
Integrating Strangers
Sherbro Identity and The Politics of Reciprocity along the Sierra Leonean Coast
Anais Menard(Author)
Berghahn Books (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 1. December 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
298 pages
978-1-83695-116-2 (ISBN)
Description
Drawing on an ethnography of Sherbro coastal communities in Sierra Leone, this book analyses the politics and practice of identity through the lens of the reciprocal relations that exist between socio-ethnic groups. Anais Menard examines the implications of the social arrangement that binds landlords and strangers in a frontier region, the Freetown Peninsula, characterized by high degrees of individual mobility and social interactions. She showcases the processes by which Sherbro identity emerged as a flexible category of practice, allowing individuals the possibility to claim multiple origins and perform ethnic crossovers while remaining Sherbro.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Bibliography; Index; 20 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
438 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83695-116-2 (9781836951162)
DOI
10.3167/9781800738409
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Anais Menard is a Head of Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Germany. She is the recipient of the prestigious Otto-Hahn Medal and Otto-Hahn Award of the Max Planck Society for her work on migration and identity in post-war Sierra Leone.
Content
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1. Anatomy of a Rurban Space
Chapter 2. Narratives of Colonial Encounters
Chapter 3. Framing Reciprocity: From Settlers to Strangers
Chapter 4. Discourses of the 'Civilized Man'
Chapter 5. The Tactics of Concealment and Disclosure
Chapter 6. The Social Dynamics of Double Membership
Chapter 7. Initiation as Ethnic Transformation
Chapter 8. Lands, Livelihoods and Politics
Conclusion
References
Index
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1. Anatomy of a Rurban Space
Chapter 2. Narratives of Colonial Encounters
Chapter 3. Framing Reciprocity: From Settlers to Strangers
Chapter 4. Discourses of the 'Civilized Man'
Chapter 5. The Tactics of Concealment and Disclosure
Chapter 6. The Social Dynamics of Double Membership
Chapter 7. Initiation as Ethnic Transformation
Chapter 8. Lands, Livelihoods and Politics
Conclusion
References
Index