LEADER 02627nam 2200421 450 001 9910815228403321 005 20210603145807.0 010 $a1-912808-18-8 035 $a(CKB)4100000006670143 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC5510783 035 $a(EXLCZ)994100000006670143 100 $a20180929d2016 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 14$aThe sex thieves $ethe anthropology of a rumor /$fJulien Bonhomme ; translated by Dominic Horsfall ; foreword by Philippe Descola 210 1$aChicago, Illinois :$cHAU Books,$d2016. 215 $a1 online resource (194 pages) 311 $a0-9861325-8-6 330 $aWhile working in Africa, anthropologist Julien Bonhomme encountered an astonishing phenomenon: people being accused of stealing or shrinking the genitals of strangers on the simple occasion of a handshake on the street. As he soon discovered, these accusations can have dramatic outcomes: the "sex thieves" are often targeted by large crowds and publicly lynched. Moreover, such rumors are an extremely widespread practice, having affected almost half of the African continent since the 1970s. In this book, Bonhomme examines the story of the "penis snatcher," asking larger questions about how to account for such a phenomenon--unique in its spatial and temporal scale--without falling prey to the cliche? of Africa as an exotic other. Bonhomme argues that the public belief in sex thieves cannot be considered a superstition or form of mass hysteria. Rather, he brings to light multiple factors that explain the rumor's success and shows how the cultural dynamic can operate on a vast scale. Analyzing the rumor on both transnational and local levels, he demonstrates how it arises from the ambiguities and dangers of anonymity, and thus that it reveals an occult flipside to everyday social interaction. Altogether, this book provides both richly ethnographic and theoretical understandings of urban sociality and the dynamics of human communication in contemporary Africa and beyond.--$cProvided by Publisher. 606 $aWitchcraft and sex$zAfrica 607 $aAfrica$2fast 607 $aWestafrika$2gnd 607 $aZentralafrika$2gnd 615 0$aWitchcraft and sex 676 $a133.442 700 $aBonhomme$b Julien$01235910 702 $aHorsfall$b Dominic 702 $aDescola$b Philippe 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910815228403321 996 $aThe sex thieves$93933444 997 $aUNINA