The State Must Be Our Master of Fire

"An original, meticulous, and convincing intervention in the debates swirling around development practice. Galvan makes a powerful and eloquent case for cultural syncretism as the route to a culturally sustainable development."—James C. Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology, Yale University

"The State Must Be Our Master of Fire provides a superbly documented study of the dynamics of state-society interactions at the rural periphery which undermine state projects of high modernity. This book will be an important contribution to the literature on African politics and comparative development more broadly."—Crawford Young, author of The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective

"A masterful study of how peasants in a distant locality in Senegal have used tradition and symbols to interpret the world around them in ways that have allowed them, over generations, to respond imaginatively to the presence of colonial and post-colonial efforts to develop the country. This is a book that should appeal to all social scientists, regardless of discipline, who have an interest in how institutions develop and become significant in society."—Goran Hyden, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Florida