| Prendas-Ngangas-Enquisos: turbulence and the influence of the dead in Cuban-Kongo material culture. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 20662145 Owner: HMD Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Cuban-Kongo praise of the dead in Havana turns insistently around complex agglomerations of materials called "prendas,""ngangas," and "enquisos." This article addresses the ontological status of "prendas-ngangas-enquisos," which practitioners of Cuban-Kongo affliction practices care for as entities that determine the very possibility of their healing and harming craft. Cuban-Kongo societies of affliction, in Havana collectively referred to as "Palo," stake their claim to influence others in and through these entities. In this essay I seek to position the influence generated in prendas-ngangas-enquisos as a problem for Euro-American materialism, to be addressed not through symbolic or representational solutions but, rather, by refocusing the problem itself via alternate distributions of its epistemological, historical, and ethnographic elements. Contextualized within ethnographic description, I first propose that prendas-ngangas-enquisos do not conform to dialectical logic, and should thus be positioned conceptually as something other than "objects" or "fetishes." From there, I consider Creole turns on the term prenda and explore scholarly accounts of 19th-century Cuban slavery and manumission, which I place alongside what is known about pawn slavery among BaKongo people prior to and during the Atlantic slave trade. Having established a basic series of conceptual and historiographic coordinates, I then suggest ethnographically how prendas-ngangas-enquisos come to command others, thereby guaranteeing Cuban-Kongo healing and harming sovereignty in Cuba today. |
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Authors:
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Todd Ramón Ochoa |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Historical Article; Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Cultural anthropology : journal of the Society for Cultural Anthropology Volume: 25 ISSN: 0886-7356 ISO Abbreviation: Cult Anthropol Publication Date: 2010 |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2010-07-22 Completed Date: 2010-09-30 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 101092924 Medline TA: Cult Anthropol Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 387-420 Citation Subset: Q |
Affiliation:
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University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Anthropology, Cultural*
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education,
history Ceremonial Behavior Cuba / ethnology Death Ethnic Groups* / education, ethnology, history, legislation & jurisprudence, psychology Faith Healing* / history, psychology Hierarchy, Social* History, 16th Century History, 17th Century History, 18th Century History, 19th Century History, 20th Century Humans Medicine, Traditional / history, psychology Mortuary Practice* / education, history Social Behavior Social Conditions / economics, history, legislation & jurisprudence Symbolism |
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