"Comments on "Secrets and Lies

COMMENTS ON "SECRETS AND LIES" Patrick McNaughton MypointsIfindcommentsgenerallyofimportance,heretoarebequiteacertainlyresponsegood.fortoTakentheMandeotherasascholars,group,paperstheyinbutthisofferalsovolume,aforgreatawhichmuchmany Ifindgenerallytobequitegood.Takenasagroup,theyofferagreatmany pointsofimportance,certainlyforMandescholars,butalsoforamuch broaderbocfyofstudentsofAfricanstudies,arthistoiy,anthropology,ethnomusicology, folklore,andhistoiy.Thesepapersareatributetothedegreeofdedicationand sophisticationthatMandestudieshavereached:whoknew,somanyyearsago, whenGeraldCashionsuggestedweformaMandestudiesassociation,andDavid Conradagreedtoheadit,thatitwouldleadtothis.Ihopetherewillbemanymore publicationsofthiscalibertofollow. ItwillbeobviousthatIamrespondingtothetopicsandissuesencounteredin thesearticles.ButIcastmycommentsinabroad,generalframe,withoutreferences totheindividualauthors,anapproachIhopereaderswillfinduseful.Itisnoaccidentthatmanyoftheinsightsanddilemmasaddressedbytheseauthorsareofde cidedimportanceforallscholarswhotrytowriteaboutpeopleandhowtheylive .So Ithanktheguesteditorsofthisissueforgivingmetheopportunitytoofferyouthis commentary. Becauseresearchisperspectivai,itistobeexpectedthatmyexperiences leavemeinagreementwithmanyofthepointsinmanyofthesepapers,andin disagreementwithafairnumberaswell.Ifeelthatsecrecyinsomeofthesepapersis over-valuedorunderrated,andliesarebarelytouchedupon.Mycommentsarenot groundbreaking,buttheydeveloporcontestmanyofthesepapers'ideasfroman additionalpointofview. BeforeIbegin,letmeacknowledgemyperspective.MyexperiencesinMande in1971,1978,and1998haveinfluencedmyinterpretationsofMandecultureenormously .Andmyexperienceshavebeenmostofallwithblacksmiths,sorcerers,and performerswhopossess,accordingtothemselvesandtheircontemporaries,large quantitiesofpowerintheformoftheenergycallednyama,andlaigevolumesofthe secretknowledgethathelpsthemgarnerandmanipulatethatpower.Muchofmy perspectiveonthesematterscomesfromtheblacksmithSeduTraore,thehunters' bardSeydouCamara,hisgrammarschool-teachersonSekubaCamara,myfirst landlordSissoko(blacksmith,mechanic,andentrepreneurextraordinaire),andthe birdmasqueraderSidiBallo,alongwithmanyotherblacksmithsandKòmòmembers .IalsooweagooddealofmyperspectivetocolleaguesIhavebeenwithwhile doingresearch,suchasCheiknaSangare,KaliluTera,andKassimKone,withwhom Ihavehadmanylong,elaborate,andthought-provokingconversationsdatingback to1971. Itmustbehumannaturetofindacertainleveloftitillationorexcitementin MandeStudies2(2000)pp.175-183 1 76 Patrick McNaughton secrets and lies, in addition to the disquiet and social life and the structures we create to maneu and lies become resources that can be used or h caution. I think this broadly stroked generalizat Differences reside in the sorts of things designate significance placed upon them, from amusing t side in the established social strategies by which social action. No one really needs to be told the prominence or importance of secrecy and lies. Every person, family, community, and society has a complex collection of experiences that hinge somehow on secrecy. Americans need only look to their political leaders to know how true that is. These days there are dreadful examples of it, in the form of news reports discussing company memos regarding the safety of a wide array of commercial products. Many Americans keep many aspects of their personal finances secret, and sometimes even lie about them. Many Americans keep aspects of their family dilemmas secret and may he a bit about them, too. The never-neverland of television is loaded with degrees of truth, including every shade of make believe and falsehood. But those of us who watch it regularly learn how to interpret its array of machinations, even when information seems to be masked or withheld, and even when "news" reports contradict each other. Clearly secrets and lies come bundled differently in different cultures. So at once we have similarity and difference. People traffic in secrets everywhere in the world, as media of exchange. But different societies do it differently, with different concepts of secrets and different dynamics of how secrets flow through social situations. In fact, most societies have numerous ways of dealing with secrets and lies, and one index of how well ethnographers understand these phenomena is the degree to which they perceive that wealth of variation and complexity. Even in one place we regard secrets and lies differently at different moments in our engagement with them. For example, in the West, research scientists are frequently concerned with keeping their findings secret, until they can develop proofs, produce verification and then write it up and be the first to publish it. Then, even in the scientific journals, to say nothing of product literature and the popular press, the establishment of truth is a never-ending demonstration of interpretive fortitude and creativity. In Mande, the approaches to secrets and lies are multiple, complex, and extremely situation-sensitive. These papers and my comments touch only upon some of them. For example, in Mande circles secrets can become a commodity that features a structure of titillating exclusivity and dramatizes the idea of secrecy as a source of unification, solidarity, and shared mission. This is true of the secret knowledge possessed and distributed by such initiation associations as Kòmò. It is also true of the hunters and their formal organizations. And it is true of both rural and urban politicians, who often have "on-the-payroll" specialists (sorcerers) in the secrets that produce power. It is even true of talented wrestlers, from Mali to Senegal, who have Comments 177 as members of their entourages activities can be as potently ente But just because specialists and from the social-psychological m not mean the secrets themselv assumption is misleadingly redu scholarship on Africa. For exam people experience and engage th Ivan Karp, and a host of other a and explore the kind of power M society, and culture. To say tha knowledge that can shape that insulting and naïve. Of course, many Europeans academe

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