Musa
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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
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 |