`mad Masters` And Jean Rouchs `les Maîtres Fous`

Sacred Rites and the Function of holiness in Les Maotres FousFive decades after it was produced and invited the offense of its audiences , Les Maotres Fous continues to be hailed as a landmark sprout in ethnography . Henley (2006 ) observes that the deal is maven of the most salient among the galore(postnominal) reads that Rouch made in a span of more than cubical decimetre years (p . 732 ) This m employ presents a stark short letter to the moving picture producer s accept ambivalence close the ply of Les Maotres Fous Lim (2002 ) notes that Rouch s attempt to prevail the consider as depicting the colonial white lords as the true(p) mad masters was sooner lame comp ared to the solid themes that idler be identified from its images (p .41 ) arguably , Les Maotres Fous is made aro enforce and rabble-rousing not only for the arguable images it contains and the image of Africa it conjures barely excessively for the valuable insights it provides on the meanings and symbols of holiness and religious rites for African passel in relation to their diachronic and cultural realities and experiences Les Maotres Fous or grim masterJean Rouch s (1955 ) Les Maotres Fous or Mad Masters is an ethnography about the spirit- possession ceremonies of the Hauka , a religious sect in Ghana , Africa . The go for of the Hauka was overriding among members of immigrant communities such as Songhay and Zerma raft (referred to as Zabrama in the conduct ) who came from the rural areas in the Niger and became workers in the cities of Ghana , then colonized by the British . Rouch , using his camera and an improvised record rec to capture sound concurrently with the visuals , captures the image of puppet pass on , trance , and spirit possession among Hauka practitioners (Ricard 2004 ,.

7 Les Maotres Fous gained repute for viewing the participants of the Hauka rites kill and then wipe out a mark in their moments of trance and possession , wherein they are possessed by strong drink identified with colonial powers (Lim 2002 ,. 40 Henley 2006 ,. 731 ) The footage of the rituals provoked an incensed answer from both(prenominal) the Europeans and the Africans , who alleged that the film was racist in both ways , depicting raw caricatures of both the colonizers and the colonized . The film was subsequently banned by the British from beingness shown in Africa and denounced by French anthropologists as a scoffing that essential be destroyed by Rouch himself (Lim 2002 ,. 40 ) Rouch , in demurrer of his work , suggests in the film that his documentary shows how the Songhay-Zerma people use the Hauka ritual as a coping tool to endorse their low social situation and degrading duty as laborers and workers in menial jobsAmbiguity of the SacredThe European s and African s take aback at the images of the religious ritual is not entirely instill as pervasive ethnocentrism opens the film to the risk of being taken out of context . thence , the hauka , just like opposer primitive rituals , involves practices that may be considered violent by outsiders , especially...If you fill to get a mount essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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