Papers by Rosalind Hackett
Journal of Church and State, Jun 1, 1998
Sounding or listening practices are central to most forms of religious activity, and in some trad... more Sounding or listening practices are central to most forms of religious activity, and in some traditions particular spirits or deities, even the universe itself, may be associated with particular sounds. The chapter explores the significance and potential of a sound-based approach to the study of religion using the themes of voice, ritual instruments, and spatiality. Such an approach is timely given the growing attention to the phenomenon of sound, noise, and silence in a range of academic disciplines from ethnomusicology to ecology, and physics to phenomenology. A more sonically aware religious studies provides new analytical insights into forms of religious mediation, expression, and communication, notably in those cultures that do not privilege visuality. Moreover, new forms of technological mediation that have transformed the capacity to amplify, record, transmit, modify, and repurpose religiously or spiritually significant sounds call for our scholarly attention.
Journal of Religion in Africa, Feb 1, 1991
Setting forth how the voyager departs from England in a stout vessel and in good company, and rea... more Setting forth how the voyager departs from England in a stout vessel and in good company, and reaches in due course the Island of the Grand Canary, and then the Port of Sierra Leone: to which is added some account of this latter place and the comeliness of its women. Wherein also some description of Cape Coast and Accra is given, to which are added divers observations on supplies to be obtained there. The West Coast of Africa is like the Arctic regions in one particular, and that is that when you have once visited it you want to go back there again; and, now I come to think of it, there is another particular in which it is like them, and that is that the chances you have of returning from it at all are small, for it is a Belle Dame sans merci. I succumbed to the charm of the Coast as soon as I left Sierra Leone on my first voyage out, and I saw more than enough during that voyage to make me recognise that there was any amount of work for me worth doing down there. So I warned the Coast I was coming back again and the Coast did not believe me; and on my return to it a second time displayed a genuine surprise, and formed an even higher opinion of my folly than it had formed on our first acquaintance, which is saying a good deal. During this voyage in 1893, I had been to Old Calabar, and its Governor, Sir Claude MacDonald, had heard me expatiating on the absorbing interest of the Antarctic drift, and the importance of the collection of fresh−water fishes and so on. So when Lady MacDonald heroically decided to go out to him in Calabar, they most kindly asked me if I would join her, and make my time fit hers for starting on my second journey. This I most willingly did. But I fear that very sweet and gracious lady suffered a great deal of apprehension at the prospect of spending a month on board ship with a person so devoted to science as to go down the West Coast in its pursuit. During the earlier days of our voyage she would attract my attention to all sorts of marine objects overboard, so as to amuse me. I used to look at them, and think it would be the death of me if I had to work like this, explaining meanwhile aloud that "they were very interesting, but Haeckel had done them, and I was out after fresh−water fishes from a river north of the Congo this time," fearing all the while that she felt me unenthusiastic for not flying over into the ocean to secure the specimens. However, my scientific qualities, whatever they may amount to, did not blind this lady long to the fact of my being after all a very ordinary individual, and she told me so-not in these crude words, indeed, but nicely and kindly-whereupon, in a burst of gratitude to her for understanding me, I appointed myself her honorary aide−de−camp on the spot, and her sincere admirer I shall remain for ever, fully recognising that her courage in going to the Coast was far greater than my own, for she had more to lose had fever claimed her, and she was in those days by no means under the spell of Africa. But this is anticipating. It was on the 23rd of December, 1894, that we left Liverpool in the Batanga, commanded by my old friend Captain Murray, under whose care I had made my first voyage. On the 30th we sighted the Peak of Teneriffe early in the afternoon. It displayed itself, as usual, as an entirely celestial phenomenon. A great many people miss seeing it. Suffering under the delusion that El Pico is a terrestrial affair, they look in vain somewhere about the level of their own eyes, which are striving to penetrate the dense masses of mist that usually enshroud its slopes by day, and then a friend comes along, and gaily points out to the newcomer the glittering white triangle somewhere near the zenith. On some days the Peak stands out clear from ocean to summit, looking every inch and more of its 12,080 ft.; and this is said by the Canary fishermen to be a certain sign of rain, or fine weather, or a gale of wind; but whenever and however it may be seen, soft and dream−like in the sunshine, or melodramatic and bizarre in the moonlight, it is one of the most beautiful things the eye of man may see. Soon after sighting Teneriffe, Lançarote showed, and then the Grand Canary. Teneriffe is perhaps the most beautiful, but it is hard to judge between it and Grand Canary as seen from the sea. The superb cone this afternoon stood out a deep purple against a serpent−green sky, separated from the brilliant blue ocean by a girdle of pink and gold cumulus, while Grand Canary and Lançarote looked as if they were formed from fantastic−shaped sunset cloud−banks that by some spell had been solidified. The general colour of the mountains Travels in West Africa CHAPTER I. LIVERPOOL TO SIERRA LEONE AND THE GOLD COAST. is a yellowish red, and the air which lies among their rocky crevices and swathes their softer sides is a lovely lustrous blue. Just before the sudden dark came down, and when the sun was taking a curve out of the horizon of sea, all the clouds gathered round the three islands, leaving the sky a pure amethyst pink, and as a good−night to them the sun outlined them with rims of shining gold, and made the snow−clad Peak of Teneriffe blaze with star−white light. In a few minutes came the dusk, and as we neared Grand Canary, out of its cloud−bank gleamed the red flash of the lighthouse on the Isleta, and in a few more minutes, along the sea level, sparkled the five miles of irregularly distributed lights of Puerto de la Luz and the city of Las Palmas. We reached Sierra Leone at 9 A.M. on the 7th of January, and as the place is hardly so much in touch with the general public as the Canaries are {14} I may perhaps venture to go more into details regarding it. The harbour is formed by the long low strip of land to the north called the Bullam shore, and to the south by the peninsula terminating in Cape Sierra Leone, a sandy promontory at the end of which is situated a lighthouse of irregular habits. Low hills covered with tropical forest growth rise from the sandy shores of the Cape, and along its face are three creeks or bays, deep inlets showing through their narrow entrances smooth beaches of yellow sand, fenced inland by the forest of cotton−woods and palms, with here and there an elephantine baobab. The first of these bays is called Pirate Bay, the next English Bay, and the third Kru Bay. The wooded hills of the Cape rise after passing Kru Bay, and become spurs of the mountain, 2,500 feet in height, which is the Sierra Leone itself. There are, however, several mountains here besides the Sierra Leone, the most conspicuous of them being the peak known as Sugar Loaf, and when seen from the sea they are very lovely, for their form is noble, and a wealth of tropical vegetation covers them, which, unbroken in its continuity, but endless in its variety, seems to sweep over their sides down to the shore like a sea, breaking here and there into a surf of flowers. It is the general opinion, indeed, of those who ought to know that Sierra Leone appears at its best when seen from the sea, particularly when you are leaving the harbour homeward bound; and that here its charms, artistic, moral, and residential, end. But, from the experience I have gained of it, I have no hesitation in saying that it is one of the best places for getting luncheon in that I have ever happened on, and that a more pleasant and varied way of spending an afternoon than going about its capital, Free Town, with a certain Irish purser, who is as well known as he is respected among the leviathan old negro ladies, it would be hard to find. Still it must be admitted it is rather hot. Free Town its capital is situated on the northern base of the mountain, and extends along the sea−front with most business−like wharves, quays, and warehouses. Viewed from the harbour, "The Liverpool of West Africa," {15} as it is called, looks as if it were built of gray stone, which it is not. When you get ashore, you will find that most of the stores and houses-the majority of which, it may be remarked, are in a state of acute dilapidation-are of painted wood, with corrugated iron roofs. Here and there, though, you will see a thatched house, its thatch covered with creeping plants, and inhabited by colonies of creeping insects. Some of the stores and churches are, it is true, built of stone, but this does not look like stone at a distance, being red in colour-unhewn blocks of the red stone of the locality. In the crannies of these buildings trailing plants covered with pretty mauve or yellow flowers take root, and everywhere, along the tops of the walls, and in the cracks of the houses, are ferns and flowering plants. They must get a good deal of their nourishment from the rich, thick air, which seems composed of 85 per cent. of warm water, and the remainder of the odours of Frangipani, orange flowers, magnolias, oleanders, and roses, combined with others that demonstrate that the inhabitants do not regard sanitary matters with the smallest degree of interest. There is one central street, and the others are neatly planned out at right angles to it. None of them are in any way paved or metalled. They are covered in much prettier fashion, and in a way more suitable for naked feet, by green Bahama grass, save and except those which are so nearly perpendicular that they have got every bit of earth and grass cleared off them down to the red bed−rock, by the heavy rain of the wet season. In every direction natives are walking at a brisk pace, their naked feet making no sound on the springy turf of the streets, carrying on their heads huge burdens which are usually crowned by the hat of the bearer, a large limpet−shaped affair made of palm leaves. While some carry these enormous bundles, others bear logs or planks of wood, blocks of building stone, vessels containing palm−oil, baskets of vegetables, or tin tea−trays on which are folded shawls. As the great majority of the native inhabitants of Sierra Leone pay no attention...
Routledge eBooks, Dec 5, 2014
The act of converting people to certain beliefs or values is highly controversial in today's post... more The act of converting people to certain beliefs or values is highly controversial in today's postcolonial, multicultural world. Proselytization has been viewed by some as an aggressive act of political domination. 'Proselytization Revisited' offers a comprehensive overview of the many arguments for and against proselytization in different regions and contexts. Proselytization is examined in the context of rights talk, globalisation and culture wars. The volume brings together essays demonstrating the global significance of proselytization, ranging from Christians in India to Turkish Islamic Movements and the Wiccan use of modern media technologies. The cross-cultural and multidisciplinary nature of this collection of essays provides a fresh perspective and the book will be of value to readers interested in the dynamic interaction of beliefs, ideas and cultures.
De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 31, 1988
De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 31, 1988
Numen
This article explores the modern-day festival as a timely site for analyzing the politics of indi... more This article explores the modern-day festival as a timely site for analyzing the politics of indigenous cultural and religious presence in postcolonial and neoliberal Africa. Focusing on the ancient Osun Osogbo Festival and the newer Calabar Carnival and Festival in Nigeria, it raises broader questions of how indigenous religion gets reframed as culture, heritage, and tourist commodity for local, national, and international audiences. Attention is paid to the multiple debates over festival content and representation in the context of local political, economic, and religious interests. The article ultimately makes the case for more comparative research on what may be termed the “festivalization of religion” and how this development relates to questions of “public religion” and “civil religion” in the contemporary African context.
Emory International Law Review, 2011
I am grateful to Professors James T. Richardson, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, and T. Jeremy Gunn for... more I am grateful to Professors James T. Richardson, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, and T. Jeremy Gunn for their comments on and support of my work. Professor Ndiva Kofele-Kale also contributed valuable suggestions.
project, which is rightly generating keen interest and discussion. As the title suggests the book... more project, which is rightly generating keen interest and discussion. As the title suggests the book is about one of the author’s principal concerns–the needs and interests of women, notably in the developing world. It is an exercise in how to translate abstract philosophical theory into practical, life-transforming policy applications. Furthermore, it is a statement of her own, more gendered, version of the human capabilities approach, as compared to that of its primary articulator, Amartya Sen. It is also a more contextual approach to the realization of human capabilities than that of John Rawls. This book occasioned all sorts of imaginings as I read it. I imagined the philosopher being excited by this thought-provoking application of time-honored concepts of justice and equality, the anthropologist being challenged by the appeal to universal values, the development economist being pushed to factor in women’s life experiences and hence a much broader approach to human functioning, an...
Encyclopedia of African Religions and Philosophy, 2021
Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s), 2017
Locating Politics in Ethiopia's Irreecha Ritual, 2019
Archives de sciences sociales des religions, 2000
Religion, 2016
The review extols the merits of Birgit Meyer’s groundbreaking study of film and religion in Ghana... more The review extols the merits of Birgit Meyer’s groundbreaking study of film and religion in Ghana as a model for future research on lived and public religion in diverse African settings. It also offers a critique of the book’s relative inattention to the sound effects of these popular video films, suggesting that there are resonant affinities between aural media, regimes of audibility, and the affective presence of the spiritual ‘beyond.’
Africana Marburgensia, 1981
Africana Marburgensia, 1982
NVMEN, the Academic Study of Religion, and the IAHR
Oxford Handbooks Online, 2011
Overview and analysis of traditional, Christian and Muslim millennial and apocalyptic movements i... more Overview and analysis of traditional, Christian and Muslim millennial and apocalyptic movements in Africa
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Papers by Rosalind Hackett