its contingent materiality rather than in social control. Such insights, the article concludes, can enrich debates on world poverty with alternative intellectual resources.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The suggestion that the anthropological study of morality is theoretically undeveloped carries with it the risk of caricaturing ideas of moral obligation in mid-twentieth-century social anthropology. The need for recovering aspects of these ideas is demonstrated by the tendency of moral philosophers to reduce the issue of world poverty to a question of ethical choices and dilemmas. Examining the diplomatic tie that had existed for almost 42 years between Malawi and Taiwan and an ill-fated project of Taiwanese aid in rural Malawi, this article maintains that honoring obligations indicates neither a communitarian ethos nor rule-bound behavior. As the mid-twentieth-century anthropology of Africa theorized ethnographically, the moral and existential import of obligation lies in its contingent materiality rather than in social control. Such insights, the article concludes, can enrich debates on world poverty with alternative intellectual resources.
2007
Englund, Harri
Pentecostalism Beyond Belief: Trust and Democracy in a Malawian Township Journal Article
In: Africa 77(4): DOI:, vol. 77, no. 4, pp. 477-499, 2007.
@article{Englund2007,
title = {Pentecostalism Beyond Belief: Trust and Democracy in a Malawian Township},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1353/afr.2007.0083},
year = {2007},
date = {2007-11-01},
urldate = {2007-11-01},
journal = {Africa 77(4): DOI:},
volume = {77},
number = {4},
pages = {477-499},
abstract = {The concept of belief, when applied in its strong sense, assumes an inner state that sets believers apart from non-believers. This article suggests that a concept of trust is more appropriate for the study of the religious orientation among Pentecostal Christians in Chinsapo, an impoverished township in Malawi’s capital city. Trust is a critical issue because even fellow members of Pentecostal congregations can turn out to have been sent by the Devil. Pastors also have to exercise considerable forbearance in order to encourage spiritual growth among backsliders. The boundaries of Pentecostal congregations are often permeable, with little emphasis on doctrinal differences. Pentecostal Christians also have frequent contact with kin, neighbours, customers and co-workers who do not share their religious orientation. Rather than being a matter of calculating risks, trust emerges in relation to the existential dangers of misfortune, hunger and disease that affect the lives of all township dwellers. Everyday contexts of township life are as important as proselytizing in generating trust between Pentecostals and those who are yet to experience the second birth in the Holy Spirit. In contrast to views that lament Africans’ particularized trust relations as an obstacle to democracy, this article suggests that generalized trust can emerge from a particular religious orientation. The article draws attention to the actual sources of civility and trust in contemporary Africa.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The concept of belief, when applied in its strong sense, assumes an inner state that sets believers apart from non-believers. This article suggests that a concept of trust is more appropriate for the study of the religious orientation among Pentecostal Christians in Chinsapo, an impoverished township in Malawi’s capital city. Trust is a critical issue because even fellow members of Pentecostal congregations can turn out to have been sent by the Devil. Pastors also have to exercise considerable forbearance in order to encourage spiritual growth among backsliders. The boundaries of Pentecostal congregations are often permeable, with little emphasis on doctrinal differences. Pentecostal Christians also have frequent contact with kin, neighbours, customers and co-workers who do not share their religious orientation. Rather than being a matter of calculating risks, trust emerges in relation to the existential dangers of misfortune, hunger and disease that affect the lives of all township dwellers. Everyday contexts of township life are as important as proselytizing in generating trust between Pentecostals and those who are yet to experience the second birth in the Holy Spirit. In contrast to views that lament Africans’ particularized trust relations as an obstacle to democracy, this article suggests that generalized trust can emerge from a particular religious orientation. The article draws attention to the actual sources of civility and trust in contemporary Africa.
Englund, Harri
Witchcraft and the Limits of Mass Mediation in Malawi Journal Article
In: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 295 - 311, 2007.
@article{Englund2007b,
title = {Witchcraft and the Limits of Mass Mediation in Malawi},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00429.x},
year = {2007},
date = {2007-05-15},
urldate = {2007-05-15},
journal = {Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute},
volume = {13},
number = {2},
pages = {295 - 311},
abstract = {This article explores what the study of witchcraft in an African setting can contribute to current efforts to theorize mass mediation and the imagination it fosters. Recent ethnographies of witchcraft discourses in Africa have continued to associate them with the formation of small-scale groups, but evidence from Malawi shows how they enable subjects to imagine sociality on an indeterminate scale. The article deploys the concept of mediation to theorize how in this imagination witches mediate sociality as the unrecognized third parties who give rise to recognized social relationships of varying scale. The ethnography of witchcraft discourses in radio broadcasting and an impoverished peri-urban area demonstrates not only their relevance to apparently disparate contexts but also their potential to exceed the impact of the mass media. The case of a violent conflict involving Pentecostal Christians, South Asian entrepreneurs, Muslims, and members of a secret society provides an example of how arguments about witchcraft had a greater impact on the popular imagination than a mass-mediated report of the same conflict. The article concludes by arguing that witchcraft discourses should be accorded weight equal to the mass media in theorizing the imagination.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article explores what the study of witchcraft in an African setting can contribute to current efforts to theorize mass mediation and the imagination it fosters. Recent ethnographies of witchcraft discourses in Africa have continued to associate them with the formation of small-scale groups, but evidence from Malawi shows how they enable subjects to imagine sociality on an indeterminate scale. The article deploys the concept of mediation to theorize how in this imagination witches mediate sociality as the unrecognized third parties who give rise to recognized social relationships of varying scale. The ethnography of witchcraft discourses in radio broadcasting and an impoverished peri-urban area demonstrates not only their relevance to apparently disparate contexts but also their potential to exceed the impact of the mass media. The case of a violent conflict involving Pentecostal Christians, South Asian entrepreneurs, Muslims, and members of a secret society provides an example of how arguments about witchcraft had a greater impact on the popular imagination than a mass-mediated report of the same conflict. The article concludes by arguing that witchcraft discourses should be accorded weight equal to the mass media in theorizing the imagination.
2006
Englund, Harri
Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor Journal Article
In: Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor, 2006.
@article{Englund2006,
title = {Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor},
year = {2006},
date = {2006-09-12},
urldate = {2006-09-12},
journal = {Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor},
abstract = {In this vivid ethnography, Harri Englund investigates how ideas of freedom impede struggles against poverty and injustice in emerging democracies. Reaching beyond a narrow focus on the national elite, Prisoners of Freedom shows how foreign aid and human rights activism hamper the pursuit of democratic citizenship in Africa. The book explores how activists aspirations of self-improvement, pursued under harsh economic conditions, find in the human rights discourse a new means to distinguish oneself from the poor masses. Among expatriates, the emphasis on abstract human rights avoids confrontations with the political and business elites. Drawing on long-term research among the Malawian poor, Englund brings to life the personal circumstances of Malawian human rights activists, their expatriate benefactors, and the urban and rural poor as he develops a fresh perspective on freedom-one that recognizes the significance of debt, obligation, and civil virtues.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In this vivid ethnography, Harri Englund investigates how ideas of freedom impede struggles against poverty and injustice in emerging democracies. Reaching beyond a narrow focus on the national elite, Prisoners of Freedom shows how foreign aid and human rights activism hamper the pursuit of democratic citizenship in Africa. The book explores how activists aspirations of self-improvement, pursued under harsh economic conditions, find in the human rights discourse a new means to distinguish oneself from the poor masses. Among expatriates, the emphasis on abstract human rights avoids confrontations with the political and business elites. Drawing on long-term research among the Malawian poor, Englund brings to life the personal circumstances of Malawian human rights activists, their expatriate benefactors, and the urban and rural poor as he develops a fresh perspective on freedom-one that recognizes the significance of debt, obligation, and civil virtues.
2004
Englund, Harri
Cosmopolitanism and the Devil in Malawi Journal Article
In: Ethnos, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 293-316, 2004.
@article{Englund2004,
title = {Cosmopolitanism and the Devil in Malawi},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1080/0014184042000260008},
year = {2004},
date = {2004-09-01},
urldate = {2004-09-01},
journal = {Ethnos},
volume = {69},
number = {3},
pages = {293-316},
abstract = {The article contributes to recent attempts to provide historically and ethnographically nuanced accounts of cosmopolitanism. A central argument in the article revolves around the notion of situated cosmopolitanism. While cosmopolitanisms must be envisaged in the plural, common to these diverse cultural projects is an uneasy relation to the home that imposes itself on the subject. Pentecostal Christians in an impoverished township in Malawi consider this-worldly realities as one, ruled by the Devil. Their cosmopolitan vision transcends, therefore, social and spatial boundaries, but it gains its force from their particular existential predicament of impoverishment. The article shows in detail how the Pentecostal belief in the second birth establishes a specific form of cosmopolitan relatedness. It entails a deterritorialized mode of belonging which undermines, among others, the rural–urban distinction.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The article contributes to recent attempts to provide historically and ethnographically nuanced accounts of cosmopolitanism. A central argument in the article revolves around the notion of situated cosmopolitanism. While cosmopolitanisms must be envisaged in the plural, common to these diverse cultural projects is an uneasy relation to the home that imposes itself on the subject. Pentecostal Christians in an impoverished township in Malawi consider this-worldly realities as one, ruled by the Devil. Their cosmopolitan vision transcends, therefore, social and spatial boundaries, but it gains its force from their particular existential predicament of impoverishment. The article shows in detail how the Pentecostal belief in the second birth establishes a specific form of cosmopolitan relatedness. It entails a deterritorialized mode of belonging which undermines, among others, the rural–urban distinction.
Englund, Harri
Towards a Critique of Rights Talk in New Democracies: The Case of Legal Aid in Malawi Journal Article
In: Discourse and Society, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 527-551, 2004.
@article{Englund2004b,
title = {Towards a Critique of Rights Talk in New Democracies: The Case of Legal Aid in Malawi},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1177/0957926504038944},
year = {2004},
date = {2004-09-01},
urldate = {2004-09-01},
journal = {Discourse and Society},
volume = {15},
number = {5},
pages = {527-551},
abstract = {As an institutionalized form of human rights discourses, rights talk plays a prominent role in recently democratized countries. It also poses a challenge to critical analysts of language, because its contribution to maintaining inequalities is not apparent in its emancipatory rhetoric. This article examines rights talk at a non-governmental centre for free legal aid in Malawi. By deploying the notion of narrative inequality, the article shows how legal officers and their clients engage in a contest of contexts from unequal subject positions. While officers subscribe to an individualist concept of rights and seek piecemeal solutions to abuse, clients generally situate their complaints in complex moral narratives. The limited success of their claims leads to subtle forms of resistance against rights talk. The article shows that narrative inequality provides a perspective that both reaches beyond interlocutors’ own terms and asserts the value of rigorous empirical analysis in the critical study of language.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
As an institutionalized form of human rights discourses, rights talk plays a prominent role in recently democratized countries. It also poses a challenge to critical analysts of language, because its contribution to maintaining inequalities is not apparent in its emancipatory rhetoric. This article examines rights talk at a non-governmental centre for free legal aid in Malawi. By deploying the notion of narrative inequality, the article shows how legal officers and their clients engage in a contest of contexts from unequal subject positions. While officers subscribe to an individualist concept of rights and seek piecemeal solutions to abuse, clients generally situate their complaints in complex moral narratives. The limited success of their claims leads to subtle forms of resistance against rights talk. The article shows that narrative inequality provides a perspective that both reaches beyond interlocutors’ own terms and asserts the value of rigorous empirical analysis in the critical study of language.
2003
Englund, Harri
Christian Independency and Global Membership: Pentecostal Extraversions in Malawi Journal Article
In: Journal of Religion in Africa, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 83-111, 2003.
@article{Englund2003,
title = {Christian Independency and Global Membership: Pentecostal Extraversions in Malawi},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1163/157006603765626721},
year = {2003},
date = {2003-01-01},
urldate = {2003-01-01},
journal = {Journal of Religion in Africa},
volume = {33},
number = {1},
pages = {83-111},
abstract = {Recent scholarship on Pentecostalism in Africa has debated issues of transnationalism, globalisation and localisation. Building on Bayart's notion of extraversion, this scholarship has highlighted Pentecostals' far-flung networks as resources in the growth and consolidation of particular movements and leaders. This article examines strategies of extraversion among independent Pentecostal churches. The aim is less to assess the historical validity of claims to independency than to account for its appeal as a popular idiom. The findings from fieldwork in a Malawian township show that half of the Pentecostal churches there regard themselves as 'independent'. Although claims to independency arise from betrayals of the Pentecostal promise of radical equality in the Holy Spirit, independency does sustain Pentecostals' desire for membership in a global community of believers. Pentecostal independency thus provides a perspective on African engagements with the apparent marginalisation of the sub-continent in the contemporary world. Two contrasting cases of Pentecostal independency reveal similar aspirations and point out the need to appreciate the religious forms of extraversion. Crucial to Pentecostal extraversions are believers' attempts to subject themselves to a spiritually justified hierarchy.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Recent scholarship on Pentecostalism in Africa has debated issues of transnationalism, globalisation and localisation. Building on Bayart's notion of extraversion, this scholarship has highlighted Pentecostals' far-flung networks as resources in the growth and consolidation of particular movements and leaders. This article examines strategies of extraversion among independent Pentecostal churches. The aim is less to assess the historical validity of claims to independency than to account for its appeal as a popular idiom. The findings from fieldwork in a Malawian township show that half of the Pentecostal churches there regard themselves as 'independent'. Although claims to independency arise from betrayals of the Pentecostal promise of radical equality in the Holy Spirit, independency does sustain Pentecostals' desire for membership in a global community of believers. Pentecostal independency thus provides a perspective on African engagements with the apparent marginalisation of the sub-continent in the contemporary world. Two contrasting cases of Pentecostal independency reveal similar aspirations and point out the need to appreciate the religious forms of extraversion. Crucial to Pentecostal extraversions are believers' attempts to subject themselves to a spiritually justified hierarchy.
2002
Englund, Harri
Ethnography After Globalism: Migration And Emplacement In Malawi Journal Article
In: American Ethnologist, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 261 - 286, 2002.
@article{Englund2002,
title = {Ethnography After Globalism: Migration And Emplacement In Malawi},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1525/ae.2002.29.2.261},
year = {2002},
date = {2002-05-01},
urldate = {2002-05-01},
journal = {American Ethnologist},
volume = {29},
number = {2},
pages = {261 - 286},
abstract = {Sites and places present analytical problems to ethnographers who acknowledge the reality of global flows but doubt their I iberatory potential. In this article, I suggest that ethnographers move beyond the rhetoric and organizing assumptions of globalism not simply by discarding the local–global distinction but also by interrogating the analytical tendency to disconnect culture from place. Such a tendency appears to contribute to the resilience of constructivism in ethnographic analysis. A perspective of emplacement builds on insights into global flows while providing a focus on embodied and situated presence. I develop this perspective with the aid of ethnography on conflicts between migrants and original inhabitants in an impoverished area of Malawi's capital. The occult powers of a secret society partly account for migrants' emplacement, challenging migrants' globalist imagination that draws on the liberal rhetoric of economic and political reform and on spiritual protection afforded by world religions. The perspective of emplacement reaches beyond globalism by showing how all phenomena in global circulations are at once both particular and capable of spreading widely as elements of the globalist imagination, [ethnography, globalism, migration, emplacement, embodiment, the occult, African urbanism]},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Sites and places present analytical problems to ethnographers who acknowledge the reality of global flows but doubt their I iberatory potential. In this article, I suggest that ethnographers move beyond the rhetoric and organizing assumptions of globalism not simply by discarding the local–global distinction but also by interrogating the analytical tendency to disconnect culture from place. Such a tendency appears to contribute to the resilience of constructivism in ethnographic analysis. A perspective of emplacement builds on insights into global flows while providing a focus on embodied and situated presence. I develop this perspective with the aid of ethnography on conflicts between migrants and original inhabitants in an impoverished area of Malawi's capital. The occult powers of a secret society partly account for migrants' emplacement, challenging migrants' globalist imagination that draws on the liberal rhetoric of economic and political reform and on spiritual protection afforded by world religions. The perspective of emplacement reaches beyond globalism by showing how all phenomena in global circulations are at once both particular and capable of spreading widely as elements of the globalist imagination, [ethnography, globalism, migration, emplacement, embodiment, the occult, African urbanism]
Englund, Harri
The Village in the City, the City in the Village: Migrants in Lilongwe Journal Article
In: Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 137-154, 2002.
@article{Englund2002b,
title = {The Village in the City, the City in the Village: Migrants in Lilongwe},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1080/03057070120117015},
year = {2002},
date = {2002-03-01},
urldate = {2002-03-01},
journal = {Journal of Southern African Studies},
volume = {28},
number = {1},
pages = {137-154},
abstract = {While the impact of transnational migration on Malawi's economic and social history is widely recognised, less is known about the country's urbanisation. The end of large-scale labour recruitment to South Africa appears to have increased internal migration, further encouraged by the political transition in the early 1990s. On the basis of fieldwork among migrants in a poor 'squatter' settlement in the capital, the article shows the economic and symbolic significance of the village in most low-income migrants' aspirations. After analysing the emergence of Lilongwe's low-income residential areas and the general characteristics of contemporary rural-urban migration, the article uses several variables to assess migrants' commitment to their rural areas of origin and to the city. A major finding is that while migration to urban areas rarely results in permanent settlement, the desire to improve the conditions of life in villages frequently leads to periods of residence in town. The significance of the village extends beyond economic considerations, as is demonstrated by the moral issues that witchcraft and funerals evoke in both rural and urban settings. The findings support recent perspectives on urbanism in South-central Africa by cautioning against teleological interpretations of rural-urban migration. The contribution of the article is less to establish a particular pattern or 'strategy' of contemporary migration in Malawi than to draw attention to the simultaneous and overlapping presence of urban and rural spaces in migrants' lives.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
While the impact of transnational migration on Malawi's economic and social history is widely recognised, less is known about the country's urbanisation. The end of large-scale labour recruitment to South Africa appears to have increased internal migration, further encouraged by the political transition in the early 1990s. On the basis of fieldwork among migrants in a poor 'squatter' settlement in the capital, the article shows the economic and symbolic significance of the village in most low-income migrants' aspirations. After analysing the emergence of Lilongwe's low-income residential areas and the general characteristics of contemporary rural-urban migration, the article uses several variables to assess migrants' commitment to their rural areas of origin and to the city. A major finding is that while migration to urban areas rarely results in permanent settlement, the desire to improve the conditions of life in villages frequently leads to periods of residence in town. The significance of the village extends beyond economic considerations, as is demonstrated by the moral issues that witchcraft and funerals evoke in both rural and urban settings. The findings support recent perspectives on urbanism in South-central Africa by cautioning against teleological interpretations of rural-urban migration. The contribution of the article is less to establish a particular pattern or 'strategy' of contemporary migration in Malawi than to draw attention to the simultaneous and overlapping presence of urban and rural spaces in migrants' lives.
2001
Englund, Harri
Chinyanja and the Language of Rights Journal Article
In: Nordic Journal of African Studies, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 299-319, 2001.
@article{Englund2001,
title = {Chinyanja and the Language of Rights},
author = {Harri Englund},
year = {2001},
date = {2001-01-01},
urldate = {2001-01-01},
journal = {Nordic Journal of African Studies},
volume = {10},
number = {3},
pages = {299-319},
abstract = {Discourses on human rights are among the most enduring consequences of the wave of democratisation that swept across sub-Saharan Africa during the 1990s. The "rights-talk" is spread by, among others, non-governmental organisations that consider "civic education" on rights as one of their major tasks. This article examines the case of Chinyanja in order to highlight challenges in the attempts to translate the rights-talk into vernacular languages. In Chinyanja, "human rights" are translated as ufulu wachibadwidwe wa munthu, literally "the freedom that the person is born with". In the context of persistent poverty and insecurity among many Chinyanja-speakers, such a translation appears to feed reactionary counter-discourses that criticise democracy for bringing "too much freedom". The article discusses theoretical problems in translation, particularly the question of linguistic relativity, and argues that translation is best seen as conversation with existing notions. By exploring the notion of interdependence in Chinyanja proverbs, the article finally demonstrates how extreme individualism and conservative counter-discourses do not have to constitute the only alternatives in Chinyanja debates on rights and democracy.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Discourses on human rights are among the most enduring consequences of the wave of democratisation that swept across sub-Saharan Africa during the 1990s. The "rights-talk" is spread by, among others, non-governmental organisations that consider "civic education" on rights as one of their major tasks. This article examines the case of Chinyanja in order to highlight challenges in the attempts to translate the rights-talk into vernacular languages. In Chinyanja, "human rights" are translated as ufulu wachibadwidwe wa munthu, literally "the freedom that the person is born with". In the context of persistent poverty and insecurity among many Chinyanja-speakers, such a translation appears to feed reactionary counter-discourses that criticise democracy for bringing "too much freedom". The article discusses theoretical problems in translation, particularly the question of linguistic relativity, and argues that translation is best seen as conversation with existing notions. By exploring the notion of interdependence in Chinyanja proverbs, the article finally demonstrates how extreme individualism and conservative counter-discourses do not have to constitute the only alternatives in Chinyanja debates on rights and democracy.
2000
Englund, Harri; Leach, James
Ethnography and the Meta‐Narratives of Modernity Journal Article
In: Current Anthropology, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 225-248, 2000.
@article{andJamesLeach2000,
title = {Ethnography and the Meta‐Narratives of Modernity},
author = {Harri Englund and James Leach},
doi = {10.1086/300126},
year = {2000},
date = {2000-05-01},
urldate = {2000-05-01},
journal = {Current Anthropology},
volume = {41},
number = {2},
pages = {225-248},
abstract = {Current attempts to increase the relevance of sociocultural anthropology encourage anthropologists to engage in the study of modernity. In this discourse dominated by sociologists, the contribution of anthropology is often to reveal cultural diversity in globalization, leading to the notion of multiple modernities. Yet such ethnographic accounts draw upon familiar sociological abstractions such as time-space compression, commodification, individualization, disenchantment, and reenchantment. This article shows how an underlying meta-narrative preempts social scientific argument by making shifts in analytical scales look natural, as in the alleged need to "situate" the particular in "wider" contexts. This analytical procedure undermines what is unique in the ethnographic method-its reflexivity, which gives subjects authority in determining the contexts of their beliefs and practices. Two ethnographic case studies are presented to support this argument, one from Melanesia on current interests in white people, money, and consumption and the other from Africa on born-again Christianity and individuality. The article ends by reflecting not only on the limits of metropolitan meta-narratives in returning relevance to anthropology but also on the contemporary conditions of academic work that undermine the knowledge practices of ethnography and render such meta-narratives plausible.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Current attempts to increase the relevance of sociocultural anthropology encourage anthropologists to engage in the study of modernity. In this discourse dominated by sociologists, the contribution of anthropology is often to reveal cultural diversity in globalization, leading to the notion of multiple modernities. Yet such ethnographic accounts draw upon familiar sociological abstractions such as time-space compression, commodification, individualization, disenchantment, and reenchantment. This article shows how an underlying meta-narrative preempts social scientific argument by making shifts in analytical scales look natural, as in the alleged need to "situate" the particular in "wider" contexts. This analytical procedure undermines what is unique in the ethnographic method-its reflexivity, which gives subjects authority in determining the contexts of their beliefs and practices. Two ethnographic case studies are presented to support this argument, one from Melanesia on current interests in white people, money, and consumption and the other from Africa on born-again Christianity and individuality. The article ends by reflecting not only on the limits of metropolitan meta-narratives in returning relevance to anthropology but also on the contemporary conditions of academic work that undermine the knowledge practices of ethnography and render such meta-narratives plausible.
1999
Englund, Harri
The Self in Self-Interest: Land, Labour and Temporalities in Malawi's Agrarian Change Journal Article
In: Africa, vol. 69, no. 1, 1999.
@article{Englund1999,
title = {The Self in Self-Interest: Land, Labour and Temporalities in Malawi's Agrarian Change},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.2307/1161080},
year = {1999},
date = {1999-01-01},
urldate = {1999-01-01},
journal = {Africa},
volume = {69},
number = {1},
abstract = {Cet article examine les contrats de main-d'œuvre agricole et la production des ménages dans le District de Dedza, au Malawi. En apparence, l'appauvrissement croissant crée des conditions propices à de profonds changements sociaux. Dans l'agriculture, ce sont les contrats à petite échelle, et non les grandes équipes de travail, qui mobilisent la masse de la main-d'œuvre “extradomestique”. Bien qu'ils soient payés en numéraire ou en nature, les ouvriers ont le plus souvent une parenté directe ou par alliance avec le recruteur. Ce modéle ne correspond done pas bien à l'idée selon laquelle, d'une part, la main-d'œuvre est une marchandise et, d'autre part, que les individus ne sont pas interdépendants. Toute affirmation concernant les changements de valeurs doit s'accompagner d'une analyse précise de la personne. Parmi les villageois du District de Dedza, la notion du soi dans les idiomes de moralité révèle que les rapports sociaux sont à Porigine des intérêts de l'individu. En recrutant de la main-d'œuvre, les riches villageois laissent transparaître les rapports qu'ils privilégient. Ces observations mettent en garde contre l'opinion selon laquelle la “réforme agraire” est un processus uniforme et téléologique dans lequel Pachat et la vente de main-d'œuvre impliquent ńecessairèment l'individualisme. Pour illustrer comment, dans de nombreux cas, les sentiments moraux constituent des phénomènes historiques, l'article étudie la situation difficile des réfugiés sans terres du District de Dedza. Sur fond d'exclusion matérielle et sociale, les contrats de main-d'œuvre agricole sont devenus une forme d'exploitation.
},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Cet article examine les contrats de main-d'œuvre agricole et la production des ménages dans le District de Dedza, au Malawi. En apparence, l'appauvrissement croissant crée des conditions propices à de profonds changements sociaux. Dans l'agriculture, ce sont les contrats à petite échelle, et non les grandes équipes de travail, qui mobilisent la masse de la main-d'œuvre “extradomestique”. Bien qu'ils soient payés en numéraire ou en nature, les ouvriers ont le plus souvent une parenté directe ou par alliance avec le recruteur. Ce modéle ne correspond done pas bien à l'idée selon laquelle, d'une part, la main-d'œuvre est une marchandise et, d'autre part, que les individus ne sont pas interdépendants. Toute affirmation concernant les changements de valeurs doit s'accompagner d'une analyse précise de la personne. Parmi les villageois du District de Dedza, la notion du soi dans les idiomes de moralité révèle que les rapports sociaux sont à Porigine des intérêts de l'individu. En recrutant de la main-d'œuvre, les riches villageois laissent transparaître les rapports qu'ils privilégient. Ces observations mettent en garde contre l'opinion selon laquelle la “réforme agraire” est un processus uniforme et téléologique dans lequel Pachat et la vente de main-d'œuvre impliquent ńecessairèment l'individualisme. Pour illustrer comment, dans de nombreux cas, les sentiments moraux constituent des phénomènes historiques, l'article étudie la situation difficile des réfugiés sans terres du District de Dedza. Sur fond d'exclusion matérielle et sociale, les contrats de main-d'œuvre agricole sont devenus une forme d'exploitation.
1998
Englund, Harri
Culture, Environment & the Enemies of Complexity Journal Article
In: Review of African Political Economy, vol. 25, no. 76, pp. 179-188, 1998.
@article{Englund1998,
title = {Culture, Environment & the Enemies of Complexity},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1080/03056249808704308},
year = {1998},
date = {1998-06-01},
urldate = {1998-06-01},
journal = {Review of African Political Economy},
volume = {25},
number = {76},
pages = {179-188},
abstract = {This article assesses recent debate regarding dimensions of post‐cold war conflict in Africa. It reviews the populist, and influential assertion that the ‘coming anarchy’, in Africa and elsewhere, is the result increasingly of clashes between cultures rather than states, and that these nation states necessarily give rise to primordial ethnicities. There continues to be a view that Africa's ills lie with overpopulation, environmental degradation and ethnic conflict. In contrast to the travel writing of authors like Kaplan nuanced perspectives challenging conventional wisdom can be underpinned by the force of anthropology and contemporary debates, relating to the new ecology and critiques of power.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article assesses recent debate regarding dimensions of post‐cold war conflict in Africa. It reviews the populist, and influential assertion that the ‘coming anarchy’, in Africa and elsewhere, is the result increasingly of clashes between cultures rather than states, and that these nation states necessarily give rise to primordial ethnicities. There continues to be a view that Africa's ills lie with overpopulation, environmental degradation and ethnic conflict. In contrast to the travel writing of authors like Kaplan nuanced perspectives challenging conventional wisdom can be underpinned by the force of anthropology and contemporary debates, relating to the new ecology and critiques of power.
Englund, Harri
Death, trauma and ritual: Mozambican refugees in Malawi Journal Article
In: Social Science [?] Medicine, vol. 46, no. 9, pp. 1165-1174, 1998.
@article{Englund1998b,
title = {Death, trauma and ritual: Mozambican refugees in Malawi},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1016/S0277-9536(97)10044-2},
year = {1998},
date = {1998-05-01},
urldate = {1998-05-01},
journal = {Social Science [?] Medicine},
volume = {46},
number = {9},
pages = {1165-1174},
abstract = {For many non-governmental organizations, the treatment of war trauma among refugees has become a key issue in humanitarian assistance. There is, however, as yet little independent evaluation of the notions and therapeutic practices which inform humanitarian interventions in refugees' mental health. By drawing on intensive anthropological fieldwork, the paper problematizes two central issues in these interventions: the role of past experiences in refugees' present well-being, on the one hand, and the need to verbalize trauma in a therapy, on the other. An alternative approach to refugees' mental health draws on current theoretical insights into non-discursive bodily practices. The paper substantiates these insights by focusing on the therapeutic salience of funerals and spirit exorcism among Mozambican refugees in Malawi. By exorcizing the vengeful spirits of those who had died during the war, refugees were also healing their war traumas. It was not so much the loss as the difficulty in observing a full range of rituals that characterized refugees' predicament. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which humanitarian assistance could utilize these insights.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
For many non-governmental organizations, the treatment of war trauma among refugees has become a key issue in humanitarian assistance. There is, however, as yet little independent evaluation of the notions and therapeutic practices which inform humanitarian interventions in refugees' mental health. By drawing on intensive anthropological fieldwork, the paper problematizes two central issues in these interventions: the role of past experiences in refugees' present well-being, on the one hand, and the need to verbalize trauma in a therapy, on the other. An alternative approach to refugees' mental health draws on current theoretical insights into non-discursive bodily practices. The paper substantiates these insights by focusing on the therapeutic salience of funerals and spirit exorcism among Mozambican refugees in Malawi. By exorcizing the vengeful spirits of those who had died during the war, refugees were also healing their war traumas. It was not so much the loss as the difficulty in observing a full range of rituals that characterized refugees' predicament. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which humanitarian assistance could utilize these insights.
1996
Englund, Harri
Witchcraft, Modernity and the Person: The Morality of Accumulation in Central Malawi Journal Article
In: Critique of Anthropology, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 257-279, 1996.
@article{Englund1996,
title = {Witchcraft, Modernity and the Person: The Morality of Accumulation in Central Malawi},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1177/0308275X9601600303},
year = {1996},
date = {1996-09-01},
urldate = {1996-09-01},
journal = {Critique of Anthropology},
volume = {16},
number = {3},
pages = {257-279},
abstract = {L'A. affirme que les discours de sorcellerie dans le district de Dedza a Malawi sont des discussions sur la maniere dont la prosperite peut etre acquise d'une facon moralement acceptable (contraire a l'individualisme) plutot que des reactions a l'imposition d'un ordre global de production, de transaction et de consommation de matieres premieres. Depuis que la population de Dedza participe aux relations de ces biens dans le cadre de la migration de travail, de l'exploitation de legumes et d'un petit commerce, ces biens ne sont plus consideres comme problematiques ni dangereux. L'A. souligne que Jean et John Comaroff ont raison de dire que la sorcellerie contemporaine reflete la « modernite » des mondes locaux africains mais soit elle glisse vers une tautologie soit elle estompe des differences importantes en reduisant une variete d'arguments culturellement specifiques a des arguments sur la modernite},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
L'A. affirme que les discours de sorcellerie dans le district de Dedza a Malawi sont des discussions sur la maniere dont la prosperite peut etre acquise d'une facon moralement acceptable (contraire a l'individualisme) plutot que des reactions a l'imposition d'un ordre global de production, de transaction et de consommation de matieres premieres. Depuis que la population de Dedza participe aux relations de ces biens dans le cadre de la migration de travail, de l'exploitation de legumes et d'un petit commerce, ces biens ne sont plus consideres comme problematiques ni dangereux. L'A. souligne que Jean et John Comaroff ont raison de dire que la sorcellerie contemporaine reflete la « modernite » des mondes locaux africains mais soit elle glisse vers une tautologie soit elle estompe des differences importantes en reduisant une variete d'arguments culturellement specifiques a des arguments sur la modernite
Englund, Harri
Waiting for the Portuguese: Nostalgia, exploitation and the meaning of land in the Malawi‐Mozambique Borderland 1 Journal Article
In: Journal of Contemporary African Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 157-172, 1996.
@article{Englund1996b,
title = {Waiting for the Portuguese: Nostalgia, exploitation and the meaning of land in the Malawi‐Mozambique Borderland 1},
author = {Harri Englund},
doi = {10.1080/02589009608729589},
year = {1996},
date = {1996-07-01},
urldate = {1996-07-01},
journal = {Journal of Contemporary African Studies},
volume = {14},
number = {2},
pages = {157-172},
abstract = {This article probes the cultural value of land among villagers in the borderland of Malawi's Dedza District and Mozambique's Angonia District. The analysis draws urgency from the opportunism that the confusion in land administration currently fosters in post-war Mozambique. Based on fieldwork the author shows how the meaning of land in borderland villagers' moral order has appeared in their encounters with Portuguese settlers, during their displacement and in villagers' expectations after the war. The main conclusion is somewhat disconcerting. By virtue of the cultural emphasis on performance, in the sense of the positive outcome of endeavour, and their positive memories of Portuguese settlers, borderland villagers eagerly await the return of white settlers. This article moves beyond the documentation of postcolonial nostalgia by asking an uncomfortable question about exploitation. Does the meaning of land among borderland villagers create, in post-war Mozambique, conditions for exploitation?.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article probes the cultural value of land among villagers in the borderland of Malawi's Dedza District and Mozambique's Angonia District. The analysis draws urgency from the opportunism that the confusion in land administration currently fosters in post-war Mozambique. Based on fieldwork the author shows how the meaning of land in borderland villagers' moral order has appeared in their encounters with Portuguese settlers, during their displacement and in villagers' expectations after the war. The main conclusion is somewhat disconcerting. By virtue of the cultural emphasis on performance, in the sense of the positive outcome of endeavour, and their positive memories of Portuguese settlers, borderland villagers eagerly await the return of white settlers. This article moves beyond the documentation of postcolonial nostalgia by asking an uncomfortable question about exploitation. Does the meaning of land among borderland villagers create, in post-war Mozambique, conditions for exploitation?.