On Representation and Power

Portrait of a Vodun Leader in Present-Day Benin

Bibliographic Data

ID2102944
AuthorsEmmanuelle Kadya Tall (0000-0002-7448-4963, Institut des Mondes Africains, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume84
Issue2
Pages246-268
Publication date2014-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0001972013000764
OpenAlexW2115124421
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited20

In this paper, the author discusses the power of vodun leaders in present-day Benin, and more specifically anti-witchcraft cults born from the encounter with world religions. Offering an analysis inspired by Louis Marin's theory on power in its representation, the author illustrates her analysis through the portrait of a vodun leader with a view to escape from a functionalist analysis of occult power or syncretism. With the baroque mirror metaphor conceived as a device, which underscores what it is that connects heterogeneous practices, Tall describes what is shown in the rituals and practices of a vodun leader and emphasizes the centrality of the transubstantiation phenomenon in the production of a community of believers

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Baroque · Centrality · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Metaphor · Phenomenon · Political science · Portrait · Power (physics · Representation (politics · Sociology · Syncretism (linguistics · African cultural and philosophical studies · African history and culture analysis · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Philosophy

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