TY - ABST
T1 - Categorizing the Occult: Vodun, Sorcery and Religious Beliefs In Benin
AU - Strandsbjerg, Camilla
N1 - Paper presented.
PY - 2011/11/19
Y1 - 2011/11/19
N2 - In everyday life in Benin as well as in academic research on the topic, the terms of vodun, witchcraft and the occult are often used in a non distinct way covering quite similar phenomena while at the same time referring to different kinds of beliefs and practices. The problem of understanding the magic, the mystical and the “occult” and particularly the difficulties of transmission in analytical terms of these phenomena have accompanied the production of anthropological knowledge since the early days of the discipline. However, in Benin, researchers in all domains of life are continuously confronted with this difficulty. Both because the vodun, as a recognized religion in the country - equal to Islam and Christianity - , plays an important role in society as well as in individual life, but also because all area of social life are on one level or another influenced by beliefs and practices characterized as witchcraft or occult. Reflecting upon earlier research and particularly on the choice of terminology of the occult in writing on religion and political change in Benin (PhD thesis 2008), this paper seeks to clarify some of the epistemological, academic and historical reasons that have formed the popular and academic understanding of three key terms (vodun, sorcery and occult). The paper will thus both focus on the role of religious encounters during early Christian missions in Benin and on the recent expansion of evangelical churches and strengthen of neo vodun cults as well as on the dynamics within witchcrafts beliefs.
AB - In everyday life in Benin as well as in academic research on the topic, the terms of vodun, witchcraft and the occult are often used in a non distinct way covering quite similar phenomena while at the same time referring to different kinds of beliefs and practices. The problem of understanding the magic, the mystical and the “occult” and particularly the difficulties of transmission in analytical terms of these phenomena have accompanied the production of anthropological knowledge since the early days of the discipline. However, in Benin, researchers in all domains of life are continuously confronted with this difficulty. Both because the vodun, as a recognized religion in the country - equal to Islam and Christianity - , plays an important role in society as well as in individual life, but also because all area of social life are on one level or another influenced by beliefs and practices characterized as witchcraft or occult. Reflecting upon earlier research and particularly on the choice of terminology of the occult in writing on religion and political change in Benin (PhD thesis 2008), this paper seeks to clarify some of the epistemological, academic and historical reasons that have formed the popular and academic understanding of three key terms (vodun, sorcery and occult). The paper will thus both focus on the role of religious encounters during early Christian missions in Benin and on the recent expansion of evangelical churches and strengthen of neo vodun cults as well as on the dynamics within witchcrafts beliefs.
M3 - Conference abstract for conference
ER -