Spirited Things: The Work of "Possession" in Afro-Atlantic Religions - Rilegato

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 022612262X ISBN 13: 9780226122625

Casa editrice: Univ of Chicago Pr, 2014

Riassunto

The word possession” is anything but transparent, especially as it developed in the context of the African Americas. There it referred variously to spirits, material goods, and people. It served as a watershed term marking both transactions in which people were made into thingsvia slaveryand ritual events by which the thingification of people was revised. InSpirited Things, Paul Christopher Johnson gathers together essays by leading anthropologists in the Americas that reopen the concept of possession on these two fronts in order to examine the relationship between African religions in the Atlantic and the economies that have historically shapedand continue to shapethe cultures that practice them. Exploring the way spirit possessions were framed both by material thingsincluding plantations, the Catholic church, the sea, and the phonographas well as by the legacy of slavery, they offer a powerful new way of understanding the Atlantic world.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Paul Christopher Johnson is professor of history and Afroamerican and African studies and director of the Doctoral Program in Anthropology and History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is the author ofSecrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomblé and Diaspora Conversions: Black Carib Religion and the Recovery of Africa.

Product Description:

The word "possession" is trickier than we often think, especially in the context of the Black Atlantic and its religions and economy. Here possession can refer to spirits, material goods, and, indeed, people. In Spirited Things, Paul Christopher Johnson gathers together essays by leading anthropologists in the Americas to explore the fascinating nexus found at the heart of the idea of being possessed. The result is a book that marries one of anthropology's foundational concerns - spirit possession - with one of its most salient contemporary ones: materiality. The contributors reopen the concept of possession in order to examine the relationship between African religions in the Atlantic and the economies that have historically shaped-and continue to shape-the cultures that practice them. They explore the way spirit mediation is framed both by material things-including plantations, the Catholic church, the sea, and the telegraph-as well as the legacy of slavery. In doing so, they offer a powerful new concept for understanding the Atlantic world and its history, creation, and deeply complex religious and political economy.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Univ of Chicago Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2014
• ISBN 10: 022612262X
• ISBN 13: 9780226122625
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 344
• Redattore: Johnson Paul Christopher