Silva, Sonia

Along an African Border

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ISBN 13:
9780812222685
author:
Silva, Sonia
format:
Paperback
publisher:
University of Pennsylvania Press
language:
English
Publication Year:
2013
Pages:
188
Dimensions:
22.61 x 15.49 x 1.52 centimetres
Genre:
Religion, Ethnic & Tribal, Nonfiction,
Condition:
New
Availability:
Item usually sent within 10 working days
£24.83

Description

The divination baskets of south Central Africa are woven for a specific purpose. Each basket contains sixty or so small articles, from seeds to wooden carvings, each with its own name and symbolic meaning. For the people who use these baskets, they are more than just containers - they are tools that provide crucial information from the past and advice for the future. In "Along an African Border", anthropologist Sónia Silva explores how Angolan refugees living in Zambia use these divination baskets to cope with daily life in a new land. She documents the special processes involved in weaving the baskets and transforming them into oracles, as well as the ways in which people seek guidance from the lipele messages. The lipele baskets are believed to be capable of thinking, hearing, judging, and responding, communicating through the arrangement of jipelo articles. They play a vital role in helping people maintain their links to kin and tradition in a world marked by transience and uncertainty.

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