Ben Jones is a Lecturer in Development Studies at the University of East Anglia. The thesis manuscript, on which the book is based, was awarded the William Robson Memorial Prize by the London School of Economics.

• 1. Introduction; Moving the State from the Centre; In Between "Development"; The Rest of the Book; 2. Introducing Oledai; Themes that Cut Across Developments in the Village; Seniority, Prosperity, Propriety; Explaining Change in the Village; 3. Teso Society through the Twentieth Century; From Stateless to Sub-Colonial; Teso through the Post-Colonial Period; The Teso Insurgency; Conclusion; 4. The Village Court and the Withdrawn State; Away from Decentralisation; The History of the State in Teso Villages; The Actual Work of the Village Council in Oledai; Conclusion; 5. The Pentecostal Church; The Nature of Pentecostalism; Pentecostalism in the Teso Region; The Incorporation of Pentecostalism; The Limits to Incorporation; Conclusion; 6. The Anglican and Catholic Churches; The Historic Mission Churches in Teso; The Influence of Pentecostalism; Conclusion; 7. Burial Societies; The Work of Burial Societies; The Genealogy of Burial Societies; Burial Societies and Local Borrowings; The Past in the Present; Conclusion; 8. Conclusion; Churches and the Meaning Of Change; Burials, Ideas and Institutional Change; Uganda in Between; Appendix A: Research Methods; Appendix B: Interviews; Interviews Conducted in the Sub-Parish of Oledai; Interviews: Others; Participants in Group Discussions in Oledai; Participants in Group Discussions in Agolitom (Conducted in Ateso).

A very readable book and one that challenges current development discourses with good ethnography and historical scholarship. ... Will be particularly useful for teaching in undergraduate courses and in postgraduate seminars… Essential reading for students of Uganda, and indeed for students of Africa.