They bewitched the generator

State power and religious authority at the New Year’s festival in Makunduchi, Zanzibar

Bibliographic Data

ID16646385
AuthorsMagnus Echtler (0000-0002-4984-0014, University of Bayreuth, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume19
Pages51-68
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis (CONFERENCE)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0582-3226 • E-ISSN: 2343-4937
PublisherScripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.30674/scripta.67300
OpenAlexW1799272030
LanguageEN
References cited23

The New Year’s festival in Makunduchi, Zanzibar, has been one of the central sites for the interaction between state power and religious authority. It has changed considerably since colonial times, as political rituals were grafted onto religious ones, and a commercial fair developed. In this article, it is argued that these changes can be explained in part by the renegotiation, both in conflict and co-operation, of the relationship between local religious experts and state officials. First the New Year’s rituals as central practices for the production of local religious authority is analysed. Then the colonial history of the festival is discussed, before finally turning to the interactions between state power and local authority at the festival in post-colonial times

Colonialism · Local authority · Political authority · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · Traditional authority · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Computer Science · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law · Public Administration · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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