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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The heart of the matter: interpreting bloodsucking accusations in Mauritania |
Author: | Pettigrew, Erin |
Year: | 2016 |
Periodical: | The Journal of African History (ISSN 0021-8537) |
Volume: | 57 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 417-435 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | West Africa Sahara Mauritania |
Subjects: | rumours witchcraft slaves social change social history |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853716000323 |
Abstract: | This article examines events involving accusations of bloodsucking in the southwestern Sahara. French colonial archives allow researchers to identify specific cases in time and location; however, this article seeks to address but then move beyond histories of colonial governance. To highlight how communities in the Saharan desert dealt with crises provoked by environmental and social change, this investigation also relies on locally-produced written legal opinions and oral testimony. Emerging from these Saharan sources is one facet of how desert communities envisioned the enchantment of their social worlds and understood difficult periods caused by famine, weak economies, and domestic tensions. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |