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Cultural Dynamics, Vol. 9, No. 2, 183-194 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/092137409700900205

Cosmologers and Capitalism

Knowing History and Practising Sorcery in Mayotte

Rosalind Shaw

Tufts University, Medford, MA

Lambek's monumental volume is currently the best full study of multiple religious discourses. His opposition between 'objective' (textual) and 'embodied' knowledge among the three disciplines of cosmology (or sorcery), Islam, and spirit possession on Mayotte, however, is problematic. Thus whereas he characterizes cosmology/sorcery as the most 'objective' discipline, its textual knowledge is inseparable from the transformed bodily capacities it entails. Pushing the interpretation of cosmology and sorcery further, this article develops Lambek's suggestion that sorcery embodies a submerged history of slavery and colonial labour. Far from being irrelevant to present concerns, this paper argues that these 'sorcery memories' appear especially salient as moral commentaries on recent processes of entrepreneurship and impoverishment.

Key Words: capitalism • embodiment • history • memory • sorcery


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