Intending the Spirits: Experiencing Vodu Through the “Fetish” in Togo
Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though this term has been extensively problematized, anthropologists have kept the term, reading fetishes as cultural texts and searching to untangle the material assemblages and deep symbols that comprise them. This ar...
| Published in: | Material religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2020]
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| In: |
Material religion
Year: 2020, Volume: 16, Issue: 3, Pages: 298-316 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Togo
/ Fetish
/ Voodooism
/ Spirits
/ Embodiment
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| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements BB Indigenous religions KBN Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Further subjects: | B
Spirit Possession
B Phenomenological Anthropology B African Traditional Religion B West Africa B Ritual B fetish B vodun / vodu |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though this term has been extensively problematized, anthropologists have kept the term, reading fetishes as cultural texts and searching to untangle the material assemblages and deep symbols that comprise them. This article contributes to our knowledge of fetishes by applying a practitioner-centric approach to their use and meaning in the matrices of Vodu. First, I elucidate meanings of these spiritual embodiments using ethnography of prayer and sacrifice in Gorovodu as practiced by ethnic Ewe and Mina communities in southern Togo. I then deploy the language of phenomenological anthropology to argue that fetishes bring intentionality into being and focus. Their filled presence directs consciousness towards the spirits and allows practitioners to sensuously experience spirituality and spiritual being. Rituals surrounding material fetishes are a means of intending reciprocal relationships with the divine into perceptual consciousness, and it is through these relationships that life and success are made possible. |
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| ISSN: | 1751-8342 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Material religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2020.1756167 |