"In Obeah and Other Powers, historians and anthropologists consider how marginalized spiritual traditions--such as obeah, Vodou, and Santería--have been understood and represented across the Caribbean since the seventeenth century. In essays focused on Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Mart…
This collection looks at Caribbean religious history from the late 18th century to the present including obeah, vodou, santeria, candomble, and brujeria. The contributors examine how these religions have been affected by many forces including colonialism, law, race, gender, clas…
Introduction -- Kinship and sand drawing -- The totalising third party -- The spirals of marriage -- Of yams and men -- The intentionality of ceremonial agency -- Displaying life after death -- The phenomenology of Ambrym exchange -- Conclusions: Denying the gift
"Focusing on different forms of agency in North Ambrym social life, the author demonstrates the potency of outsiders at different times and in different situations in Ambrym society. This model challenges the premises of much Western thinking about reciprocity, and suggests new …
"In 1631, Manchu state-makers set up an administrative apparatus that included a ministry for implementing and legislating rites and rituals, the Board of Li, or the Board of Rites. Over the next sixty years the Board of Li helped develop the rules and regulations of the Manchu …
