From Ansara, to Son, to Sorcerer: Paul Stoller’s Journey Amongst the Songhay

Paul Stoller’s eventual understanding and practicing of magic is the result of his acceptance and immersion in the world of the Songhay as a full-fledged member of the community. If Stoller had maintained his objective anthropological distance, his belief system would have never changed, and he would have never acquired the knowledge and acceptance of Songhay magic. It is not coincidence that when he begins to feel most accepted amongst the tribe parallel the moments when he starts to believe in their sorcery as not only real, but something so powerful he is at first afraid to understand it more thoroughly. In order to fully embrace Songhay magic, the limiting view of a white, outsider anthropologist, and all of the rigid beliefs that accompany that position had to be shed. Not only because that identity restricted his physical access to the information necessary to the study of sorcery, but because it also mentally distanced him, making his acceptance of their sorcery impossible. For Stoller, the transition from anthropologist outsider to student of Songhay sorcery was only plausible as he became increasingly accepted as a member of the community. It created the comfort and support required to loosen his lifelong training and beliefs, and allowed him to truly accept a different way of thinking, as he was himself living it. Although there are other factors that lead to Stoller’s gradual acceptance which are important to his overall shift, this change in his position within the Songhay community is at the crux of his transition. If he had continued to be a “good” anthropologist, his knowledge of Songhay sorcery would have been unreliable and impractical, as he would not have been able to experience it.
Although the book begins with Paul Stoller undertaking an ambitious survey of the languages spoken among the Songhay, his status as an outsider renders his questions unworthy of the truth; the Songhay all lie in their responses, rendering his data useless (Stoller

Bibliography: Lurhmann, T.M. Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft. Copyright 1989. Harvard University Press, 1991. Stoller, Paul and Cheryl Olkes. In Sorcery’s Shadow. University of Chicago Press, 1987.