Incarnating Spirits, Composing Shrines, and Cooking Divine Power in Vodún (original) (raw)

Shrines in Africa: History, Politics, and Society

Time and Mind, 2011

The artwork on the cover of this book is not open access and falls under traditional copyright provisions; it cannot be reproduced in any way without written permission of the artists and their agents. The cover can be displayed as a complete cover image for the purposes of publicizing this work, but the artwork cannot be extracted from the context of the cover of this specific work without breaching the artist's copyright.

Navigating African Sacred Geography: Shrines for African Sufi Saints and Spirits in India

Journal of Africana Religions

African sacred spaces in India are carved and maintained by mortal beings mostly hailing from the Sidi African-Indian community and from other subaltern communities, and these spaces are perpetually protected by African spirit beings. Thriving as marginal spaces in the overcrowded Indian cities, coastal towns, and villages, these African sacred topographies are continuously reimagined and reinvented by invested stakeholders to suit contemporary purposes. While addressing the complex connections of some of these sacredscapes with the African Indian Ocean slave trade, this paper examines how shrines dedicated to African Sufi saints and spirits keep African memories alive as devotees continue to seek the intercessions of these saints and spectral deities. By studying the spiritual beliefs and practices at these shrines, I discuss how African sacred geography in India prevails as a relational space connected to the Indian Ocean littoral through the intercessory powers of the African sai...

Modernizing Indigenous Priesthood and Revitalizing Old Shrines: Current Developments on Ghana’s Religious Landscape

2015

This study is about the upsurge in the activities of the agents of more than one indigenous religious tradition (IRT) in contemporary Ghana. We concern ourselves with two case studies. These are the neo-and the old indigenous religious agents represented by two major shrines. The two shrines, headed by a priest and priestess, both claim to be rooted in indigenous Akan Dedication To my son Jayden-Rafael Kofi Dwomor Asubonteng and husband Kofi Ababio Dwomor Asubonteng iii Acknowledgement In writing this thesis, a number of people have guided, inspired as well as supported me all the way, though I cannot individually capture everyone who has been of help, I would like to show gratitude to certain people. I am indebted to Prof. (em.) Ulrich Berner, my supervisor, who first accepted to work with me in 2009 before I even secured admission into BIGSAS. Secondly, I extend my profound gratitude to Prof. Afe Adogame for informing me about the University of Bayreuth and actually introducing me to Prof. Berner. Thanks for your mentorship. Dr. Magnus Ecthler has, since my arrival to Bayreuth, been my mentor. He helped in shaping the work from beginning to end and I am most grateful for his invaluable assistance. I also, express my thanks to Prof. Christine Gudorf, Prof. Albert Wuaku, Dr. Franz Kogelmann, Prof. Umar Danfulani and Dr. Ukah Asonzeh for their priceless inputs in my work. My family have been home praying for my success and I appreciate their efforts. My late father Mr. A.A.K Nrenzah wanted me to have this PhD so much-thanks for pushing me daddy, I am grateful and hope you are proud wherever you may be now. Many thanks to mum, Elizabeth Acquah, Uncle Randolf Acquah, my siblings and friends in BIGSAS. I wish to thank Nana Kwaku Bonsam, Kↄmfo Oforiwaa and her husband Paa Sarbah, members and clients of both shrines and the entire community that volunteered information. Finally, to the good people of Germany and BIGSAS team whose vision has made this achievement possible, every dawn when you hear the roaster crow, it's my family and I saying thank you. iv Glossary Agorↄ-"gorↄ" literally means to drum or to play. On the IRTs terrene it means a gathering of priests and priestesses to play publically. Akↄm-"kↄm" means being possessed or dancing. In this sense it signifies the gathering of priest and priestesses at the indigenous religious state levels for the purposes of exhibiting potent spiritual power.

Vodún, Globalization, and the Creative Layering of Belief in Southern Bénin

This article examines the ways in which beliefs and forms of secret religious knowledge are (re)formed and mobilized creatively by Béninois practitioners of Vodún, who participate actively in Bénin's changing religious landscape. This expansion , encouraged by contemporary trends in globalization and transnationalism such as spiritual tourism, modernity, and an increased Evangelical Christian presence in West Africa, has propelled belief into local and transnational discourse. While persuasive arguments have been made against the use of the term 'belief' to describe African religion, in this article I show how Vodún's increased presence on the global stage and strategies employed by local practitioners to frame Vodún as transnational has once again made belief in African religion an important and meaningful point of critical analysis.

Black Gods, White Bodies: Westerners' Initiations to Vodun in Contemporary Benin

A noteworthy presence of Whites within Beninese, inner Vodun circles dates form the beginning of the 1990s, in correspondence with the democratic transition and the development of the local tourism industry. While this phenomenon by itself can be considered marginal, it brings up new issues, challenging both Vodun specialists and anthropologists to reconsider the modes of religion's reproduction in times of globalization. The inclusion of Whites into Vodun practiceand the consequent adjustment and tailoring of rituals that it requires -illustrates the constant process of transformation and reinvention of a traditional African religion by showing how culturally portable practices, locally produced and internationally exported, permeate people's everyday life, shaping subjectivities and understanding of the world. Addressing both issues of identity construction and cultural consumption, intimate, spiritual journeys of selftransformation of White initiates question how images of Africa are constructed and how Vodun rituals transform and renovate over time and space.

Embodiment and Relationality in Religions of Africa and Its Diasporas

Embodying Black Religions in Africa and Its Diasporas

Melodically rocking Sufi bodies remember God on a former plantation in South Carolina, reconnecting with ancestors and an imagined homeland. Dancers in Martinique use the sound of the bèlè drum to achieve emotional transcendence and resist alienation caused by centuries of French assimilation. Devotees of Mama Tchamba in Togo use shuffling steps, dress, and ritual to placate the spirits of formerly enslaved people from the North whom their own ancestors bought and sold. All of these examples foreground one thing: the role of the body specifically in the shaping, transmitting, and remaking of African and African diasporic religions and religious communities. Embodying Black Religions in Africa and Its Diasporas is an edited volume that critically examines the role of the body as a source of religiously motivated social action for people of African descent across the geographic regions of the African continent, the Ca rib bean and Latin Amer i ca, the American South, and Eu rope. From a variety of religious contexts-from Pentecostalism in Ghana and Brazil to Ifá divination in Trinidad to Islam in South Carolina, Nigeria, and London-the contributors investigate the complex intersections between the body, religious expression, and the construction and negotiation of par tic ular social relationships and collective identities. A series of case studies explore how embodied practices-such as possession and spirit-induced trembling, wrestling in pursuit of deliverance, ritual dance, and gestures and postures of piety-can inform notions of sexual citizenship, challenge secular definitions of the nation, or promote transatlantic connections as well as local and ethnic Introduction: Embodiment and Relationality in Religions of Africa and Its Diasporas yolanda covington-ward and jeanette s. jouili