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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Rituals of Verification: Indigenous and Imported Accountability in Northern Tanzania
Author:Kelsall, TimISNI
Year:2003
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:73
Issue:2
Pages:174-201
Language:English
Geographic term:Tanzania
Subjects:public accounting
local government
rituals
curses
Politics and Government
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3556887
Abstract:Holding people to account for their actions is a feature of all societies. This article examines two different mechanisms of accountability, both of which are used in the Arumeru District of Tanzania. The first is a form of ritual cursing called 'breaking a pot'; the second is the local government financial audit. By placing both practices in the same frame the article aims to unsettle the conceptual divide between the rational and the irrational, the modern and the traditional, the scientific and the occult. It also asks whether imported forms of local government, such as are represented by Arumeru District Council, might be made responsible via indigenous and indexical mechanisms of accountability, or whether imported institutions are best rendered accountable by 'universal' means. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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