The Discourse on the Phenomenon of the Médium Unidad in Afrocuban Religions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22380/2539472X.990Keywords:
Afrocuban religions, spiritism, anthropology of the senses, mental health, the social construction of psychic normality, anthropology of performanceAbstract
The purpose of this article is to examine the discourse of practitioners of afrocuban religions in La Havana about the médium unidad, a particular way of perception attributed to the influence of spirits, which plays a key role as a particular way of experiencing the world and reality in Cuban society. The concept of médium unidad as a socially constructed practice of perception represents an alternative to ideas and social ways of dealing with such a phenomenon in Western-scientific contexts, particularly in biomedical psychiatry which understands it as hallucinatory pathologies. The text attempts to show the role that the médium unidad plays in Cuban society by exploring religious discourses and describing afrocuban ritual practice, which assigns it intersubjective meaning and broad social acceptance.
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References
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Sharp, Lesley A. 1993. The Possessed and the Dispossessed. Spirits, Identity and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town. University of California Press. Berkeley, Los Ángeles, Londres.
Stewart, Kathleen. 1996. A Space on the Side of the Road. Cultural Poetics in an “Other” America. Princeton University Press. Princeton, Nueva Jersey.
Stoller, Paul. 1989. The Taste of Ethnographic Things. The Senses in Anthropology. University of Pennsylvania Press. Filadelfia.
Synnott, Anthony. 1993. The Body Social. Symbolism, Self and Society. Routlegde. Londres, Nueva York.
Taussig, Michael. 1987. Shamanism, Colonialism and the Wild Man. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago.
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Thompson Drewal, Margaret. 1991. “The State of Research on Performance in Africa”. African Studies Review No 3.
––. 1992. Yoruba Ritual. Performers, Play, Agency. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, Indianapolis.
Wedel, Johan. 2004. Santeria Healing. A Journey Into The Afro-Cuban World Of Divinities, Spirits, And Sorcery. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.
Wirtz, Kristina. 2004. “Santeria in Cuban National Consciouness”. The Journal of Latin American Anthropology 9 (2).
Wolf, Angelika Y Stürzer, Michael (eds.). 1996. Die Gesellschaftliche Konstruktion der Befindlichkeit. Ein Sammelband zur Medizinethnologie. Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung. Berlín.
Barnet, Miguel. 1995. Cultos afrocubanos. La Regla de Ocha. La Regla de Palo Monte. Ediciones Unión. La Habana.
Bolívar Aróstegui, Natalia. 1990. Los Orishas en Cuba. Ediciones Unión. La Habana.
Bell, Catherine. 1992. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. Oxford University Press. Nueva York, Oxford.
Boddy, Janice. 1994. “Spirit Possession Revisited: Beyond Instrumentality”. Annual Review of Anthropology, 23: 407-434.
Crapanzano, Vincent. 1992. Hermes Dilemma & Hamlets Desire. On the Epistemology of Interpretation. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Londres.
Geertz, Clifford. 1983. Dichte Beschreibung. Beiträge zum Verstehen kultureller Systeme. Suhrkamp. Frankfurt y Main.
Geurts, Kathryn Linn. 2002. Culture and the Senses: Bodily Ways of Knowing in an African Community. University of California Press. Berkeley. Los Ángeles.
Giles, Linda. 1999. “Spirit Possession & the Symbolic Construction of Swahili Society”, en Spirit Possession, Modernity & Power in Africa. Heike Behrend, y Ute Luig (eds.). James Curry. Oxford.
Hall, Stewart. 1994. Ideologie, Kultur, Rassismus. Ausgewählte Werke 1 Argument. Hamburgo.
Hodge, Limonta Y Rodriguez, Ileana Minerva. 1997. El espiritismo en Cuba. Percepción y exteriorización. Editorial Academia. Colección Religión y Sociedad. La Habana.
Howes, David (Ed.) 2005. Empire of the Senses. Berg. Oxford.
Moreno Vega, Martha. 2000. The Altars of my Soul. The Living Traditions of Santeria. One World. Nueva York.
Palmié, Stefan. 1991. Das Exil der Götter. Peter Lang. Frankfurt y Main, Berna, Nueva York, París.
Pfleiderer, Beatrix; Greiffeld, Katarina Y Bichmann, Wolfgang. 1995. Ritual und Heilung. Eine Einführung in die Ethnomedizin. Dietrich Reimer Verlag. Berlín.
Romme, Marius Y Fischer, Sandra (eds.). 1997. Stimmen Hören Akzeptieren. Psychiatrie-Verlag, Bonn.
Sharp, Lesley A. 1993. The Possessed and the Dispossessed. Spirits, Identity and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town. University of California Press. Berkeley, Los Ángeles, Londres.
Stewart, Kathleen. 1996. A Space on the Side of the Road. Cultural Poetics in an “Other” America. Princeton University Press. Princeton, Nueva Jersey.
Stoller, Paul. 1989. The Taste of Ethnographic Things. The Senses in Anthropology. University of Pennsylvania Press. Filadelfia.
Synnott, Anthony. 1993. The Body Social. Symbolism, Self and Society. Routlegde. Londres, Nueva York.
Taussig, Michael. 1987. Shamanism, Colonialism and the Wild Man. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago.
––. 1993. Mimesis and Alterity. Routledge. Nueva York.
Thomas, Philip. 1997. The Dialectis of Schizophrenia. Free Association Books. Londres, Nueva York.
Thompson Drewal, Margaret. 1991. “The State of Research on Performance in Africa”. African Studies Review No 3.
––. 1992. Yoruba Ritual. Performers, Play, Agency. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, Indianapolis.
Wedel, Johan. 2004. Santeria Healing. A Journey Into The Afro-Cuban World Of Divinities, Spirits, And Sorcery. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.
Wirtz, Kristina. 2004. “Santeria in Cuban National Consciouness”. The Journal of Latin American Anthropology 9 (2).
Wolf, Angelika Y Stürzer, Michael (eds.). 1996. Die Gesellschaftliche Konstruktion der Befindlichkeit. Ein Sammelband zur Medizinethnologie. Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung. Berlín.
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Published
2009-07-15
How to Cite
Von Wangenheim, H. . (2009). The Discourse on the Phenomenon of the Médium Unidad in Afrocuban Religions. Revista Colombiana De Antropología, 45(1), 169–203. https://doi.org/10.22380/2539472X.990
Issue
Section
Cuerpo, salud y ritual
