Africa's Ogun, Second, Expanded Edition

Description

A landmark introduction to Yoruba religion as practiced in Africa and the Americas.

The second edition of this landmark work is enhanced by new chapters on Ogun worship in the New World. From reviews of the first edition:

" . . . an ethnographically rich contribution to the historical understanding of West African culture, as well as an exploration of the continued vitality of that culture in the changing environments of the Americas." —African Studies Review

" . . . leav[es] the reader with a sense of the vitality, dynamism, and complexity of Ogun and the cultural contexts in which he thrives. . . . magnificent contribution to the literature on Ogun, Yoruba culture, African religions, and the African diaspora." —International Journal of Historical Studies

Sujets

• African Studies
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Religión
• África
• General officer
• History of Africa
• African American
• Anthropology
• Religion
• General
• Africa
• Culture

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 22 juin 1997
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253113818
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Africa s Ogun
African Systems of Thought
General Editors Charles S. Bird Ivan Karp
Contributing Editors James Fernandez Luc de Heusch John Middleton Roy Willis
AFRICA S OGUN OLD WORLD AND NEW
Second Expanded Edition
Edited and with a New Introduction by Sandra T. Barnes
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington Indianapolis
1997 by Indiana University Press
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Africa s Ogun : old world and new / edited by Sandra T. Barnes. -
2nd, expanded ed.
p. cm.-(African systems of thought)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-253-33251-6 (cl : alk. paper).-
ISBN 0-253-21083-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Ogun (Yoruba deity)-Cult-Africa, West. 2. Ogun (Yoruba deity)-Cult-America. 3. Yoruba (African people)-Religion.
4. Blacks-America-Religion. I. Barnes, Sandra T. II. Series.
BL2480.Y6A46 1989
299 .63-dc20 96-43166
2 3 4 5 02 01 00 99 98
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
A Note on Orthography
Africa s Ogun Transformed: Introduction to the Second Edition
Sandra T. Barnes
1 The Many Faces of Ogun: Introduction to the First Edition
Sandra T. Barnes
PART ONE: The History and Spread of Ogun in Old and New Worlds
2 The Etymology of the Word g n
Robert G. Armstrong
3 Ogun, the Empire Builder
Sandra T. Barnes and Paula Girshick Ben-Amos
4 Systematic Remembering, Systematic Forgetting: Ogou in Haiti
Karen McCarthy Brown
5 Ogum and the Umbandista Religion
Renato Ortiz
PART TWO: The Meaning of Ogun in Ritual, Myth, and Art
6 The Dreadful God and the Divine King
John Pemberton III
7 A Portrait of Ogun as Reflected in Ijala Chants
Adeboye Babal la
8 Ogun s Iremoje: A Philosophy of Living and Dying
Bade Ajuw n
9 Dancing for Ogun in Yorubaland and in Brazil
Margaret Thompson Drewal
10 Art or Accident: Yoruba Body Artists and Their Deity Ogun
Henry John Drewal
PART THREE: Transformations of Ogun
11 A Comparative Analysis of Ogun in Precolonial Yorubaland
J. D. Y. Peel
12 Repossession: Ogun in Folklore and Literature
Donald J. Cosentino
13 Unveiling the Orisha
Philip Scher
14 Ogun and Body/Mind Potentiality: Yoruba Scarification and Painting Traditions in Africa and the Americas
Henry John Drewal and John Mason
15 g n: Builder of the L k m s House
John Mason
Contributors
Index
ILLUSTRATIONS
M APS
3.1
Locations of Linguistic Groups and Places Mentioned
3.2
Three West African Conquest States
11.1
Ogun and Iron in Yorubaland
F IGURES
3.1
Royal Brass Plaque from Benin
3.2
Iron Statue of Gu from Dahomey
3.3
Royal Brass Stool from Benin
6.1
A Blacksmith s Ogun Shrine, Ila
6.2
The King Dances at the Ogun Shrine, Ila
6.3
Hunter Masqueraders Chant j l for Ogun
6.4
Plan of Ogun Festival at Ila: Ritual Space and Participants
6.5
The King of Ila Wearing an Ologun Crown
6.6
Mock Battle between Palace Servants and Town Chiefs, Ila
6.7
Notables Greet King of Ila during Ogun Festival
6.8
Woman Chief Dances before King of Ila during Ogun Festival
6.9
Carved Panels on Palace Veranda, Ila
8.1
r m j Chanters Perform at Hunter s Funeral
8.2
Display of Deceased Hunter s Paraphernalia
8.3
A Yoruba Hunter and His Hunting Dog
8.4
A Yoruba Hunter Going to War
9.1
Draped in Mariwo, Possessed Priestess Greets Devotee
9.2
Mediums Open Ceremony to g n
9.3
Mediums Invoke Each Deity
9.4
Medium Enters Trance
9.5
Attendants Bind Cloth around Possessed Medium
9.6
Four Mediums Possessed Simultaneously by g n
9.7
Medium Dances for g n with Iron Pincer
9.8
Possessed Medium Greets Audience
9.9
Shoulder Blades of Possessed Dancer Move with Drum Rhythms
9.10
g n Bursts Forward with Iron Blades and Miniature Gun
9.11
Medium Tires from Being Ridden by g n
9.12
Medium Emerges from Trance
9.13
Man Blows on g n Medium s Head
9.14
Newly Initiated Medium Comes Out in Brazil
9.15
Ritual Battle for Ogun in Brazil, 1888
10.1
Three Types of f n Yor b Body Marks
10.2
Tatoo Cicatrice on Woman s Hand
10.3
Kolo Designs of Woman s Arm and Hand
10.4
Elaborate Kolo Design of Woman s Back Depicting Two Ostriches on Shoulder Blades
10.5
Kolo Designs on Woman s Back
10.6
Four Types of Body Design: Husband Sits on Lap, Palm Tree, Lizards and Chameleons, and King s Crown
10.7
Body Artist s Tools and Ritual Implements
10.8
Body Artist Demonstrates His Skill
11.1
A Female Devotee of Ogun
13.1
Chromolithograph of St. Jacques
14.1
An Abeokuta Egungun Masker
14.2
Initiates Having Their Heads Painted
14.3
Initiates Having Their Heads Painted
14.4
A Priestess Points to the Intersection of Lines
14.5
The Division of the Head
14.6
Head Painting Called s
14.7
Initiate with Finfin and Facial Marks
14.8
Ad n (Remigio Herrera) of Cuba
14.9
Priest of b t l Dancing
15.1
g n Pot
15.2
Memorial Bust of a L k m Priestess
15.3
Principal j Shrine for g n in Cuba
15.4
Commemorative Statue Honoring a Family g n
15.5
Outdoor Shrine in Brooklyn, New York
15.6
g n d - g n the Hunter
PREFACE
This enlarged version of Africa s Ogun comes at a special moment-a time when the flow of ideas and peoples from one continent to another is producing a crescendo of reinvented traditions, novel representations, and fresh ideas about how the world has been and, perhaps more important, should be making itself. The second edition captures the spirit of these accelerated processes with five new essays and a new introduction-all centered on Ogun, and for the most part written to portray his new meanings and expressions at their creative peak.
The impetus for a larger volume emerged from the pleas of critics and readers for more descriptions and analyses of Ogun s late-twentieth-century florescence and for more insights into Ogun s nineteenth-century manifestations in West Africa. Originally, the ideas in this volume began to take shape in 1971 when I first began field research in Lagos, Nigeria, and they were periodically reinforced during subsequent research periods in the 1970s and 1980s. Each time I was struck by the vitality of certain religious ideas and practices and their adaptation to contemporary African life. Ogun, the ancient god of iron, warfare, and hunting, stood out in this respect, for his cult and the ideas espoused in it were alive, expanding, and flourishing. In present-day Nigeria his realm had extended to embrace everything from modern technology to highway safety-anything, in fact, that involved metal, danger, or, not incompatibly, political resistance.
In searching for an explanation for Ogun s vitality, I was led to his past, which, upon investigation, and certainly not surprisingly, revealed that Ogun embodied a core of Pan-African themes about human nature, conflict, and change that were basic to the construction of the world view of many peoples. In the Guinea Coast region of West Africa these ancient ideas remained as mere concepts in some societies whereas in others they eventually crystallized in the god Ogun and his cult. Later, as a result of the slave diaspora, some of these ideas were given a place in the reconstructed traditions of African descendants in the New World and, in time, in the lives of the peoples with whom they were coming in contact.
Ogun thus presented a challenging vehicle for examining issues that are categorized under the heading of continuity and change. Given the overwhelming dominance of global religions such as Islam and Christianity, how does a deity such as Ogun survive? How is it that he can appeal to an expanding audience? What does he mean to his followers? Is he the same in all contexts and at all time periods, or does he mean different things to different peoples?
These were the guiding questions in an earlier study, Ogun: An Old God for a New Age (Philadelphia, 1980), and at an Ogun colloquium held at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association in Los Angeles in 1979. The idea and encouragement for the colloquium and this volume came from Paula Girshick Ben-Amos and Dan Ben-Amos, who suggested that the international vitality of Ogun was in need of further exploration. Inasmuch as my early work came out of a mainly Yoruba experience, the obvious challenge was to examine Ogun elsewhere in West Africa and in the Caribbean and Latin America. In many places not only was Ogun a key figure in contemporary religious settings that had clear connections with the past, but he also was incorporated into new ideological systems and what might be called popular religions. Needless to say, it became increasingly clear that Ogun and others like him were not part of a disappearing world. In fact, Ogun and other divinities were beginning to play the same role that classical deities of the Greek and Roman world have long played in literature, drama, painting, and sculpture in Western civilization.
From its inception, putting together the essays about the international Ogun was a collective enterprise. It began with presentations by colloquium participants which became a core around which other contributions could be added. The U.S. Embassy in Lagos kindly provided a travel grant to Adeboye Babal la so that he could participate in the colloquium. Others who gave papers and generou