Knut Graw
Biographic Data
| ID | 216975 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Knut Graw |
| GIVEN NAMES | Knut |
| FAMILY NAME | Graw |
| SIGNATURE | GRAW K |
| AFFILIATIONS | 1Berlin / Leuven |
| ORCID | 0009-0008-6644-4794 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 7 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
On the Power of Giving
Divination is one of the most common means to deal with the personal, social, and legal problems faced in daily life in Senegal and the Gambia. Spirits are often seen as the source of divinatory knowledge and enunciations, and thus of the ritual measures indicated by diviners in order to enable positive predictions after a consultation. A primary ritual remedy consists of donating food or other objects as per indications of the diviner. In Senega…
Esoteric Economies
This article introduces the concept of "esoteric economies" to analyze how sacrificial practices in Brazil and Senegal embody alternative economic logics that coexist alongside market capitalism. Through a comparative ethnographic study of Afro-Brazilian religious practices and Senegalese divinatory rituals, the authors demonstrate how these ritual systems encode and enact different logics of exchange that prioritize long-term reciprocity, mutual…
Migration, Anthropology, and Voice
One of the most striking features of contemporary migration to Europe and elsewhere is the almost complete anonymity of its pro-tagonists. The most immediate effect of this anonymity has been the emergence of the figure of the ‘migrant’ in public consciousness with little attention for national and personal backgrounds. A related effect of this anonymization of migration has been that, without personal identity, the individuals concerned also see…
The Global Horizon
Although contemporary migration in and from Africa can be understood as a continuation of earlier forms of interregional and international migration, current processes of migration seem to have taken on a new quality. This volume argues that one of the main reasons for this is the fact that local worlds are increasingly measured against a set of possibilities whose referents are global, not local. Due to this globalization of the personal and soc…
The Global Horizon
The Global Worlds of the Swahili
Beyond Expertise
Recent anthropological studies of divination have been marked by renewed and appreciative concern for the epistemological and performative dimensions of divination. Pursuing these recent investigations, and especially their interest in the nature of the knowledge and modes of knowing underlying divinatory ritual, the first part of the article attempts an understanding of the interpretative operations and modalities of knowledge involved in differ…
Locating Nganiyo
In Senegal and Gambia, the main reason for divinatory consultation is seen not in misfortune or uncertainty but in the client's intention, longing and desire (nganiyo). To locate this intention is the diviner's first task. Successfully executed, it is the proof of his/her divinatory capacities. Drawing on the phenomenological and semantic analysis of Senegambian divinatory praxis, especially among Mandinka speakers, it is argued that Senegambian …
The Logic of Shells
The Logic of Shells: Knowledge and Lifeworld-Pöiesfc in ibian Cowrie Di Knut Graw Sinceinterpretativeattempttheto1990sassessprocessesseveralandunderstandeditedcharacterizingvolumesthespecificdivinatoryondivinationqualitiesprocedurehaveandsourcesappearedinapositiveofthatthe attempttoassessandunderstandthespecificqualitiesandsourcesofthe interpretativeprocessescharacterizingdivinatoryprocedureinapositive andunbiasedway(seePeek1991,Pemberton2000,Win…
Beyond Expertise
Recent anthropological studies of divination have been marked by renewed and appreciative concern for the epistemological and performative dimensions of divination. Pursuing these recent investigations, and especially their interest in the nature of the knowledge and modes of knowing underlying divinatory ritual, the first part of the article attempts an understanding of the interpretative operations and modalities of knowledge involved in differ…
Locating Nganiyo
In Senegal and Gambia, the main reason for divinatory consultation is seen not in misfortune or uncertainty but in the client's intention, longing and desire (nganiyo). To locate this intention is the diviner's first task. Successfully executed, it is the proof of his/her divinatory capacities. Drawing on the phenomenological and semantic analysis of Senegambian divinatory praxis, especially among Mandinka speakers, it is argued that Senegambian …
The Logic of Shells
The Logic of Shells: Knowledge and Lifeworld-Pöiesfc in ibian Cowrie Di Knut Graw Sinceinterpretativeattempttheto1990sassessprocessesseveralandunderstandeditedcharacterizingvolumesthespecificdivinatoryondivinationqualitiesprocedurehaveandsourcesappearedinapositiveofthatthe attempttoassessandunderstandthespecificqualitiesandsourcesofthe interpretativeprocessescharacterizingdivinatoryprocedureinapositive andunbiasedway(seePeek1991,Pemberton2000,Win…
The Logic of Shells
The Logic of Shells: Knowledge and Lifeworld-Pöiesfc in ibian Cowrie Di Knut Graw Sinceinterpretativeattempttheto1990sassessprocessesseveralandunderstandeditedcharacterizingvolumesthespecificdivinatoryondivinationqualitiesprocedurehaveandsourcesappearedinapositiveofthatthe attempttoassessandunderstandthespecificqualitiesandsourcesofthe interpretativeprocessescharacterizingdivinatoryprocedureinapositive andunbiasedway(seePeek1991,Pemberton2000,Win…
Locating Nganiyo
In Senegal and Gambia, the main reason for divinatory consultation is seen not in misfortune or uncertainty but in the client's intention, longing and desire (nganiyo). To locate this intention is the diviner's first task. Successfully executed, it is the proof of his/her divinatory capacities. Drawing on the phenomenological and semantic analysis of Senegambian divinatory praxis, especially among Mandinka speakers, it is argued that Senegambian …
The Global Worlds of the Swahili
Beyond Expertise
Recent anthropological studies of divination have been marked by renewed and appreciative concern for the epistemological and performative dimensions of divination. Pursuing these recent investigations, and especially their interest in the nature of the knowledge and modes of knowing underlying divinatory ritual, the first part of the article attempts an understanding of the interpretative operations and modalities of knowledge involved in differ…
The Global Horizon
The Global Horizon
Although contemporary migration in and from Africa can be understood as a continuation of earlier forms of interregional and international migration, current processes of migration seem to have taken on a new quality. This volume argues that one of the main reasons for this is the fact that local worlds are increasingly measured against a set of possibilities whose referents are global, not local. Due to this globalization of the personal and soc…
Migration, Anthropology, and Voice
One of the most striking features of contemporary migration to Europe and elsewhere is the almost complete anonymity of its pro-tagonists. The most immediate effect of this anonymity has been the emergence of the figure of the ‘migrant’ in public consciousness with little attention for national and personal backgrounds. A related effect of this anonymization of migration has been that, without personal identity, the individuals concerned also see…
On the Power of Giving
Divination is one of the most common means to deal with the personal, social, and legal problems faced in daily life in Senegal and the Gambia. Spirits are often seen as the source of divinatory knowledge and enunciations, and thus of the ritual measures indicated by diviners in order to enable positive predictions after a consultation. A primary ritual remedy consists of donating food or other objects as per indications of the diviner. In Senega…
Esoteric Economies
This article introduces the concept of "esoteric economies" to analyze how sacrificial practices in Brazil and Senegal embody alternative economic logics that coexist alongside market capitalism. Through a comparative ethnographic study of Afro-Brazilian religious practices and Senegalese divinatory rituals, the authors demonstrate how these ritual systems encode and enact different logics of exchange that prioritize long-term reciprocity, mutual…
Sociology (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · African Studies and Ethnography (4 works) · African Studies and Geopolitics (4 works) · Anthropology (4 works) · Divination (4 works) · Linguistics (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (3 works)