Snakes and Sirens

Immersed in Douala's daily life, an anthropologist analyses the local interpretations of ill-being through individual stories and urban tales related to sorcery. Via an anthropological journey into the town's mysteries, she thematically approaches food, sex and death as recurrent topics of the Doualese imaginary. A thought-provoking blend of dense ethnographic data, sensitive personal accounts and theoretical reflections, "Snakes and Sirens " explores the multiple faces of distress in present-day Douala and the creative local strategies to counter it. By positioning the anthropologist within her conceptual and contextual framework, it offers an insider's view on the methodological hitches of fieldwork and ethnography, and the fluctuations in the choice of referents and themes that strongly animate local perspectives. In a passionate dialogue between complementary disciplines - anthropology, psychology, philosophy and psychoanalysis - the author also proposes a renewed thinking on the self and the construction of identity against the emotionally charged background of fascinating cultural encounters and strong human relationships in one of Africa's most lively cities.