GENIES OR THE OPACITY OF HUMAN-ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPS IN KAKANDE, GUINEA

Abstract

This article investigates what it means for some inhabitants of northwestern Guinea to relate to the realm of 'nature' and, more specifically, to animals that are categorized as 'wild' by Westerners. The materials analysed in this article include villagers' narratives about their hunting activities, some of which were obtained while tracking chimpanzees in their company to gather behavioral data. Additional evidence was generated during a long interview with a griot who provided a wealth of ethological information through a series of short animal stories. For a hunter, the relationship with an animal is not bipolar because a genie may come between the predator and his prey in various ways, according to the kind of animal that is targeted. As for the physical and behavioral descriptions of animals in stories, they constitute heterogeneous knowledge that reveals the diversity of relationships that can be established with multiple species.