Vodou harmonizes the head-pot, or, Haiti’s multi-soul complex
Haiti’s multi-soul complex proves a deeply enigmatic aspect of Vodou cosmology. This essay examines Haitian concepts of personhood and ‘plural soul’ philosophy in relationship to Vodou’s figurative mystic vessels, specifically the body-pot and head-pot. I introduce several African philosophies of mu...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Publicado: |
2022
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| En: |
Religion
Año: 2022, Volumen: 52, Número: 3, Páginas: 359-383 |
| (Cadenas de) Palabra clave estándar: | B
Haití
/ Vudú
/ Alma
/ Pluralismo
/ Self
/ Cabeza
/ Espíritus
|
| Clasificaciones IxTheo: | AB Filosofía de la religión AG Vida religiosa AZ Nueva religión BS Religiones africanas (excepto cristianismo, islam) KBR América Latina |
| Otras palabras clave: | B
comparitive themes
B Indigenous Religions B Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean religions B Haitian Vodou B fieldwork / ethnography B Personhood B multi-soul complex B Africana Studies |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Sumario: | Haiti’s multi-soul complex proves a deeply enigmatic aspect of Vodou cosmology. This essay examines Haitian concepts of personhood and ‘plural soul’ philosophy in relationship to Vodou’s figurative mystic vessels, specifically the body-pot and head-pot. I introduce several African philosophies of multiple souls to contextualize Haiti’s multi-soul complex as a legacy of African indigenous thought regarding plural personhood. I argue that the physical body and head serve as primordial sacred vessels in Vodou, ‘filled’ with a collective of many soul-selves (i.e., gwo bon anj, ti bon anj, lwa mèt tèt, etc.). Drawing from historical and ethnographic research, I investigate a person’s ‘private souls’ and the ‘plural/public spirit pantheon’ to explain the dynamics between inner soul-selves and communal guiding spirits. Ultimately, a person’s sacred body-pot and divine head-pot reveal how Haitian devotees exist as a multitude of souls, as Vodou initiation harmonizes relationships between their private soul-selves and the community’s public spirits. |
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| ISSN: | 1096-1151 |
| Obras secundarias: | Enthalten in: Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2021.1963877 |
