Description |
1 online resource (xvi, 188 pages) : illustrations, digital, pdf |
Contents |
"Magic" in contemporary Africa -- Spirits in battle -- Thinking about practice in warfare -- Notes on the case study -- The Sierra Leone Civil War and civil defence -- Spiritual context as habitus and capital -- Creating magic soldiers : Kamajor mobilisation and initiation -- The Kamajors in battle : magic, tactics, and success -- Local practice and the wider world of warfare |
Summary |
This study explores the roles played by magic in contemporary African warfare, specifically through the case of Sierra Leone, to assess its impact on behaviour in conflict. In the last fifteen years, rituals designed to imbue people with supernatural power and make them immune to enemy fire have been seen on battlefields across Africa. Wlodarczyk argues that the use of magic in warfare can be understood, not as an illustration of how Africa's reality is qualitatively different from the West's, but as appropriate and logical. Here, a conceptual framework is suggested for analysing culturally alien practices more broadly, to inform approaches to civilian and military intervention not only in Africa but in conflict theatres around the world |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-176) and index |
SUBJECT |
Fremder Feind gnd |
Subject |
Military art and science -- Sierra Leone
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Magic -- Political aspects -- Sierra Leone
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Shamans -- Sierra Leone
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War and society -- Sierra Leone
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Ethnic conflict -- Africa -- Case studies
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War -- Religious aspects -- Case studies
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Military art and science -- Africa -- Case studies
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Magic -- Political aspects -- Africa -- Case studies
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War and society -- Africa -- Case studies
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HISTORY.
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Ethnic conflict
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Military art and science
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Shamans
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War and society
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War -- Religious aspects
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Magie
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Krieg
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SUBJECT |
Sierra Leone -- History -- Civil War, 1991-2002 -- Religious aspects
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Subject |
Africa
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Sierra Leone
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Afrika
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Sierra Leone -- Bürgerkrieg <1991-2002>
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Genre/Form |
Case studies
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History
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Form |
Electronic book
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ISBN |
9780230103344 |
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0230103340 |
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0230621023 |
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9780230621022 |
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1282742574 |
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9781282742574 |
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9781349383139 |
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1349383139 |
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