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Heiss, J. (2015). Musa. An essay (or experiment) in the anthropology of the individual. Duncker & Humblot. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-54781-4
Heiss, Jan Patrick. Musa: An essay (or experiment) in the anthropology of the individual. Duncker & Humblot, 2015. Book. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-54781-4
Heiss, J (2015): Musa: An essay (or experiment) in the anthropology of the individual, Duncker & Humblot, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-54781-4

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Musa

An essay (or experiment) in the anthropology of the individual

Heiss, Jan Patrick

Anthropology, Existence and Individuals, Vol. 2

(2015)

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About The Author

Jan Patrick Heiss is Lecturer at the Department of Social Anthropology and Empirical Cultural Studies (ISEK) at the University of Zurich. He has published on the anthropology of work, methods and peasants, and he has done field-research in Niger, Nigeria and Chad.

Abstract

Anthropology does not usually select a person and try to empirically research, describe, analyse and explain their present life. However, this is the main objective pursued in this book. The field subject who becomes a theme in it is Musa, a Hausa peasant from Niger. This study thus provides an account of his present life and tries to explain it by drawing on the literature on peasants and on Islam in the region. This book also tries to show that the study of individuals »as such« is a topic for anthropology which deserves more attention. It argues that anthropology could benefit from an explicit discussion of the notion of the individual by providing more differentiated accounts of individuals as it tries to contribute to a development of an appropriate notion of the individual for anthropology. Furthermore, it makes the point that the study of individuals contributes to a better understanding of the interrelationship between different social fields, e.g. religion and economy.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Acknowledgment 5
Contents 7
Introduction 13
A. The Research Site – Kimoram 21
I. Niger: Climate, Ethnic Groups, Administrative Structures 21
II. The Canton de Garin Gabas, the Chef de Canton, Maire and Headmen 23
III. Kimoram 30
B. The Research Process 45
I. Methods for the Study of Individuals: Participant Observation and Shadowing 46
II. The Theories in the Researcher’s Mind 49
III. Interaction with Field Subjects 51
C. Musa – Daily Life in Kimoram 58
I. Musa – Household and Family 58
II. Musa’s Life History 60
III. Daily Routine 61
IV. People Close and Distant 74
D. Musa – Relationships and Activities 77
I. Mariama 77
1. Having a wife 77
2. Rights and duties 79
3. Power and authority 81
4. Man and woman 85
5. Intimacy and love 85
II. The Children 91
1. Custody 91
2. The value of children 94
3. Providing for the children 96
4. Interaction with the children 98
III. The Father 103
1. Splitting up the household 103
2. Power relations 107
3. A valued relationship and mutual affection 108
4. Diverging interests and conflicts 109
IV. Other Household Members 115
V. Kin and Affines 117
1. Dangi 117
2. Abdu’s and the Imam’s kinship group 119
3. Other kinsmen from Musa’s dangi 124
4. Affines 127
VI. The Village, Friends and Relations in the Wider Region 129
1. Communal prayer 131
2. Ceremonies on the occasion of birth, marriage and death 132
3. Self-regulation 133
4. Village assemblies 134
5. Formal organisations: cereal bank and water pump 135
6. Self-regulation again 138
7. School and self-regulation 140
8. Musa’s community work 140
9. Friends and relations in the wider region 142
VII. Labour Migration 144
1. Nimari 146
2. Fieldwork in Nimari 149
3. The migrant labourers’ journey to Nimari 150
4. Getting started 151
5. Daily routine 154
6. Musa in different social settings 158
7. People close and distant 159
8. The villagers from Kimoram 160
a) The composition of the group 160
b) Rights and duties, cooperation, competition 161
c) Patience and anger 161
d) Maula 165
e) Carrying on with Kimoram 166
9. The bakery 168
10. Other relations beyond the bakery and the workplace 172
11. Relations at the workplace 173
12. Earning and spending money 176
13. Musa’s relationship with his work and with Nimari 178
VIII. Religion and Magic 180
1. Basic tenets 181
2. Prayer 182
3. Fasting during the month of Ramadan 183
4. The religious dimension of social norms and values 184
5. Divine sanctions 185
6. Responsibility 186
7. Islamic learning 186
8. Religious lore 190
9. Qur’anic medicine 191
10. Religion, others and the self 193
11. Other religions 194
12. Spirits 194
13. Witches 195
14. Humans with extraordinary abilities 196
15. Medicine 198
16. Musa’s religious beliefs in everyday life: Certainty of religious beliefs and confidence in the future 200
a) Certainty of beliefs 201
b) Certainty of the future: confidence 202
E. Who is Musa? 206
I. Desires 206
II. Social Relations 212
1. Relations within the family 212
2. Relations beyond the family 214
3. The village community 217
4. Material goods in social relationships 218
5. Being among others 221
III. Values 223
1. Conflict-avoidance and peacefulness 224
2. Patience 224
3. Reason 225
4. Self-control 226
5. Shame-sensitivity 226
6. ‘Love’ of others 227
7. Obedience towards one’s parents and elders 227
8. Equanimity and freedom from bad mood 228
9. Accepting reality 228
10. Courage 229
11. Work 229
IV. Some Tentative Remarks on Reasoning and Planning 230
V. Mood 234
VI. Self-Image and Relationship with Himself 236
F. Actor – Person – Individual: Theoretical Aspects 238
I. Tugendhat’s Theory of the Person 239
II. Anthropological Studies 241
1. Lois Beck (1991): Nomad 241
2. Unni Wikan (1990): Managing Turbulent Hearts 244
3. João Biehl (2005): Vita – Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment 245
4. Vincent Crapanzano (1980): Tuhami – Portrait of A Moroccan 247
5. Intermediate result 249
6. Overcoming bias 249
III. Theoretical Authors 251
1. Gary Becker (1976): The Economic Approach to Human Behaviour 251
2. Giddens (1984): The Constitution of Society 253
3. Piette (2009): L’Acte d’Exister 255
4. Intermediate result 257
IV. Michael Jackson’s Existential Anthropology 259
V. And this Book? 260
G. Explaining Musa’s Life 263
I. Peasant Societies 264
1. What is a peasant? 264
2. The diversity of social forms among peasants 266
3. The ecology, society and culture of pre-statal cereal producers 271
a) Mode of production 272
b) Kinship reckoning, the exchange of women and the desire for children 273
c) Authority and power 273
d) Commensality and adoptive practices 274
e) The status of women 275
f) Articulation of modes of production 275
g) Values 276
4. Cultural models 278
5. The ‘death’ of the peasantry 281
6. Summary 284
II. Individuals in Peasant Studies 285
III. Islam in the Region 286
1. Lower and higher levels of learning 287
2. Sufi brotherhoods 288
3. Religious influence of the elite on the common believers 292
4. The influence of religious doctrine onto Musa’s thinking and behaviour 295
a) The Al-Kitab ‘Ulum al-Mu’amala by Uthman dan Fodio ([n.d.] 1978) 296
b) The tafsir recordings 298
aa) Ontological tenets 301
bb) Religiously motivated rules for daily life practice 301
cc) Behaviour towards God: fear of God and obedience towards God 302
dd) Behaviour towards God: acceptance of God’s will 303
ee) Behaviour towards God: acting for the sake of God 303
ff) Behaviour towards God: repentance 304
gg) Behaviour towards God: hope 304
hh) Behaviour towards God: gratitude towards God 305
ii) Behaviour towards people: taking care of one’s parents and obedience 305
jj) Behaviour towards people: social values 306
kk) Behaviour towards oneself: self-control, reason and self-transformation 307
IV. Individuals and the Interaction of Societal Fields 309
H. Summary 313
Bibliography 316
Index 325