{"product_id":"prayer-has-spoiled-everything-adeline-masquelier-9780822326335","title":"Prayer Has Spoiled Everything: Possession, Power, and Identity in an Islamic Town of Niger","description":"Bori, in the Mawri society of Niger, are mischievous and invisible beings that populate the bush. Bori is also the practice of taming these wild forces in the context of possession ceremonies. In \u003ci\u003ePrayer Has Spoiled Everything\u003c\/i\u003e Adeline Masquelier offers an account of how this phenomenon intervenes--sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically--in human lives, providing a constantly renewed source of meaning for Mawri peasants confronted with cultural contradictions and socio-economic marginalization. \u003cbr\u003e\tTo explore the role of bori possession in local definitions of history, power, and identity, Masquelier spent a total of two years in Niger, focusing on the diverse ways in which spirit mediums share, transform, and contest a rapidly changing reality, threatened by Muslim hegemony and financial hardship. She explains how the spread of Islam has provoked irreversible change in the area and how prayer--a conspicuous element of daily life that has become virtually synonymous with Islamic practice in this region of west Africa--has thus become equated with the loss of tradition. By focusing on some of the creative and complex ways that bori at once competes with and borrows from Islam, Masquelier reveals how possession nonetheless remains deeply embedded in Mawri culture, representing more than simple resistance to Islam, patriarchy, or the state. Despite a widening gap between former ways of life and the contradictions of the present, it maintains its place as a feature of daily life in which villagers participate with varying degrees of enthusiasm and approval. \u003cbr\u003e\tSpecialists in African studies, in the anthropology of religion, and in the historical transformations of colonial and postcolonial societies will welcome this study.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Adeline Masquelier\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0822326337\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780822326335\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 03\/26\/2001\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.95lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.10w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2001 pg. 554","brand":"Adeline Masquelier","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48086968369407,"sku":"9780822326335","price":117.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_663c3ae8-60f6-46cb-9329-e9e7195a6a09.jpg?v=1769097541","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/prayer-has-spoiled-everything-adeline-masquelier-9780822326335","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}