[DOWNLOAD] "Vodun" by Timothy R. Landry " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Vodun
- Author : Timothy R. Landry
- Release Date : January 02, 2018
- Genre: Anthropology,Books,Nonfiction,Social Science,Religion & Spirituality,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 7625 KB
Description
Tourists to Ouidah, a city on the coast of the Republic of BĂ©nin, in West Africa, typically visit a few well-known sites of significance to the VodĂșn religion—the Python Temple, where DangbĂ©, the python spirit, is worshipped, and King Kpasse's sacred forest, which is the seat of the VodĂșn deity known as LokĂČ. However, other, less familiar places, such as the palace of the so-called supreme chief of VodĂșn in BĂ©nin, are also rising in popularity as tourists become increasingly adventurous and as more VodĂșn priests and temples make themselves available to foreigners in the hopes of earning extra money.
Timothy R. Landry examines the connections between local VodĂșn priests and spiritual seekers who travel to BĂ©nin—some for the snapshot, others for full-fledged initiation into the religion. He argues that the ways in which the VodĂșn priests and tourists negotiate the transfer of confidential, sacred knowledge create its value. The more secrecy that surrounds VodĂșn ritual practice and material culture, the more authentic, coveted, and, consequently, expensive that knowledge becomes. Landry writes as anthropologist and initiate, having participated in hundreds of VodĂșn ceremonies, rituals, and festivals.
Examining the role of money, the incarnation of deities, the limits of adaptation for the transnational community, and the belief in spirits, sorcery, and witchcraft, VodĂșn ponders the ethical implications of producing and consuming culture by local and international agents. Highlighting the ways in which racialization, power, and the legacy of colonialism affect the procurement and transmission of secret knowledge in West Africa and beyond, Landry demonstrates how, paradoxically, secrecy is critically important to VodĂșn's global expansion.