Meeting the Invisible Man: Secrets and Magic in West Africa

I have enjoyed this book. I find Green's observations and history of West Africa very insightful. I admit, I have not verified any of his history, but from other readings from the area, it seems consistent. I truely enjoyed his swaying view of the real existence of magic. His internal struggle seems logical, even though his subject is magic. I found sometimes that his story slows a bit too much, but that said, I would recommend this book.

_Meeting the Invisible Man_ by Toby Green is an account of the author's travels in West Africa - specifically Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea-Conakry (officially known simply as Guinea, in West Africa it is widely called Guinea-Conakry to avoid confusion with Guinea-Bissau) - in search of authentic African magic. In 1995 Green became friends with a Senegalese photographer by the name of El Hadji (a devout Muslim), a man who swore that mystics known as Marabouts (pronounced "Maraboo", magical holy men with connections to Islam) possessed the ability to bestow invisibility and invulnerability upon people. Intrigued, Green returned four years later, met his friend, and undertook a journey of several months through these three nations to test these magical claims himself. Seeking Marabouts in the cities and in remote villages deep in the countryside, Green sought to verify if such magic could indeed exist. These men didn't cast spells it seems but created magical charms or amulets known as gris-gris (pronounced "gree-gree"), items that might contain such items as a piece of burial shroud, the skin of a black cat, cloth once owned by a mute, or verses from the Koran written many times on parchment or paper. These items were generally constructed in secret away from the eyes of Green and El Hadji, often taking days to finish and coming complete with a number of verbal instructions that must be followed (lest either bad things happen to the wearer or the charm be rendered in effective); not wearing a gris-gris during sex was a common rule, as was not using one for evil. If the rules were followed and the owner wore the gris-gris (generally on their waists, attached to the belt, or on their arms), depending upon what the amulet was constructed for, it might bestow invulnerability to knife attacks, gunfire, or even make one invisible (or wealthy, as Green visited a moderately prosperous village that believed it owed its great fortune to the powerful Marabout resident there). I found it interesting that many Muslims in West Africa believed in Marabouts and in gris-gris. El Hadji and others claimed that there was nothing in the Qu'ran that forbade visiting a Marabout (though not visiting a sorcerer, which was apparently an altogether different type of individual). Additionally, a number of people Green talked to, including Marabouts, claimed that they possessed secret knowledge or secret verses from the Qu'ran itself. The author noted that many Muslims outside the region and some in the region firmly believe that gris-gris is not acceptable in orthodox Islam, though Marabouts have a long history in the region, arriving simultaneously in West Africa with Islam in the eleventh century. Green began the journey convinced that gris-gris simply could not work, but once he spent time in Africa he seemed to waver some. Once he became immersed in the culture and the people, he began to appreciate the often radically different worldview of many of the locals