The Funeral and Modernity in Manjaco
2006; Wiley; Volume: 21; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1525/can.2006.21.3.385
ISSN1548-1360
Autores Tópico(s)African Studies and Ethnography
ResumoCultural AnthropologyVolume 21, Issue 3 p. 385-415 The Funeral and Modernity in Manjaco Eric Gable, Eric Gable University of Mary WashingtonSearch for more papers by this author Eric Gable, Eric Gable University of Mary WashingtonSearch for more papers by this author First published: 07 January 2008 https://doi.org/10.1525/can.2006.21.3.385Citations: 15AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract This article asks what it means when Manjaco urban migrants embody and perform cosmopolitanism during funeral ceremonies in rural homelands in Guinea–Bissau. The format of the funeral allows for assertions of individuality that are routinely portrayed as destructive, but destructiveness is imagined as an enduring, by no means recent, feature of social life, whether traditional or cosmopolitan. Manjaco returnees are not compelled to disguise their cosmopolitanism in the mufti of tradition if they want to find a space for themselves in the village. Rather, as the funeral opens up a space for emigrants to celebrate their personal freedom of movement and their capacity to leave the village at will, cosmopolitanism can become the costume of choice at home as well as abroad. In enacting their accomplishments at funerals, Manjaco emigrants make room for cosmopolitanism as a part of what they consider to be "tradition" rather than its opposite. This cosmopolitanism as tradition is pervasive in West Africa. On the basis of an "ethos of modernity," it is very different from the dichotomizing modernity that is a quintessential feature of both Western vernaculars and of the predominant discourses of social science. Citing Literature Volume21, Issue3August 2006Pages 385-415 RelatedInformation
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