Gesture and Power

"Gesture and Power makes very important contributions to our knowledge of cultural embodiment, African social life, and the political importance of everyday performance. This book is a deeply researched and profoundly experienced work that is the result of substantive and sensitive fieldwork in Lower Congo. Impressive in its scope, its depth, and its expression, Gesture and Power will prompt much important debate in the years to come."  - Paul Stoller, author of Yaya’s Story: the Quest for Well-Being in the World

"Groundbreaking, intriguing, and ethnographically rich, Gesture and Power is a provocative and significant contribution to the study of gesture, performance, religion, and micropolitics in the Congo." - Bennetta Jules-Rosette, author of Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and the Image

"Attention to west-central African dance histories and evocative descriptions of the author’s participation in performance events enrich the study, with a chapter on 'dancing disorder' during the dictatorial days of Mobutu Sese Seko among the book’s strongest contributions to humanistic Africanist literature. Highly recommended." - A. F. Roberts, Choice

"Gesture and Power is an extraordinary work. . . . [It] provides serious and fertile historical and ethnographic material and offers a solid methodological format and an insightful perspective on African embodied politics and religious practices in both the past and the present." - Annalisa Butticci, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

"Yolanda Covington-Ward has rightly constructed a remarkable book that seeks to provide valuable insight on the dynamics of power, nationalism, religion, and performances in Congo." - Genevieve Nrenzah, Reading Religion

"[Covington-Ward's] attention to the microdynamics of gesture brings the study of rite and ritual into the domain of the evetyday and highlights the profundity of common acts as makers of religious and political meaning. In doing so, she raises questions about position and positionality that are pertinent beyond the powerful dynamics of religion and politics in Congo." - Emma Wild-Wood, Church History

"The author’s theoretical points are sharp, and they are presented in an accessible way." - Jeremy Rich, Journal of Anthropological Research

"Covington-Ward’s focus on the body and her exploration of the everyday use of gestures, as well as her discussion of the relationship between civil religion and African nationalism, makes her book a valuable contribution to the fields of African studies, religious studies, and anthropology. Gesture and Power is a recommended purchase for all academic libraries supporting these subjects." - Nicole C. Westerdahl, Journal of Religious & Theological Information

"A tremendous amount of labor went into this study and the end product is a compelling, engaging, intelligent, and enjoyable text, a fine scholarly contribution to the literature on religion in Central Africa. Small wonder thus that the book is adorned with glowing endorsements on the back cover by such distinguished anthropologists of African religion as Paul Stoller and Bennetta Jules-Rosette." - Terry Rey, Religion

"Covington-Ward has produced a very detailed account of colonial and postcolonial trajectories and bodily memories in contemporary Central Africa." - Ramon Sarró, Africa

"The reader interested in religion and politics in Africa will find in this book a helpful historical introduction to the case of Lower Congo prophetism and Zairian animation politique. Beyond this academic interest, it will surely make the reader discover and think about the political implications of gestures in his/her own everyday life." - Peter Lambertz, Anthropos

"Covington-Ward contributes to existing scholarship by foregrounding the importance of everyday embodied performances in the production and contestation of spiritual and political authority. Moreover, in and through her explicit focus on body politics, she highlights the profoundly gendered and racialized dynamics of mundane performances, and illustrates the complex ways in which race and gender affect the interactions between these performances and broader structures of power." - Thomas Hendriks, Journal of African History

"A fine blend of Congo’s colonial history, an impressive page of Cultural anthropology, an introduction to African body/performance studies, and a crisp work on sociology of religion. . . . One of the finest works on ethnography given its style of description, rich theoretical background, and methodology." - Adfer Rashid Shah, African Studies Quarterly