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ISBN:0812230612

Author:	James William Wafer
ISBN13:	978-0812230611
Title:	The Taste of Blood: Spirit Possession in Brazilian Candomble (Contemporary Ethnography Series)
Format:	rtf docx mobi mbr
ePUB size:	1531 kb
FB2 size:	1422 kb
DJVU size:	1699 kb
Language:	English
Category:	Humanities
Publisher:	Univ of Pennsylvania Pr (July 1, 1991)
Pages:	219

The Taste of Blood: Spirit Possession in Brazilian Candomble (Contemporary Ethnography Series) by James William Wafer

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Jim Wafer uncovers the social life. Succeeds as an innovative ethnography. Intriguing and scintillating. Jim Wafer works as a consultant anthropologist in central Australia. Series: Contemporary Ethnography. Paperback: 240 pages. ISBN-10: 9780812213416. ISBN-13: 978-0812213416.

Jim Wafer uncovers the social life, rituals, folklore, and engaging personalities of the villagers of Jacari, among whom trances, sorcery, and spirit possession demonstrate the coexistence of different kinds of reality. This ethno Enter the fascinating world of the Condomble regions of Brazil, where interaction between spirits and human is considered an everyday occurrence. Jim Wafer uncovers the social life, rituals, folklore, and engaging personalities of the villagers of Jacari, among whom trances, sorcery, and spirit possession demonstrate the coexistence of different kinds of reality.

Series: Contemporary Ethnography. Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press. Book Description: Enter the fascinating world of the Condomble regions of Brazil, where interaction between spirits and human is considered an everyday occurrence. The phytomorphic deities of Candomblé go by a variety of names (cf. Carneiro 1981:178; Lody 1975:71; Cacciatore 1975:50 and passim).

by James William Wafer. Enter the fascinating world of the Condomble regions of Brazil, where interaction between spirits and human is considered an everyday occurrence.

University of Pennsylvania Press. Contemporary ethnography series. 0812213416, 0812230612. 0812213416,0812230612,0812213416,0812230612. This item appears on. List

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Home Browse Books Book details, The Taste of Blood: Spirit Possession i. .The Taste of Blood: Spirit Possession in Brazilian Candomble. This ethnography is intriguing not only because of the originality of its approach to the more enigmatic aspects of another culture but also because it uses insights gained from participation in that culture to reflect on the paradoxes inherent in the writer's own culture, and in the human condition in general.

Winner of the 1992 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing.

Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press.

The example given above might answer the curiosity of people regarding the title of the book-The Taste of Blood: Spirit Possession in Brazilian Candomble.

Winner of the 1992 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing

Candomble, a religion that traces its origins to West Africa, has become a major cultural force by adapting itself to the realities of contemporary Brazil. Spirit possession is an important feature of the rituals of this religion, and it also plays a significant part in the everyday lives of its adherents. The fact that Candomble is an essentially oral tradition means that it is difficult to understand if one attempts to separate it from the particular individuals who embody it. Accordingly, this study takes the form of a series of interlinked narratives that present the religion through the words, passions, actions and interactions of members, both spirit and human, of a small Candomble community on the outskirts of the city of Salvador da Bahia. The analytical commentary that is woven into these narratives focuses on the negotiation of boundaries within Candomble. The boundary between human and spirit realms has analogies with other boundaries - between individuals, between the sexes, between humans and animals, and between classes. These considerations provide the opportunity for reflection on anthropology's negotiation of the boundaries between cultures.

Reviews: 4

Zahisan

A trained anthropologist, Jim Wafer spent a year in Brazil researching Candomble for his doctorate. The result is a thought-provoking but often difficult and sometimes frustrating account. He alternates between narrative passages where he describes people he met and things he observed, and other analytical passages where he discusses theories of anthropology. Those theoretical passages are particularly dense, and leave one wondering whether specialists only seem to write obscurely because they assume so much expertise, or whether it is actually important for them to write obscurely in order to establish their insider status to other specialists. The narrative passages bring to light many aspects of Candomble that have not appeared in more popular accounts of Afro-Brazilian religion. Wafer focuses on the Exus and Caboclos, the least exalted of the Cadomble pantheon, and shows that their possessions often come outside of any ritual context. He also suggests that the personalities of the medium and those of the possessing "entity" are not entirely distinct, but tend to blur together. And he gives much valuable insight into the personality and political conflicts that go on in a terreiro. You could say he's giving the least flattering view of Candomble, in which neurotic and self-centered people use a complex religion as a semi-successful coping mechanism in their lives. What is missing is any vivid sense of the transcendant mood of the experience, or the joyful energy so evident in Candomble and Umbanda recordings. Wafer seems often to feel guilty or depressed by his status as a pretend-devotee, given unusual attention by a leader who hopes to exploit this foreign intellectual for publicity. Also, Wafer cheats by not explaining his own religious beliefs, and thus denying us a context to understand his observations. Evidently a person who is fond of hinting and being indirect, Wafer seems, at a guess, to be about 25% open to the possibility that supernatural factors are at work, and about 50% committed to a postmodernist view that there is no "objective" reality anyway. I'd say the book is worth reading selectively for the interesting observations that emerge here and there. A more sympathetic and idealized account of Umbanda, a closely-related Afro-Brazilian tradition, is available in Macumba: The Teachings of Maria-José, Mother of the Gods.

nailer

An eye opener.

Quendant

is how you should take this text. It's a great first hand account of one man's very specific experience in one terreiro (that seems equal parts Umbanda & Candomble) during a very specific time. Being that it's one of the few books in English about Candomble, folks interested in Candomble tend to flock to it. Be careful, because this isn't a book about Candomble in general and your experiences are likely to be different than his own. He also goes into great detail about things that happen to him while he's in ritual, and that could ruin your own experience if you hope to have one.

Diredefender

In his book, Jim Wafer explores not only Candomble from an anthropological standpoint, but from his very personal experience in Bahia, Brazil. Wafer skillfully weaves academic arguments with an enjoyable narration, which keeps the reader invested in his account on many levels. Wafer structures his book, appropriately, on the different Candomble spirits, and so his journey in the book leads the reader not only through his experience as an outsider but the experience of the Candomble ceremony as well, first calling the exus, then the caboclos, then the orixa. Wafer also manages to hit on key issues within Candomble: gender relations, sexual orientation, "Africanness" and racialization, class, etc. My only complaint is that Wafer does not explore these aspects of life in Bahia and Candomble enough. Despite a somewhat sensational title and a final chapter that seems to be out of place in Wafer's personal account, this book is solid, and I recommend it.

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