In Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger [Paperback]

Paul Stoller (Author), Cheryl Olkes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226775437 | ISBN-13: 978-0226775432 | Publication Date: February 15, 1989

The tale of Paul Stoller's sojourn among sorcerors in the Republic of Niger is a story of growth and change, of mutual respect and understanding that will challenge all who read it to plunge deeply into an alien world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The tribal sorcerer is both hunter and hunted in a world of power seekers. The ominous sense of a narrowly oppressive quest for power is captured in this startling field report by an anthropologist who was himself initiated into African sorcery. Stoller made five field trips to study the Songhay, proud, fierce subsistence farmers of Niger. Becoming an apprentice, then a practitioner of the black arts, he took part in one ritual attack that, he claims, paralyzed the face of the intended victim's sister. After hostile sorcerers' spells temporarily paralyzed the author's legs, he began carrying around protective charms. On his last field trip, he was joined by his coauthor wife, a sociologist; she adds a measure of objectivity to this firsthand account. Although the narrative unfolds slowly and doesn't measure up as the metaphysical adventure it might have been, it is nevertheless a responsible attempt to pierce a hidden realm.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In the last decade, anthropologists have allowed personal concerns to become an acknowledged part of their ethnographic work. In this vein, Stoller "learned much about Songhay sorcery as an initiated apprentice," and consequently his book is more "memoir" than standard ethnography. Still, the account contains incisive information about fieldwork in Niger and about Songhay sorcerythe incantations, power attributed to plants, antagonisms between sorcerers, and details of daily life that both he and, later, Olkes collected. A good presentation of many of the ethical dilemmas anthropologists face when doing fieldwork for informed laypersons and specialists. Schneebaum's book is again more autobiography than ethnography, but in contrast to Stoller's, it contains sketchy ethnographic information. Though Schneebaum incessantly interviewed the Asmat during his four years in New Guinea, little of that information is conveyed. The book is more a search for identity: Schneebaum knew the Asmat as no other ethnographer has (or would admit to); as "an exchange friend" he developed intimate bonds with male friends. The lack of detailed cultural information is therefore the more regrettable. The book does, however, give us clear descriptions of Schneebaum's anthropological encounter and subsequent personal questions. Winifred Lambrecht, Brown Univ., Providence, R.I.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (February 15, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226775437
• ISBN-13: 978-0226775432
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > History > Africa > Niger

More About the Author

Paul Stoller is an ethnographer, memoirist and novelist who has authored 11 books. His most recent work, a memoir, is called The Power of the Between: An Anthropological Odyssey, which was published in December of 2008 by the University of Chicago Press. He loves to hear and read good stories which inspires him to try to tell and write good stories. He is currently working on a new novel, The Sorcerer's Burden and is learning Spanish which he hopes to practice on his next trip to Ecuador.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars neither anthropology nor shamanism, September 18, 2003

By 

kaioatey (Awatovi, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger (Paperback)

In this book, Paul Stoller, an ambitious graduate student, tries to make sense of social life of Songhay-speaking people in the eastern Niger. The Songhay have once possessed the largest empire in African history; their formidable magician-king Sunni Ali created an elaborate and effective administrative system extending all the way up to Timbuktu and even Morrocco and, as Stoller shows in this book, Sunni Ali's memory is still very much alive in contemporary Niger.

The book follows Stoller as he wanders around Songhay villages trying to document social mores. He quickly finds what M. Mead never did - that polling and questionnaire techniques he was taught in the US do not work with the Songhay. In Niger, a direct question typically elicits an outright lie; effective field work consists of listening and participating whereas direct interrogation is counter-productive. Stoller then falls into the hands of a local "sorko", or magician-healer, who offers to teach him the secrets of the trade. At this point, the author is faced with the question: should one maintain, in bona fide anthropological work, classical aims of "objectivity" and "impartiality" or should one immerse oneself totally and completely into indigenous life, risking drowning into it and being forever lost to science? Stoller does neither: he is awed by the power and mystery of the secrets that he is witnessing yet at the same time he seems to be unable to comprehend the most elementary laws of indigenous shamanic practices. Thus, like the proverbial deer facing headlights of a car, Stoller is is constantly paralyzed by incomprehension and fear.

For me, the book provides more evidence for the hypothesis that the "Western paradigm" is just one of many, and not that empowering at that. If we start to tinker with our paradigm by "apprenticing" to cultures based on hard, merciless and pragmatic obsession with spiritual power (such as the Songhay) we are in for a tough ride. Stoller was; he ran away and I do not blame him.

On the other hand, the dialogues in this book are great and often funny and the book is a must read for anyone contemplating visiting Niger, Mali or Burkina Faso.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enthnographer enters the world of the Sorcerers., October 8, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (New Brunswick, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger (Paperback)

I chanced upon this book a few years ago, and consider it a real find. Paul Stoller gives a edge-of-the-seat account of his fieldwork amoung the Songhay of Niger. Very readable, detailed, and often humerous. It raises many questions about the nature of anthropological fieldwork.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful travelogue, for what it covers, November 3, 2010

By 

MO "mm" (Eastern Seaboard) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger (Paperback)

I really liked this book. Whitefella culture isn't the only model, and books like this help us realize that. Like Michael Harner, he quit being objective, and dove in. There are a whole range of books on this subject, of various levels and quality. I do so love Anthropology. If you want to further understand this area, Urban Shaman, The Future Is Yours: Do Something About It!, Lost Secrets of Ancient Hawaiian Huna, Volume 1, ThetaHealing can be helpful, especially in getting a model of how this non-Western world view functions. The Vision: The Dramatic True Story of One Man's Search for Enlightenment (Religion and Spirituality) is an intro to a different kind of world, as isWhispers of the Ancients: Native Tales for Teaching and Healing in Our Time, and House of Shattering Light: Life as an American Indian Mystic, or Journey to the Ancestral Self: The Native Lifeway Guide to Living in Harmony With Earth Mother, Book 1 (Bk.1). Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives is a very superficial discussion of what indigenous spiritual apprenticeship could be. Wong Kiew Kit's books show some unusual survivals of nonwestern ideas in Chinese culture. My Tai Chi teacher was trained by Cheng Man-Ching, and he was really, really good. Joseph Murphy The Power of Your Subconscious Mind gives a Western slant to this.