Adeline Marie Masquelier (born 1960) is an Associate Professor of Anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 at Tulane University

Tulane University

Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...

 in New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 in 1993 studying under the prominent Africanist

Africanist

Africanist may refer to:*A specialist in African studies*A strand of African nationalism during the activism against apartheid in South Africa particularly associated with the Pan Africanist Congress...

 and Anthropologist Jean Comaroff

Jean Comaroff

Jean Comaroff is Bernard E. & Ellen C. Sunny Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago and Honorary Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cape Town. She is an expert on the effects of colonialism on people in Southern Africa.She...

, and has done her field work among the people of rural Niger

Niger

Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...

 in the Hausa

Hausa people

The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...

 town of Dogondoutchi. Her research focuses have included spirit possession, reformist Islam, Bori

Bori (religion)

Bori is a traditional animistic religion of the Hausa people of West Africa which involves spiritual possession.-Terminology:Bòòríí is a Hausa noun, meaning the spiritual force which resides in physical things, and is related to the word for local distilled alcohol as well the practice of medicine...

 religious practices, twinship, witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

, the pathology of consumption, medical anthropology

Medical anthropology

Medical anthropology is an interdisciplinary field which studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives...

, and gender

Gender

Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...

. Currently she is researching the Izala Islamic reformist movement in Niger, examining issues including bridewealth, worship, and dress.

Works

• Prayer Has Spoiled Everything: Possession, Power, and Identity in an Islamic Town in Niger ISBN 0-8223-2639-6 (2001)
• Behind the Dispensary's Prosperous Facade: Imagining the State in Rural Niger, Public Culture Vol.13, No.2 Public Culture 13.2 (2001) 267-291
• Dirt, Undress, and Difference: Critical Perspectives on the Body's Surface ISBN 0-253-34628-2 (2005)
• The Scorpion's Sting: Youth, Marriage and the Struggle for Social Maturity in Niger, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol.11, No.1 (March 2005).
• When Spirits Start Veiling: The Case of the Veiled She-Devil in a Muslim Town of Niger, Africa Today, Vol.54, No.3 (Spring 2008).

External links