Divine Fertility: The Continuity in Transformation of an Ideology of Sacred Kinship in Northeast Africa

ISBN-13: 9781032174853 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 400 str.

Sada Mire

Opis

This book explores the impact of indigenous ideology and thought on everyday life in Northeast Africa. It shows that for millennia complex indigenous institutions have bound people together beyond the labels of Christianity and Islam; they have sustained peace through cultural exchange and tolerance, if not always complete acceptance.

Spis treści

1 Introduction: Aims, structure, concepts, terminology, the movement of peoples and ideas; 2 Sacred landscapes, materiality and fertility rituals; 3 Material culture, fertility and sacrifice at the sacred site of Aw-Barkhadle; 4 In the name of divine kinship: the fertility bath, Bun Shuruur (Coffee ceremony), Baanashada Dumarka (Nurturing of women), Zar, Sitaat, Wagar, Gudniin Fircooni (FGM), Waqlaal (Child naming ritual) and Istunka (Stick fight); 5 In the name of divine fertility: indigenous institutions and Sufi Islam in the Horn of Africa; 6 An ideology of fertility in the archaeology of the Horn of Africa: Aw-Barkhadle and beyond; 7 Conclusions; Appendix 1. Saint Aw-Barkhadle’s genealogy; Appendix 2. The list of sheikhs and sheikhas buried at Aw-Barkhadle; Appendix 3. Glossary

O autorze

Sada Mire is an award-winning Swedish-Somali archaeologist with a PhD from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology. She is founder and executive director of Horn Heritage Organisation, an archaeology and heritage research institution with offices in the Horn of Africa and The Netherlands. Mire was the founding director of Somaliland’s Department of Archaeology until 2012 and since then has held academic positions at a several European universities including Leiden University. She has received a number of honours for her work, including being selected for lists such as New Scientist’s "Most Inspiring Women in Science of All Times" in 2016 and The Hay Festival of Literature and Arts’ list of 30 Global Thinkers and Writers. Mire’s popular contributions as well as commissioned features on her work appear regularly in the international media, such as the BBC, The Guardian, CNN and Channel Four, UK. At the moment, she is working on a book on Somali Heritage and Identity Conflicts.