Poro on Trial
The 1913 Special Commission Court case ofRex v. Fino, Bofio and Kalfalla
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2098362 |
|---|---|
| Authors | K H B Keefer (0000-0003-2971-8801, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 56-78 |
| Publication date | 2018-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African Studies Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-0206 • E-ISSN: 1555-2462 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/asr.2018.6 |
| OpenAlex | W2810417352 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 33 |
In 1913, a Special Commission Court in Sierra Leone saw a series of trials concerning members of the Human Leopard Society, and conflated this society with the regional Poro Society. This article examines one of those trials and unearths motivations for murder and questions of bias. With the reinvention of identity in the shadow of slavery, a nuanced and complicated picture emerges of the situation. Though more questions than answers are offered by the details of the case, this article problematizes Sierra Leone under British authority, and shows a nuanced snapshot of power struggles playing out in a murder trial
Commission · Conflation · Criminology · Epistemology · Ethnology · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Shadow (psychology · Sierra leone · Sociology · African history and culture studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · Psychology
The history of Sierra Leone
Law, custom, and social order
The Ethnography of cannibalism
Criminological Science and the Criminal Law on the Colonial Periphery
The Political Function of the Poro. (Part II.)
The Man-Leopard Murders
The Future of Anthropological Knowledge
"Leopard Men," Slaves, and Social Conflict in Libreville (Gabon), c.1860-1879
Trial by Jury and Trial with the Aid of Assessors in the Superior Courts of British African Territories
The Influence of English Law on West Africa
Colonialism, Culture, and the Law
Domestic Slavery in West Africa
The Structure, Composition and Jurisdiction of Courts and Authorities Enforcing the Criminal law in British African Territories
IV. The Establishment of the Sierra Leone Protectorate and the Insurrection of 1898
The Underneath of ThingsViolence, History, and the Everyday in Sierra Leone
Secret Societies and Fetishism in Sierra Leone
Underneath of Things
The Poro Society
Human Sacrifice in Pre-Colonial West Africa
The Nature of African Customary Law
The Poro of the Mendi
Neo-Traditionalism and the Limits of Invention in British Colonial Africa
Amistad's Orphans
Bai Bureh, The British, and the Hut Tax War
Memories of the Slave Trade
Pawnship in Africa
The Political Function of the Poro. Part I
Structural Change in the Sierra Leone Protectorate
The Political Structures and Functions of Poro in Kpelle Society1
Social Change and Social Class in the Sierra Leone Protectorate
Post-Slavery Refractions
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,29 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2023 (5) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |