Joseph Hellweg is a cultural anthropologist in the Department of Religion at Florida State University. At the ISM, he is writing a book on the songs of Dramane Coulibaly, his host in northwestern Côte d’Ivoire. Dramane sang to calm the “shadows” of deceased dozo hunters after their deaths, enabling them to transition peacefully to the afterlife. Hellweg reads these songs as reflections on ancient dozo “oral” texts that scholars have interpreted as alternative sources of human rights. Together, Dramane’s songs, and the dances they inspired, performed a relational model of human capability that expands human rights discourse.
In addition to accompanying dozo hunters in Côte d’Ivoire (Hunting the Ethical State, 2011), Hellweg has done research with N’ko healers in Guinea and Mali (Living the City in Africa, eds. Obrist, Arlt & Macamo, 2013), and with LGBTQI+ activists in Côte d’Ivoire (Public Religion and the Politics of Homosexuality in Africa, eds. van Klinken and Chitando, 2016). Joseph is excited to be pursuing this project at the ISM!