Wednesday 16:00-16:30
Laurie Taylor discusses the latest social science research.
08 February 2006
SORCERY AND POLITICS IN MOZAMBIQUE
In rural parts of northern Mozambique, sorcerers are said to roam the villages, transforming themselves into lions to devour the flesh of their victims. This long held traditional belief, although condemned by the authorities, has survived years of Socialism and with the recent coming of democracy has been asserting itself as powerful political force.
Dr Harry West, Lecturer in Social Anthropology at SOAS, London is the author of Kupilikula: Governance and the Invisible Realm in Mozambique .
LISTENER FEEDBACK: CREOLISATION
Two weeks ago Robin Cohen joined Laurie Taylor to discuss his research on Creolisation. Robin suggested that the term 'creole' - which has been used in a wide variety of contexts - might be a useful way of describing the increasingly mixed racial and cultural nature of contemporary societies. Harry Goulbourne, Professor of Sociology at London South Bank University joins the debate on the subject in response to listeners' comments.
INVENTING INTELLIGENCE
What is intelligence? Is it some "interior" human quality that can be observed, measured and ordered? And what makes humans the intelligent species?
Laurie Taylor is joined by Paul Michael Privateer, Associate Professor of Humanities at Arizona State University to chart the history of intelligence from early Greek culture to today's smart technologies and explore the ways in which intelligence has become a social ordering tool in areas such as capital punishment cases, immigration testing and education.
Additional information:
Dr Harry West, Lecture in Social Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the School of Oriental and African Studies
Kupilikula: Governance and the Invisible Realm in Mozambique
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226894053
Professor Harry Goulbourne, Professor of Sociology, Department of Arts and Human Sciences, Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group, London South Bank University
