Coastal Sierra Leone: Materiality and the Unseen in Maritime West Africa

ISBN-13: 9781108454681 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 248 str.

Jennifer Diggins

Opis

A rich ethnographic account of young West African fisherfolk navigating a precarious social and economic environment shaped by ecological crisis, war, and secrecy.

Recenzje

'Jennifer Diggins's Coastal Sierra Leone is a brilliant, compelling, ethnographically rich account of the intersection of morality and economy in a busy fishing community. Beautifully written, the book offers riveting stories of everyday struggles to survive in a place of ecological depletion, state neglect, and uncertain economic and social change. Yet as much as Diggins's account evokes empathy for her interlocutors, Coastal Sierra Leone is equally noteworthy for the author's unflinching attention to the underbelly of social life in this maritime community. At once sensitive to people's hardships and attuned to the moral hazards of making a living and a life in such precarious circumstances, Diggins neither romanticizes nor pathologizes her subjects. I strongly recommend reading it all. I couldn't put it down.' Daniel Jordan Smith, American Ethnologist

Spis treści

List of illustrations; A note on translations; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Context, history, methods; 3. Economic runaways; 4. Plantain island sirens; 5. Potato rope families; 6. Occult economies and hidden topographies; 7. Material words; 8. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.