Ceremony: An Anthropologist's Misadventures in the African Bush

by Nigel Barley

A London anthropologist chronicles the low moments and the high comedy of his time in Africa with the Dowayo tribe and the area they live in. 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Africa, Travel, Memoir, Anthropology, Sociology

158 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Born 1947. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Ba...

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great little book about an English guy studying the Fulani people in Cameroon and getting drawn into their complex lives. The humour is spot on, self-deprecating of course (he's English) and warm. Here's one of my favourite bits. Please note - animist religion isn't always the most politically correct thing. Neither is any religion for that matter. Just saying!

The circumcision-of-the-bow ceremony is just one of the complex rites by which a man moves from being a dead individual to being an ancestor available for reincarnation. ... The ritual involves the men running around naked except for penis sheaths and ends in a little play that all men can witness. It deals with the origin of circumcision in the beating of an old Fulani woman. She is played by one of the men, old, decrepit, excessively cantankerous and timorous. He dresses up in the bulky leaves favoured by old ladies and makes great play with bending down in such a way as to expose his genitals. This is hugely enjoyed by all the men present.

The highpoint involves the ambush of the woman by men who crouch down with sticks. All this has to happen under a special tree challed a Fulani Thorn. But sometimes there is no Fulani Thorn available and the tree must be played by a human actor. This part was assigned to myself.

Since the tree-actor is permitted only a penis-sheath as garb and has to wear certain branches of the unpleasantly thorny Fulani tree as a concession to naturalism, it is perhaps not a popular role.
All the men sat around afterwards smoking and drinking warm beer. There was some discussion as to who should spit on the widows of the dead man, so releasing them for remarriage.

I see this book now seems to be out of print, in a world where bookshops are groaning with shelf-fulls of Twilight, The Da Vinci Code, The Slap, 50 Shades of Self-Loathing and all the usual nonsense. The world is what it is. I don't have to like it much.

[Bibliomantic · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to abandon this book. It is funny, but very dishonest. Anyone familiar with West African cultures can tell that the author made up most of the material with the goal of infusing the narrative with humor. He appears to have picked up a few tidbits of local lore and had contacts with quirky characters, but he should be ashamed of himself as an anthropologist for pushing this book as an actual account of his experiences. There should be a disclaimer at the beginning stating that this is a work of fiction.

[Jeannette · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the two wonderful book, Innocent Anthropologist and Plague of Caterpillers, this book disappointed me. Sorry Nigel Barley, you are a hero who has become tarnished by wringing out what you could from a rather banal expedition back to "Africa". And the use of Africa is misleading because you were in such a delimited section of that giant continent. - Cameroon. Too much the white explorer/anthropologist seeking out the primitives in the bush, not enough insights or the humor so obvious in his previous books. Too bad.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read about an anthropologist's trip to try to witness a circumcision ritual and all the problems and stories along the way.

[Emz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genuinely funny. While still ethnography, not so academic that I found myself looking for quotes for a final essay from habit.

Its a good book, you should read it.