Review by Choice Review
The ten papers that make up this volume were originally presented at the 1987 African Studies Association Annual Meeting. The essays focus on the class of Mande artists and specialists called nyamakalaw, a socially complex, often ambiguous identity and status in this West African society. Nyamakalaw include blacksmiths, bards, leatherworkers, and potters, all occupations of unquestionable necessity, but sometimes of low social status. Through linguistic, historical, and cultural studies, contributors attempt to understand the contradictions and complexity of this group designation that allow individuals the agency to construct their own social identities within the framework of Mande cultural expectations. The collection also raises crucial issues of more general and far-reaching concern, e.g., ethnicity as defined by members and outsiders and as it relates to culturally specific and individually controlled notions of difference and power. This discussion is among the most significant contributions that African studies can make to the contemporary global dialogue on multicultural issues. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above. C. L. Goucher Portland State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
