{"product_id":"a-ritual-geology-robyn-davignon-9781478015833","title":"A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa","description":"Set against the ongoing corporate enclosure of West Africa's goldfields, \u003ci\u003eA Ritual Geology\u003c\/i\u003e tells the untold history of one of the world's oldest indigenous gold mining industries: Francophone West Africa's \u003ci\u003eorpaillage\u003c\/i\u003e. Establishing African miners as producers of subterranean knowledge, Robyn d'Avignon uncovers a dynamic \"ritual geology\" of techniques and cosmological engagements with the earth developed by agrarian residents of gold-bearing rocks in savanna West Africa. Colonial and corporate exploration geology in the region was built upon the ritual knowledge, gold discoveries, and skilled labor of African miners even as states racialized African mining as archaic, criminal, and pagan. Spanning the medieval and imperial past to the postcolonial present, d'Avignon weaves together long-term ethnographic and oral historical work in southeastern Senegal with archival and archeological evidence from Burkina Faso, Ce d'Ivoire, Guinea, and Mali. \u003ci\u003eA Ritual Geology\u003c\/i\u003e introduces transnational geological formations as a new regional framework for African studies, environmental history, and anthropology.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robyn D'Avignon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1478015837\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781478015833\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Duke University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/26\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 328\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.33lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.75d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2023","brand":"Robyn D'Avignon","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44071490388223,"sku":"9781478015833","price":104.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_32197722-abe3-4019-9c54-a6b6d6d2b1b8.jpg?v=1685436408","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/a-ritual-geology-robyn-davignon-9781478015833","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}