Siaya - The Historical Anthropology of an African Landscape (Broché)

The authors of this highly original book set out to remove the persistent boundary between the authors and readers of ethnography on one hand and the subjects of ethnography on the other - those who observe and those who are observed. The book is written both for and about the Luo. The authors use stories to reveal Siaya, the Luo-speaking area of western Kenya near Lake Victoria but still surprisingly vulnerable to drought.
It brings together ideas and debates which Luo express about their past and present with findings, arguments, and questions produced about this "other people" by scholars writing in their own disciplines. For the Luo, what constitutes culture, what is correct behavior, what is history, are questions that are heavily fought over. This is one of those rare books that makes students and other interested individuals question their own cultural preconceptions and re-examine the genuine concerns of academic disciplines.