TY  - GEN
AU  - Ebron, Paulla A. 
TI  - Performing Africa
SN  - 9780691074894
U1  - 781.6296345 
PY  - 2002///
CY  - Princeton
PB  - Princeton University Press
KW  - Folklore
KW  - Social Life & Customs
KW  - African People
KW  - History & Criticism
KW  - Cultutral Studies
KW  - Social Science
KW  - Sociology
N2  - The jali--a member of a hereditary group of Mandinka professional performers--is a charismatic but contradictory figure. He is at once the repository of his people's history, the voice of contemporary political authority, the inspiration for African American dreams of an African homeland, and the chief entertainment for the burgeoning transnational tourist industry. Numerous journalists, scholars, politicians, and culture aficionados have tried to pin him down. This book shows how the jali's talents at performance make him a genius at representation--the ideal figure to tell us about the "Africa" that the world imagines, which is always a thing of illusion, magic, and contradiction
ER  -