Cattle Poetics - How Aesthetics Shapes Politics in Mursiland, Ethiopia

Loving cows, then killing them. The relation with cattle in Mursi country is shaped by the dichotomy between the value given to it during life and the death imposed upon it. The killing of cattle may be brief and inflicted with few words, but it is preceded by a series of intense aesthetic practices, such as body painting and adornments, colour poetics, poems and oratory art. This book investigates the link between the nurturing and killing of cattle with Mursi daily life and finds that these rituals cut across pastoralism, social organisation and politics in forming the very fabric of Mursi society.

About the author

Jean-Baptiste Eczet is a lecturer at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris where he is the Chair of Political Arts. He has been carrying out research in Ethiopia since 2008.

Summary

Loving cows, then killing them. The relation with cattle in Mursi country is shaped by the dichotomy between the value given to it during life and the death imposed upon it. This book investigates the link between the nurturing and killing of cattle, and its accompanying aesthetics, with Mursi society itself.

Product details

• Authors: Jean-Baptiste Eczet
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2021
• EAN: 9781800731684
• ISBN: 978-1-80073-168-4
• No. of pages: 346
• Series: Ethnography, Theory, Experiment; Ethnography, Theory, Experimen
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Sociology: customs & traditions, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Customs & Traditions, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social and cultural anthropology, Cultural studies: customs and traditions, Ethiopia