Abstract

The four books under review can be considered case studies about the different aspects of identity creation and maintenance among selected groups of people in various African areas. Every one of those books inspects a similar phenomenon, but each examines it from a different perspective. The books discuss complicated and everchanging relations among individuals and their own bodies, group identity, history, institutions, ecology, and their relations toward space. What unites those books is their interest in the recent history of selected populations, and especially in practices, which helped those groups to sustain their sense of identity throughout turbulent phases of their history.

摘要

可以将所审查的四本书视为关于非洲各个地区选定人群中身份创建和维护的不同方面的案例研究。这些书中的每本书都检查相似的现象，但是每本书都从不同的角度对其进行检查。这些书讨论了个人与自己的身体之间的复杂而不断变化的关系，群体身份，历史，制度，生态及其与空间的关系。这些书的统一之处在于他们对选定人口的近期历史，特别是对实践的兴趣，这有助于这些群体在整个历史的动荡阶段中维持其认同感。