In Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger
SynopsisPlot
In Sorcery’s Shadow by Paul Stoller and Cheryl Olkes is an anthropological memoir about Stoller’s apprenticeship to a Songhay sorcerer in Niger between 1976 and 1984. Immersed in local rituals and beliefs, Stoller moves from observer to participant, experiencing firsthand the power and ambiguity of African sorcery. The book blends personal narrative with ethnography, exploring how magic, culture, and human relationships intertwine.
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About this book
In Sorcery's Shadow is an anthropological memoir written by Paul Stoller and Cheryl Olkes. It follows Stoller's experiences living among the Songhay people of Niger over a period stretching from 1976 to 1984. During that time, Stoller became an apprentice to a Songhay sorcerer, gradually shifting from the role of outside observer to active participant in local practices and rituals. The book is set in the Republic of Niger, in communities where sorcery holds a recognized place in daily life and social relations.
Rather than presenting sorcery as a distant subject for academic study, the memoir traces what happens when an anthropologist allows himself to be drawn into the belief systems he came to document. Stoller describes the ambiguity he encountered as he moved deeper into apprenticeship, facing questions about the nature of power, trust, and cultural difference. The account blends personal narrative with ethnographic detail, giving concrete shape to interactions that might otherwise remain abstract in a standard fieldwork report.
The Songhay are one of the larger ethnic groups in Niger, concentrated along the Niger River in the western part of the country. Their traditions of spirit possession and healing have long attracted scholarly attention, and this memoir offers one fieldworker's close account of those practices over nearly a decade.
