What ‘Alhaji Airplane’ saw in Mecca, and what happened when he came home

Ritual transformation in a Mende community (Sierra Leone)

Bibliographic Data

ID20041595
AuthorsMariane Ferme, Mariane C Ferme (corresponding author)
Year2010
Pages27-44
Publication date2010-02-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueSyncretism/Anti-Syncretism (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9780203451090_chapter_1
OpenAlexW2505067393
ISBN9780203451090
LanguageEN
Citations received18

Syncretism - the synthesis of different religious - is a contentious word. Some regard it as a pejorative term, referring to local versions of notionally standard `world religions' which are deemed `inauthentic' because saturated with indigenous content. Syncretic versions of Christianity do not conform to `official' (read `European') models. In other contexts however, the syncretic amalgamation of religions may be validated as a mode of resistance to colonial hegemony, a sign of cultural survival, or as a means of authorising political dominance in a multicultural state. In Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism the contributors explore the issues of agency and power which are integral to the very process of syncretism and to the competing discourses surrounding the term

Aeronautics · Airplane · Telecommunications · Aerospace Engineering · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Engineering · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis

Tools

Open DOI