Højbjerg problematizes the very concept ofLoma exegesis, and gives a detailed account ofsale as linguistic category and cognitive trigger.The absence of a detailed religious terminologyis presented here as a puzzle. Behind theseemingly random and individual explanationsprovided by informants as to their relationshipswith cults and their paraphernalia lies asystematic and recurring narrative, which fewinternal actors are willing to acknowledge oranalyse. One actor’s experience remains on thewhole seemingly disconnected from another’s,in spite of the experiential similarities betweenthem. Enter the anthropologist who, faced withthis absence of theoretical exegesis, provides anexplanation based on the cognitive significanceof symbols and their evocative psychologicalforce, uniting individual experience anduniversal, communal pathos.

The absence of an explicit terminologypertaining to religion and religious practice haslong been recognized as a common feature ofmany African contexts, ranging from Turner andHorton to Parkin and Amselle. As we know, theabsence of an obvious external marker oftendefies the complex and buoyant presence ofwhat lies within. The response to such a‘problem’, if problem there is, could be handledreflexively, by asking ourselves what it is weexpect to find when we look for exegesis, andthe kind of mental maps that guide us, asprofessional anthropologists, towards suchschematic models of religion more specifically.Instead, Højbjerg reiterates that such a lack ofexegesis requires explanation; one which heattributes, inspired by Boyer among others, tothe power of universal cognition as a majorcompass to the structuring of symbols and, byextension, attendant experience and continuityin the face of change. The seeming absence of alocal exegesis is therefore side-stepped, and therichness of religious practice thereby redeemedby such a cognitive model of explanation. Thetangent to an opaque ‘système de pensées’ is notfar away.

The best parts of the book remain thosefocusing on what is promised in the title:iconoclasm and the schism between localcommunities and the state. These issues areexamined in a historical perspective, focusingmore closely on the various shifts in power andattitude adopted by the political leadership inpre-colonial and post-independence contexts.From colonial policies of repression to Marxistideologies driven by atheistic convictions, Lomareligion has been subjected to outside pressureto disappear. Its own internal logic of secrecy,

dispersed leadership, and diffuse knowledgeserved it well, as it allowed for its survival andmodification according to a mechanism ofsurvival already inherent in its very make-up andpractice. The concept of change is approachedin this light. It is, however, a pity that theattendant conclusion, with its heavy emphasison cognitive processes as guardians of religiousideas, serves to dismiss the importance of localreligions as powerful political insignia in resistingintrusion.

The reader is left wishing for more, especiallywhen it comes to enhancing the social contextof the Loma. Little is said, for instance, about theconflicts which lead the Loma to seek out theassistance of sale spirits, about the relationshipsthey entertain between them, acrossgenerations, across genders, and throughoutdifferent periods of their life-cycle and politicalhistory. What information is provided is relatedin schematic fashion, focusing on formalizedanalyses of illness narratives, rituals, prayers, orhealing and divination sessions, often presentedin a detached and streamlined context in orderto illustrate a theoretical point. Højbjerg’stheoretical ambition strips away much of thesocial context which could have been brought tothe fore; the complexity of Loma relationships issadly absent from this otherwise richlydocumented account. Too much space is spenton validating the accuracy of an externalisticcognitive approach (since, Højbjerg claims, theLoma’s self-reflexivity is only episodic), ratherthan focusing to a greater extent on thecomplex web of relationships and political twistswhich underpin continuity.

Højbjerg’s account will undoubtedly providevaluable ethnographic material to regionalspecialists, and it documents a wealth ofreligious practices. It will also provide a valuableaddition to the body of literature focusing ontheories of cognition, symbolism, and change.

Nadia Lovell University of Linköping

Khandelwal, Meena, Sondra L. Hausner,& Ann Grodzins Gold (eds). Women’srenunciation in South Asia: nuns, yoginis,saints, and singers. x, 296 pp., map, illus.,bibliogrs. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2006. £42.50

(cloth)

Does asceticism empower women? This is thecentral issue in this excellent collection. Thebook is very readable and full of rich detail. Itcovers most of the traditions of South Asia,including Tibetan Buddhist and Bon practitioners

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Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.) 15, 409-455© Royal Anthropological Institute 2009

as well as both non-celibate and celibate BengaliBauls of Muslim and Hindu background.

The book does not claim to be exhaustive, soit is perhaps unfair to comment on the lack ofMuslim case studies. A slightly broader definitionof renunciation might have helped, although thecollection does widens our notion of asceticism,especially in the valuable discussion at the endby Ann Grodzins Gold. She points to acontinuum of practice, with widowhood as a‘shadow renunciant’ way of life. Gold also refersto married women who artfully blend renouncerand wifely symbolism and practice. Might thisbe compared with the actions of youngBritish-born Muslim women who renouncefashion by adopting the veil and then whizaround the country to mixed-sex seminars? Goldregrets that the authors do not say more abouthow householder women regard female ascetics.She points out that the popular mediaevalpoetess saint, Mira, did not call herself an asceticbut claimed to be married to Krishna.

The ‘breaking away’ offered by renunciationis ambiguous. Many of the women maintainsomething of the food-provider role sofundamental to female identity in South Asia.Hindus in particular continue to perform seva(service), though the authors take this to bemainly a result of the modern stress on activismin the world produced by the reformmovements of the nineteenth century. Theproblem with this interpretation is that itcontradicts their own observation that normativetextual prescription is not a good guide toascetic practice for either men or women. It ispossible that the texts are no more an adequateguide to the past than to the present. Seva mayalways have been important for female ascetics.The contributors all agree that ascetics are notdisengaged from society. However, this too maynot be an altogether modern development (andcertainly is not so in the case of Buddhists). Mostof these women maintain kin or communitylinks.

Jain nuns are the notable exception. They do,of course, belong to a more prosperouscommunity able to provide institutional support.Many female ascetics cannot rely on donations,alms, or monastic income as easily as can maleascetics and have to earn a living. Bauls, forexample, do so by singing, Tibetans by trade orlabour on the family land. In some cases femaleascetic life is partly an adaptation to poverty.The second daughter in a Tibetan family is oftenexpected to remain without children. A Bengaliwho sings and begs for a living gains legitimacyif she follows the Baul path. Unfortunately the

authors are not able to tell us much about theother social motivations leading to renunciationas many ascetics are prohibited from talkingabout their pasts.

The collection shows that freedoms are noteasily won. Most of these women faced an initialbattle and contradictory public response. Theyhave not gained the same empowerment asmale ascetics. They gain freedom fromchildbearing, from marriage (in most cases: theBauls are usually an exception), have increasedmobility, and are sometimes enabled to livealone. Tibetan women have found it easier totravel alone as traders if they were classed asascetics. Though they are often perceived byEuropeans as less constrained by gender thanother South Asian women because of the relativeabsence of the honour and shame complex, theysuffer various gender inequalities, includinglimited access to literacy, traditionally highlyprized. Western interest in and funding of a malemonastic scriptural version of Tibetan Buddhismhas inadvertently worsened the position offemale ascetics. It has devalued the local customthat provided openings for them. For femaleHindu nationalists, renunciation has opened thedoors to an active political role; some evenbecome demagogues able to sway millions athome and abroad.

There is such wealth of interest in this bookthat I can only be idiosyncratic in highlightingone last detail. The life of Jain nuns is shown tobe focused on a stringent disciplining of thebody that recalls the behaviour of anorexics. Farfrom intensifying female modesty, they learn toabandon it and to adopt a new style of powerwalking.

Mary Searle-Chatterjee Manchester University

Social anthropology

Born, Georgina. Uncertain vision: Birt, Dykeand the reinvention of the BBC. 564 pp.,bibliogr. London: Secker & Warburg, 2004.£17.99 (cloth)

In 1926, at more or less the same moment asJohn Logie Baird showed it was possible totransmit moving, monochromatic images‘through the airwaves’, the Americanphilosopher and public intellectual John Deweywrote a prophetic essay in which, in effect, hesummoned into being the idea of apublic-service broadcaster. In The public and its

Book reviews448

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.) 15, 409-455© Royal Anthropological Institute 2009