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Title: The Underneath of Things: Violence, History, and the Everyday in Sierra Leone
ISBN: 0520225430
Author:
Mariane Ferme
Publicate Date: 2001-09-03
Publish: 2001-09-03
List Price: $29.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $25.92
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $17.30
Amazon Merchant Price: $29.95
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Underneath the meaning of words....
I am using this book to gather data for my M.A. thesis on Mende women. Considering the fact that I have not traveled to Mendeland, I cannot gauge the accuracy of Ferme's interpretations and meanings. However, like the other reviewers, this book is very academic and it doesn't seem like Ferme can decide whether she is writing for the academy or for people who actually want to learn about Mende culture.
I appreciated how Ferme examined the way objects are gendered and the roles objects play in everyday Mende life. However, be prepared to struggle through terms like "semiotic" or "transmogrifying"... :0
Nevertheless, a very important contribution to your library on West African culture and useful insights on practices such as hair braiding, fishing and masquerades.
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2: The Underneath of things. Marian Ferme
This is a deeply researched piece on Mende beliefs and customs by a Social Anthropologist. It claims to be on Violence,History, and the Everyday in Sierra Leone. This it does not accomplish. It is rather a study of a certain tribe and limited to a defined geographic location within Sierra Leone.For someone interested in Mende culture it makes good reading,familiarizes one with unusual cultural practices. On the whole it gives you a better understanding of common phehomena which the casual by-stander would count as nought. It however requires concentrated reading, and for those who have travelled in Mendeland much reflection on incidents and practices that were once observed. I recommend this book for any student of African Philosophy, travellers, and also the casual curious types.
Ked E. James, M.D.
Petal, MS.
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3: Academic indeed......
Honestly, I couldn't make heads or tails of this book - and I am an entirely over-educated offspring of academics, a native speaker of English, and a voracious reader. I just didn't understand the words! I purchased this book before moving to Sierra Leone to manage an aid program, hoping to gain insight into the people I would be living and working with. This book, however, was more about anthropological theory than the Mende people; it served to illustrate academic points rather than the cultural world they inhabit. Entire chapters were devoted to such esoterica as the meaning of "twins" and the supreme symbolic significance of placement of hammocks vs. stools within the household. Meanwhile, the prose is peppered with endless usage of such words as "homologous" and "hermeutic" along with liberal sprinklings of Mende words - which are defined the first time they are used, but as there is no glossary to subsequently refer to by the end of the book the reader is lost in linguistic gobbledy-gook. I am sure that this book has contributed to academic inquiry -- but from my perspective, I have never read an entire book about a people and place and learned so little about them.
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