OGUN—the ancient African god of iron, war, and hunting—is worshipped by more than 40 million adherents in West Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Africa’s Ogun is a rich interdisciplinary collection that draws on field research from several continents to reveal Ogun’s dramatic power and enduring appeal. Five new essays, focusing mainly on Ogun worship in the new world, enhance this landmark introduction to Yoruba religion.
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.
SANDRA T. BARNES is Professor of Anthropology and Director of African Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is author of 'Patrons and Power: Creating a Political Community in Metropolitan Lagos'.
Author(s): Sandra T. Barnes
Series: African systems of thought
Edition: 2nd, Expanded
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Year: 1997
Language: English
Commentary: scantailor + ocrmypdf
Pages: 420
City: Bloomington & Indianapolis
Tags: orisha;ogun;santeria;yoruba religion
Africa’s Ogun: Old World and New
Contents
List of Illustrations
Maps
3.1 Locations of Linguistic Groups and Places Mentioned
3.2 Three West African Conquest States
11 Ogun and Iron in Yorubaland
Figures
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/jd/é 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 Irémojé 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 Ogun
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 Ogun
9.7 Medium Dances for Ògún with Iron Pincer
9.8 Possessed Medium Greets Audience
9.9 Shoulder Blades of Possessed Dancer Move with Drum Rhythms
9.10 “Ogun” Bursts Forward with Iron Blades and Miniature Gun
9.11 Medium Tires from Being “Ridden” by Ogun
9.12 Medium Emerges from Trance
9.13 Man Blows on Ogun 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 Efon Yoruba 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 Osu
14.7 Initiate with Finfin and Facial Marks
14.8 Adésina (Remigio Herrera) of Cuba
14.9 Priest of Obatala Dancing
15.1 Ogun Pot
15.2 Memorial Bust of a Lukumi Priestess
15.3 Principal Ijésa Shrine for Ògún in Cuba
15.4 Commemorative Statue Honoring a Family Ogun
15.5 Outdoor Shrine in Brooklyn, New York
15.6 Ogun Ode-Ogun the Hunter
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 "Ògún" (Robert G. Armstrong)
3 Ogun, the Empire Builder (Sandra T. Barnes & Paula Girshick Ben-Amos)
4 Systematic Remembering, Systematic Forgetting: Ogou in Haiti (Karen McCarthy Brown)
5 Ogum and the Umbanadista 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 Babdalola)
8 Ogun's Iremoje: A Philosophy of Living and Dying (Bade Ajuwon)
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 & John Mason)
15 Ogun: Builder of the Lukumi’s House (John Mason)
Contributors
Index
