Storytelling, Religion and the Contours of Well-Being

It is through stories that most of us not only make sense of the world, but also of ourselves. In this presentation, Stoller tells a story that begs the question of possibility. It begins with the tragic tale of his good friend and colleague, the French anthropologist and poet, Jean-Marie Gibbal who, in 1993, died from brain cancer at the age of 53.

The great Malian musician Ali Farka Toure claimed in an interview in Le Monde, that Gibbal, who had researched spirit possession troupes along the Niger River, had revealed sacred secrets in his published work. As a result of this transgression, Farke Toure further claimed that Gibbal’s premature death resulted directly from korte or death magic that practitioners had sent from Mali to France.

“Is this possible?”

This fundamentally existential question provides the framework for a wide-ranging and narratively contoured discussion of ethics, embodiment, epistemology, religion, storytelling and our never-ending quest for well-being in the world.

Paul Stoller has been conducting anthropological research for 30 years. His early work concerned the religion of the Songhay people who live in the Republics of Niger and Mali in West Africa.

The 2014 Ideas Matter Lecture series, sponsored by the Hundere Endowment in Religion and Culture, in affiliation with the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion is devoted to critical examination of the human body and its manifold meanings in religious experience. Our speakers include distinguished national scholars as well as prominent civic leaders, physicians, and OSU faculty.

For more information and a complete schedule, visit:
http://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/shpr/ideas-matter

Видео Storytelling, Religion and the Contours of Well-Being канала OSU - School of History, Philosophy, and Religion