{"product_id":"bewitching-development-james-howard-smith-9780226764573","title":"Bewitching Development: Witchcraft and the Reinvention of Development in Neoliberal Kenya","description":"These days, development inspires scant trust in the West. For critics who condemn centralized efforts to plan African societies as latter day imperialism, such plans too closely reflect their roots in colonial rule and neoliberal economics. But proponents of this pessimistic view often ignore how significant this concept has become for Africans themselves. In \u003ci\u003eBewitching Development\u003c\/i\u003e, James Howard Smith presents a close ethnographic account of how people in the Taita Hills of Kenya have appropriated and made sense of development thought and practice, focusing on the complex ways that development connects with changing understandings of witchcraft. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSimilar to magic, development's promise of a better world elicits both hope and suspicion from Wataita. Smith shows that the unforeseen changes wrought by development--greater wealth for some, dashed hopes for many more--foster moral debates that Taita people express in occult terms. By carefully chronicling the beliefs and actions of this diverse community--from frustrated youths to nostalgic seniors, duplicitous preachers to thought-provoking witch doctors--\u003ci\u003eBewitching\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eDevelopment\u003c\/i\u003e vividly depicts the social life of formerly foreign ideas and practices in postcolonial Africa.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e James Howard Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0226764575\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226764573\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/01\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChronicle of Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/05\/2008 pg. 19","brand":"James Howard Smith","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48086425993471,"sku":"9780226764573","price":99.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_0cda120e-e4e8-4222-b65c-c56db791e0d8.jpg?v=1769094601","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/bewitching-development-james-howard-smith-9780226764573","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}