Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The ethnographic chiasmus
Prologue: Our barjo brought us together! Obituary for Baldambe
Rhetoric in the creation of Hamar culture
‘Face’ and the person
Do the Hamar have a concept of honour?
Speech situations and social control
Michere - How the whipping wand speaks
Political discourse in an egalitarian society
To share or not to share: Notes on authority and anarchy
Lomotor’s talk, or the imperial gerund
Predicaments of war and peace
Temptations of war and the struggle for peace
Rhetoric in the context of war
The genius loci of Hamar
Rhetorics of local knowledge
Meanings and rhetoric of the barjo aela
Magic and the rhetorical will
Mantic and magical confidence: The work of persuasion
Epilogue: What caused Baldambe’s death?
Bibliography
Map: The Hamar and their neighbours
Indexes
Index of themes
Index of dramatis personae
Index of places and peoples
Index of authors