The Taste of Ethnographic Things: The Senses in Anthropology

The Taste of Ethnographic Thi ngs

University of Pennsylvania Press

Contemporary Ethnography Series Dan Rose and Paul Stoller, General Editors Camille Bacon-Smith. Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular My th. 1992.

John D. Dorst. The Written Suburb: An American Site, An Ethno­ graphic Dilemma. 1989. Douglas E. Foley. Learning Capitalist Culture: Deep in the Heart of Tejas. 1990. Kirin Narayan. Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels: Folk Narrative in Hindu Religious Teaching. 1989. Dan Rose. Patterns of American Culture: Ethnography and Estrangement. 1989. Paul Stoller. The Taste of Ethnographic Things: The Senses in Anthropology. 1989. Jim Wafer. the Taste of Blood: Spirit Possession in Brazilian Can­ domble. 1991.

THE TASTE OF ETHNOGRAPHIC THINGS The Senses in Anthropology Paul Stoller

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS

Philadelphia

Jacket illustration: "Spice Bazaar." Photo by Cheryl Olkes Frontispiece: "A Lamb Roast i n Mehanna, N i ger." Photo by the author Figures 2, 9 , photos by Cheryl Olkes . All other figures photos by the au thor

Discourse and the Social Life of Meaning, ed. P. Chock and J. Wyman . Copyright© 1 986 by the Smi thsonian Institut ion . Reprinted by permission .

Portions of Chapter 8 from

Copyright© 1 989 by the University of Pennsylvania Press A l l rights reserved Pri nted in the U n i ted Sta tes of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publ ica tion Data Stol ler, Paul . The taste o f ethnographic thi ngs : the senses i n anthropology I Pau l Stol ler. p. cm.-( U n i versity of Pennsy l vania Press contemporary ethnography series) Bibl iography: p. Includes i ndex . ISBN 0-8 1 22-8 1 86- 1 .-ISBN 0-8 1 22- 1 292-4 (pbk .) I. Songhai (African people) 2. Sense and sensa tion-Cross­ cul tural studies. 3. Ethnology- N i ger-Field work . I . Title. I I . Series . DT547 .4S .S65S765 1 989 89-33670 306' .096626-dc20 CIP Thi rd paperback printing 1 992

For Cheryl

Contents

List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction: A Return to the Senses

3

PART I

Tastes in Anthropology

1

T he Taste of Ethnographic Things

15

CO-AUTHORED BY CHERYL OLKES

PART II

Visions in the Field

2

Eye, Mind, and Word in Anthropology

3

"Gazing" at the Space of Songhay Politics

4

Signs in the Social Order: Riding a Songhay Bush Taxi

5

Son of Rouch: Songhay Visions of the Other

PART III

Sounds in Cultural Experience

6

Sound in Songhay Possession

101

37 56

84

69

x

7

Contents

Sound in Songhay Sorcery

113

PART IV

The Senses in Anthropology

8

The Reconstruction of Ethnography

9

Detours

142

Notes 157 References Cited 167 Films Cited 178 Index 179

125

Illustrations

Frontispiece : A lamb roast in Mehanna

1 Preparation of"kilshi" at market in Mehanna 2 Spice bazaar

16

18

3 Gazing at space in Mehanna

38

4 The Friday mosque in Mehanna 5 Distribution of fields in Mehanna

55 58

6 Distribution of compounds in Mehanna

60

7 Exceptions to the normative distribution of Songhay space 8 A Songhay bush taxi on the Dosul to Markoy route 9 "Son of Rouch" in Niamey, Niger, 1976

61

70

85

10 Musicians at a possession ceremony in Mehanna, 1977 11 A possession ceremony in Mehanna, 1977

107

12 Sorko Djibo Mounmouni reciting an incantation over a sacrificial chicken 114 13 Sorko Djibo Mounmouni , master of words

126

14 Sohanci Adamu Jenitongo , master of"detours"

143

102

Acknowledgments

This book is the result of the col lec t i ve efforts of many people and many inst i t u t ions . I could not have traveled to Niger over the years wi thout gen­ erous support from foundations and U .S . Govern ment Agencies . Fie l dwork in 1 976-77 was financed through grants from the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Program (G00-76-03659) and from the Wenner-Gren Founda­ t ion for Anthropological Research (No. 3 1 75). Research in N i ger in 1 979-80 was made possible through a NATO Postdoctoral Fel lowship i n Sc ience . My work in N iger i n 1 98 1 and 1 982-83 was made possible through grants from the A merican Phi losophical Society and West Chester U n i versi ty. Grants from the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and West Chester Univers i ty made possible field studies i n the summer of 1 984. Further grants from West Chester U n i versity enabled me to conduct re­ search in N i ger in 1 985-86 and 1 987 . The perspective of this boo k has been inf l uenced greatly by my gradu­ ate studies in soc iolinguist ics at Georgetown U n i versity and in l i nguistic anthropology at the U n i versity of Texas at Austi n . At Georgetown Roger Shuy taught me a great deal about the relation between language and soc iety, and Joan Rubin i n t roduced me to anthropology. At the U n i versity of Texas a t Austin the intel lectual guidance offered me by Annette B. Weiner and Joel Sherzer has been i nvaluable . At the M usee de ! ' Homme in Pa ris, Jean Rouch pa tiently poi n ted a near-sigh ted student in the right d i rection . In Niger, I must honor t h e memory o f the late Seyni Kountche , President of the Repu b l i c , who gran ted me numerous au thori za tions to conduct eth­ nographic field research in his country. At the Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines I have received warm encouragement and support

xiv

Acknowledgments

from Djoulde Laya, Dj ibo Haman i , and Hamidou Arouna Sidikou , past direc tors , and Boube Gado, the present director. After mon ths in the Ni­ gerien bush, Jean-Fran