Truth in Motion

The Recursive Anthropology of Cuban Divination

Bibliographic Data

ID2686912
AuthorsMartin Holbraad (corresponding author)
Year2012
Pages344
Publication date2012-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueTruth in motion (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.7208/chicago/9780226349220.001.0001
OpenAlexW4234779487
Open LibraryOL25046501M
ISBN9780226349220
LanguageEN
Citations received211

In Truth in Motion, Martin Holbraad takes on the challenge of explaining why Cuban diviners, when consulting the deities orisha, sometimes appear to produce demonstrably false statements. Rather than dismissing such statements as evidence of faulty reasoning, Holbraad argues that they are in fact generative of truth. He draws on ethnographic fieldwork among Cuban Ifá and Santería practitioners to develop a radical, practice-based theory of truth. Holbraad contends that truth is not something that simply corresponds to a given state of affairs but is rather something brought about through specific practices. Divination, he shows, is a recursive practice in which the orisha's pronouncements are not simply descriptive but actively shape the reality they describe. This recursive process, Holbraad argues, is not unique to divination but is a fundamental aspect of human existence. Truth in Motion offers a provocative new approach to anthropological theory and the study of religion, challenging conventional notions of truth, representation, and the nature of ethnographic knowledge

Computer vision · Motion (physics) · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Educational Leadership and Practices · History and Developments in Astronomy · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life · Cuba · Divination · Ifa (Religion) · Religion

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