Review by Choice Review
In Colonial Transactions, Bernault (Sciences Po), a noted historian of Central Africa, contributes an attempt to fuse related social scientific concepts with her study of spirituality and mysticism in Gabon communities. She articulates a complex adaptive-systems model of the mental and physical worlds, creating an empirical picture of how cross-cultural adaptation and integration occur. Her fascinating chapters deal with religious syncretism, fetish objects, cannibalism narratives, and wealth and collectively show how value--through both economic and cultural transactions--proves to be liquid, embodied as needed in people or ideas. This approach works to generate evenhanded comparisons between colonial Europeans and indigenous Gabonais, and Bernault escapes the traditional colonial power narrative and instead presents a fluid, dynamic systems model of power and belief. However, there is an element of disjointedness if one reads straight through the book, as the chapters do not follow each other as comfortably as the author might have intended. That said, this should be a key text for African studies and certainly for any collection centered on West and Central Africa. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Jeremy Robert Kenyon, University of Idaho
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
