Among the Bone Eaters: Encounters with Hyenas in Harar (Animalibus: Of Animals and Cultures)

Biologists studying large carnivores in wild places usually do so from a distance, using telemetry and noninvasive methods of data collection. So what happens when an anthropologist studies a clan of spotted hyenas, Africa’s second-largest carnivores, up close—and in a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants? In __Among the Bone Eaters__, Marcus Baynes-Rock takes us to the ancient city of Harar in Ethiopia, where the __gey waraba__ (hyenas of the city) are welcome in the streets and appreciated by the locals for the protection they provide from harmful spirits and dangerous “mountain” hyenas. They’ve even become a local tourist attraction. At the start of his research in Harar, Baynes-Rock contended with difficult conditions, stone-throwing children, intransigent bureaucracy, and wary hyena subjects intent on avoiding people. After months of frustration, three young hyenas drew him into the hidden world of the Sofi clan. He discovered the elements of a hyena’s life, from the delectability of dead livestock and the nuisance of dogs to the unbounded thrill of hyena chase-play under the light of a full moon. Baynes-Rock’s personal relations with the hyenas from the Sofi clan expand the conceptual boundaries of human-animal relations. This is multispecies ethnography that reveals its messy, intersubjective, dangerously transformative potential.

Biologists studying large carnivores in wild places usually doso from a distance, using telemetry and noninvasive methods of datacollection. So what happens when an anthropologist studies a clanof spotted hyenas, Africa's second-largest carnivores, up close-andin a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants? In Among the BoneEaters, Marcus Baynes-Rock takes us to the ancient city ofHarar in Ethiopia, where the gey waraba (hyenas of thecity) are welcome in the streets and appreciated by the locals forthe protection they provide from harmful spirits and dangerous"mountain" hyenas. They've even become a local touristattraction.

At the start of his research in Harar, Baynes-Rock contendedwith difficult conditions, stone-throwing children, intransigentbureaucracy, and wary hyena subjects intent on avoiding people.After months of frustration, three young hyenas drew him into thehidden world of the Sofi clan. He discovered the elements of ahyena's life, from the delectability of dead livestock and thenuisance of dogs to the unbounded thrill of hyena chase-play underthe light of a full moon. Baynes-Rock's personal relations with thehyenas from the Sofi clan expand the conceptual boundaries ofhuman-animal relations. This is multispecies ethnography thatreveals its messy, intersubjective, dangerously transformativepotential.

An Interdisciplinary Study Of The Relationship Between Hyenas And The People Of Harar, Ethiopia--provided By Publisher. Past Finding Around Harar -- Lines Of Reason For Hyenas -- Between Different Relations -- You Hyenas -- The Legend Of Ashura -- On The Tail Of A Hyena -- Encounters With The Unseen -- Reflections From A Hyena Playground -- Death, Death, And Rhetoric -- Blood Of The Hyena -- Across A Human/hyena Boundary -- A Host Of Other Ideas -- Returning To Other Hyenas -- Talking Up Hyena Realities -- Looking Through A Hyena Hole. Marcus Baynes-rock ; With A Foreword By Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. Includes Bibliographical References (pages [193]-198) And Index.