First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The contributors to this investigation of dreaming in a diversity of African cultures and settings have each approached the matter with a respect for an indigenous discourse which does not necessarily subscribe to Western evaluations of the objective and subjective. The matter of dreaming is not so much a psychological constant as ultimately sociological and historical.
Dream discourse as a strategy deploys contingencies in the elaboration of social relationships and the defence, restoration and promotion of identities. Dreaming is therefore prominent in such critical settings as sickness...

Ingessana presents the results of field research carried out in the Ingessana Hills area of Sudan, between the White and the Blue Niles, among a people who maintain a proud tradition of cultural independence. The book examines the religious institutions of the Ingessana people, attempting to understand how their history and development has been affected by interaction with powerful neighbours, such as the Islamic Sudanese, Nilotics and Ethiopian groups. The Ingessana have always sought to define this engagement in their own terms and in such a way as to preserve their distinctive...