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In the Shade of the Jujube Tree
Author(s) -
Stoller Paul
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
anthropology and humanism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1548-1409
pISSN - 1559-9167
DOI - 10.1111/anhu.12323
Subject(s) - narrative , patience , foundation (evidence) , set (abstract data type) , divination , ethnography , path (computing) , aesthetics , history , sociology , literature , art , philosophy , anthropology , theology , computer science , archaeology , programming language
Summary This essay is a homage to Fatouma Seyni, one of my West African mentors. In it, I attempt to weave threads of narrative and ethnography to evoke the profundity of West African practical wisdom. More specifically, the narratives demonstrate how patience and respect set a course to learn not only about the mysteries of divination but also about the profound complexities of the human condition. We all sit on the shoulders of our mentors. Much of what I have written is a testament to the foundation my mentors set for me. And yet, my path, which emerges from their thoughts and practices, is not their path. The foundation they set marked a beginning, not an end. "You cannot walk," as the Songhay elders like to say, "where there is no ground."