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- Convenors:
-
Diana Espirito Santo
(Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
João Leal (Universidade Nova de Lisboa -Center for Research in Anthropology (CRIA))
- Location:
- A2.12, Reitoria/Geociências (Map 10)
- Start time:
- 9 September, 2013 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
By pluralizing a common understanding of 'syncretism', we aim to explore the multiple ways by which relations and associations are forged between different aspects of cultural experience - be they corporeal, emotional, intellectual, social, or technical.
Long Abstract:
Divested of its pejorative meaning, the term 'syncretism' is now more often linked to loose notions of religious creolization and hybridity, than it is to the processes of encounter and association between Christian and New World ontologies from whence it gained prominence as a concept. 'Syncretism' is indeed arguably central to the predicament of culture in general - all cultures are products of encounter, exchange, mixture - begging the question of what its current analytical purchase is, beyond discourses of, say, contamination, purity, or authenticity, innovation. In this panel we would like to revive this debate by inviting speakers to think through syncretism into syncretisms. By pluralizing a common understanding of syncretism - defined broadly as a combination, fusion or overlap of discrete systems of thought and practice - we aim to explore the multiple ways by which relations/associations are forged between different aspects of cultural experience - corporeal, emotional, intellectual, social, or technical. These may be products of historical processes culminating in particular sets or beliefs or logics of practice, or punctual, even ephemeral, actualizations of of conceptual and phenomenological worlds. The challenge here is also therefore a methodological and theoretical one: how can we produce accounts of 'syncretic' phenomena from multiple points of view? How can our descriptions themselves become syncretic? Foregrounding these explorations is this panel's proposal that syncretism be thought of not as a final product, or even process, but as a logic of bringing together and relating, which can assume myriad forms.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
The paper explores what happens when people in South Western Madagascar are possessed by Catholic spirits.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper I will explore what happens when people in South Western Madagascar are possessed by Catholic spirits. I will follow the specific case of a young girl who, to be in contact with her (Catholic) spirit, closely follows Catholic liturgy and adopts Christian symbolisms. By drawing on this case, I will discuss the ontological grounding of spirit possession among the coastal populations of South Western Madagascar, its intersections with Catholic rites and metaphorisms, and also the (colonial) strategy by the Catholic Church to embrace and resemanticise in their terms various forms of indigenous cult to grow their "flock". The ethnographic exploration leads to a reflection on the conceptual framework of "syncretism", in particular the idea initially by Roger Bastide I believe, of resilient forms - deep structures, cultural frames, rhythms, even value systems - that are able to transform into new sign-worlds, ideologies and cultural practices that emerge in situations of social change.
Paper short abstract:
How can one be a communist and also be initiated in an Afro-Cuban religion? Although there might be tensions between these different roles one person can have, these are not so much in existential terms. How can we account for them and how anthropology might benefit from a 'syncretic' perspective?
Paper long abstract:
The category of religion has long been scrutinized and even rendered problematic (see Asad 1993); the same can be said on that of syncretism (see Steward and Shaw 1994; Greenfield and Droogers 2001). One can imagine, then, how problematic the term 'syncretic religion' may sound. Even though we might have become more attentive to how exactly we employ such terms, this has not refrained scholars from constantly detecting and dealing with such said phenomena.
Cuba with its Afro-Cuban religions, has been a relatively well-known place of syncretic religiosity. The most famous dimension is that of an apparent coming together of Christian and African elements, but this has been very little explored and rather taken for granted. In the present, much more dynamic and intense is the coming together of different religious strands, such as Santería, Ifá, Palo Monte and Espiritismo or even more 'modern' spiritualities, such as astrology, Buddhism, reiki, among many others. Less obviously but more interestingly, one can meet passionate communists or positivist doctors who practice and are initiated in some of the above practices. Anthropologists themselves, both Cuban and foreigners, who study such phenomena, are also very often personally committed and involved. Do all these different kinds of 'syncretism' have anything in common? Are they so contradictory as they initially may sound? Is anthropological discourse 'syncretic' itself and how? Through ethnographic data gathered from Havana, I try to respond to such questions.
Paper short abstract:
A etnografia traz uma análise do trânsito sincrético entre o catolicismo popular e as religiões de matriz africana durante as festas da Congada do triângulo mineiro brasileiro. A abordagem se estrutura a partir de dois pontos centrais: o mito da crença nos oragos e os rituais à eles oferecidos.
Paper long abstract:
O artigo traz uma análise acerca do trânsito sincrético estabelecido entre o catolicismo popular e as religiões de matriz africanas durante as Festas da Congada do triângulo mineiro no Brasil. Empreendemos pesquisas de campo com o intuito de investigar como interferências de dimensões tidas como sobrenaturais permeiam o mundo real, contribuindo nos processos de construção de uma concepção da realidade objetiva da vida cotidiana admitida e compartilhada pelos membros da pesquisa. Nossa abordagem estrutura-se a partir de dois pontos centrais: o mito fundador da crença em São Benedito e em Nossa Senhora do Rosário, ressaltando a especificidade de obtenção e compartilhamento desse conhecimento por parte dos membros integrantes dos ternos que nos serviram de interlocutores; e os ritos, que articulam espaços e tempos relativos às Festas da Congada. De caráter qualitativo, nossa pesquisa parte de uma revisão bibliográfica cotejada por trabalhos de campo realizados sempre durante três dias de observação: a véspera da Festa, o próprio dia da Festa e o dia posterior voltado à pós-produção, destinado ao balanço dos acontecimentos por parte dos interlocutores, com os quais empreendemos entrevistas semi-estruturadas e procuramos traduzir suas próprias categorias de significação. A Festa inclui uma pluralidade de ritos e crenças, revelando sua unidade idiossincrática expressa em sincretismos.
Paper short abstract:
Diante à diversidade religiosa e a (in)tolerância que observa-se hoje na sociedade brasileira, esta comunicação propõe apresentar algumas observações feitas em torno das práticas religiosas que ocorrem em uma comunidade de Recife/Pernambuco.
Paper long abstract:
O sincretismo religioso no Brasil tornou-se objeto de estudo de inúmeros pesquisadores nas últimas décadas, culminando em importantes produções acadêmicas que tiveram (e tem) por objetivo incitar debates e compreender a importância deste fenômeno para sociedade brasileira. Relacionada à temática, esta comunicação propõe apresentar algumas observações, realizadas a partir de um trabalho de campo, em torno da existência de 05 tendências religiosas (budismo, catolicismo, espiritismo, hinduísmo e jurema), em um mesmo espaço físico localizado em uma comunidade situada em uma região periférica da cidade de Recife/Pernambuco (nordeste do Brasil). No Núcleo Educacional Irmãos Menores de Francisco de Assis (NEIMFA) presenciamos a manifestação de rituais que correspondem a cada uma dessas perspectivas religiosas, que ocorrem em diferentes dias da semana, e que reúnem adeptos, nãoadeptos, e pesquisadores interessados como nós. A presença de diversas imagens-símbolos que identificam essas religiões, também são elementos que compõem o local, atribuindo-lhe um caractere 'incomum' aos olhos de um observador intrigado. Visando compreender como essas tendências religiosas coexistem, aparentemente sem conflito, e qual a relação/influência com a comunidade em estudo, utilizamos o método etnográfico e a técnica da observação participante, entendidos como primordiais à compreensão dos sistemas religiosos (AQUINO, 2011).