Draft:Ghosts of Kanungu
| Author | Richard Vokes |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | African Anthropology |
| Subject | Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God |
| Publisher | Fountain Publishers |
Publication date | 2009 |
| Pages | 240 |
| ISBN | 978-9970-02-732-3 |
| 276.7’61082 |
Ghosts of Kanungu: Fertility, Secrecy and Exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa is a book about the cult the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (MRTC), notorious for the deaths of hundreds of its members in what was alternatively described as mass suicide or mass murder in 2000. The book was written by Richard Vokes and published by Fountain Publishers in 2009. The book analyzes the MRTC in the context of the wider religious background of Uganda, and attempts to show what lead to the deaths.
The book received a positive reception, with reviewers praising it for its writing quality and. Some minor criticisms were levied at the book's clarity and open-ended nature.
Background[edit]
Richard Vokes
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was a millenialist religious movement[1]
In March 2000, several hundred corpses were found in a burnt building on one of the group's compounds.[1] Initially, it was believed that they had died in a mass suicide, but the discovery of several hundred more bodies in mass graves at the group's other locations made investigators belief it was possibly mass murder.[1]
Synopsis[edit]
Ghosts of Kanungu is divided into nine sections.[2]
The first half of the book gives a historical background.[3]
Reception[edit]
[4][5][6][2][7][8][3][1][9][10]
The book received
writing[4]
"compelling"[8]
describing it as "admirably mix[ing] history, ethnography and a sense of fundamental continuities".[3]
One reviewer complained that the book was unclear in several respects about what had happened and what had lead to it, arguing that "if an author writes a murder mystery, he or she should expect the reader to want more answers than this provocative book provides."[2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Whyte, Susan Reynolds (December 2011). "Ghosts of Kanungu: Fertility, Secrecy and Exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa". Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology. 76 (4): 562–564. doi:10.1080/00141844.2011.565127. ISSN 0014-1844.
- ^ a b c Beidelman, T.O. (2015). "Review of Ghosts of Kanungu: fertility, secrecy and exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 21 (1): 242–243. ISSN 1359-0987. JSTOR 43907854.
- ^ a b c Ranger, Terence (December 2012). "Ghosts of Kanungu: Fertility, Secrecy and Exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa". History & Anthropology. 23 (4): 507–510. doi:10.1080/02757206.2012.726718. ISSN 0275-7206.
- ^ a b Pype, Katrien (2014). "Review of Ghosts of Kanungu Fertility, Secrecy & Exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa". Journal of Religion in Africa. 44 (3/4): 428–429. ISSN 0022-4200. JSTOR 43303328.
- ^ Haynes, Naomi (2016). "Review of Ghosts of Kanungu: Fertility, Secrecy and Exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa". Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice. 60 (3): 134–136. ISSN 0155-977X. JSTOR 26404945.
- ^ Murchison, Julian M. (2015). "Review of Ghosts of Kanungu: Fertility, Secrecy and Exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa". American Ethnologist. 42 (2): 377–378. ISSN 0094-0496. JSTOR 43867920.
- ^ Doyle, Shane (2015). "Review of Ghosts of Kanungu: fertility, secrecy and exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 85 (2): 366–367. ISSN 0001-9720. JSTOR 24525745.
- ^ a b Fardon, Richard (2012). "Review of Ghosts of Kanungu: Fertility, secrecy and exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa, (Series in African Anthropology)". African Affairs. 111 (445): 673–675. ISSN 0001-9909. JSTOR 23357177.
- ^ Akello, Grace (November 2010). "Ghosts of Kanungu: fertility, secrecy and exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa by Vokes Richard". Social Anthropology / Anthropologie Sociale. 18 (4): 503–505. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8676.2010.00133_24.x. ISSN 0964-0282.
- ^ Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena (January 2011). "Ghosts of Kanungu. Fertility, secrecy and exchange in the great lakes of East Africa. By Richard Vokes. (African Anthropology.) Pp. xiv+240 incl. 3 maps and 24 ills. Kampala: Fountain Publishers/Woodbridge: James Currey, 2009. £55. 978 9970 02 732 3; 978 1 84701 009 4". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 62 (1): 203–204. doi:10.1017/S0022046910002952. ISSN 1469-7637.