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| 2. |
- Álvarez López, Laura, et al.
(author)
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Afro-Latin American religious expressions and representations : Stockholm Review of Latin American Studies No. 4, March 2009
- 2009
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The creation and re-creation of Afro-Latin American religious movements and traditions all over the Americas is an ever-changing process. Although popular, intellectual, and judicial actors have defined Afro-Latin American religions as magic, sorcery, or merely folklore, today they are becoming increasingly respected, visible, interrelated, and recognized as national culture. Attempting to discern symbolic meanings of cultural and religious manifestations in Afro-Latin American religious communities – be they in the form of saintly images, speech patterns or narrative – scholars, increasingly seconded by practitioners, have described the ongoing processes of creation and re-creation as acculturation, transculturation, métissage or syncretism and more recently as creolization, hybridization or dialogue. In that sense, a common denominator for a large share of studies of Afro-Latin American religions is that they deal with various aspects of representations. Representing is part of everyday life as people collectively name and define the world and therefore, representations influence the dissemination of knowledge, construction of social identities as well as social transformations. Furthermore, besides their West and Central African antecedents, Afro-Latin American religions share aspects as the colonial past, the multicultural origins, Christian mission and campaigning, as well as movements such as negritude, noirisme, Black Power and transnational youth culture that together have created conflicting expressions and representations of, and within, Afro-Latin American religious communities in Diaspora settings. Such representations, of course, induce responses within Afro-Latin American religious communities. Within these communities – sometimes influenced by scholars and at fora such as international conferences – there are contestations of representations of an African or Afro-American heritage and ongoing debates about the alleged purity of religious practices. The aim of this volume is to explore how Afro-Latin American religions and some of their shared basic features, such as communication with spiritual beings, identities and the use of magic, are represented, self-represented and understood in their various socio-cultural contexts.
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| 3. |
- Álvarez López, Laura, et al.
(author)
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Introduction
- 2009
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In: Stockholm Review of Latin American Studies. - 1654-0204. ; :4, s. 3-10
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Attempting to discern the symbolic meanings of cultural and religious manifestations in Afro-Latin American religious communities – be they in the form of saintly images, speech patterns or narratives – scholars, increasingly seconded by practitioners, have described the on-going processes of creation and re-creation as acculturation, transculturation, métissage or syncretism and more recently as creolization, hybridization or dialogue. In that sense, a common denominator for a large share of studies of Afro-Latin American religions is that they deal with various aspects of representations. Representing is part of everyday life as people collectively name and define the world. In this way, representations influ- ence the dissemination of knowledge as well as the construction of social identities and social transformations.
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| 4. |
- Wedel, Johan, 1962
(author)
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Bridging the Gap between Western and Indigenous Medicine in Eastern Nicaragua
- 2009
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In: Anthropological Notebooks. ; 15:1, s. 49-64
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In Nicaragua there are attempts, at various levels, to bridge the gap between Western and indigenous medicine and to create more equal forms of therapeutic cooperation. This article, based on anthropological fieldwork, focuses on this process in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region a province dominated by the Miskitu people. It examines illness beliefs among the Miskitu, and how therapeutic cooperation is understood and acted upon by medical personnel, health authorities and Miskitu healers. The study focuses on ailments locally considered to be caused by spirits and sorcery and problems that fall outside the scope of biomedical knowledge. Of special interest is the mass-possession phenomena grisi siknis where Miskitu healing methods have been the preferred alternative, even from the perspective of the biomedical health authorities. The paper shows that Miskitu healing knowledge is only used to compensate for biomedicine’s failure and not as a real alternative, despite the intentions in the new Nicaraguan National Health Plan. This article calls for more equal forms of therapeutic cooperation through ontological engagement by ongoing negotiation and mediation between local and biomedical ways of perceiving the world.
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| 6. |
- Wedel, Johan, 1962
(author)
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Healing and spirit possession in the Caribbean
- 2009
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In: Stockholm Review of Latin American Studies. - 1654-0204. ; :4, s. 49-60
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article takes a comparative look at spiritual healing and its implications among followers of Afro-Cuban Santería and among the Miskitu people of Nicaragua. It shows how illness and suffering is located in a sacred domain allowing transformations on social, psychological, and physiological levels. Healing is achieved by creating a sacred reality by means of powerful symbols and spirit possession. In this process, spiritual beings are representations of people’s conditions. At the same time, spirits also represent a model for healing.
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| 8. |
- Wedel, Johan, 1962
(author)
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Religious Healing in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua
- 2008
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In: 33th Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) conference, San Andres, Colombia, May 26-30, 2008.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This paper inquires into the various forms of healing performed today among the Miskitu people of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. The Miskitu have a long history of relations with outsiders and with people of African origin. Miskitu cosmology and its ideas about illness and healing is today a mixture of indigenous, Afro-Caribbean, and Christian beliefs. Local healers constantly pick up new healing methods and ideas from other religious traditions in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The paper discusses how Miskitu healers, known as curanderos, sukias, and profetas, heal by relating sickness and suffering to a world of spirits which also makes reference to the plural cultural antecedences of contemporary Miskitu worldview.
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| 9. |
- Wedel, Johan, 1962
(author)
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Santería
- 2008
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In: Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. - Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands. ; 19, s. 1923-1926
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Research review (peer-reviewed)
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| 10. |
- Wedel, Johan, 1962
(author)
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Santeria
- 2006
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In: Vodou och andra afroamerikanska religioner i Karibien, edited by David Westerlund. - Göteborg : Makadam förlag. - 9789170610134
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)
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