Relationships in motion
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Havana among initiates of the male diviner-cult of Ifá, this paper addresses the classical anthropological conundrum of how to make sense of practitioners’ contention that initiation transforms them into «new people». Taking into account the role of divination in «...
Guardat en:
| Publicat a: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/span, |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
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Systèmes de pensée en Afrique noire
2013
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| Accés en línia: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumari: | Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Havana among initiates of the male diviner-cult of Ifá, this paper addresses the classical anthropological conundrum of how to make sense of practitioners’ contention that initiation transforms them into «new people». Taking into account the role of divination in «calling» neophytes, it is shown that Ifá initiation involves an accumulation of relationships with deities and fellow initiates that are «internal» in the sense that they pertain to the very definition of the neophyte as a person. It is argued that for such a notion not to appear logically absurd («apparently irrational») it is necessary to revise radically a series of analytical assumptions regarding the nature of change, obligation and personhood. |
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