Abstract
In African spirituality, ancestor engagement with the community is always mediated through material objects. This article argues that materiality gives meaning and validity to the ancestral system. Ancestral objects are an embodiment of the ancestors or ancestral meaning-making, which links the visible community to the world of the spirits. However, ancestral objects also draw meaning and validation from those who inherit them, such as kings or titleholders who together with them connect the community to the spiritual source of well-being and vice versa. The article argues that such interplay is based on the material, religious and ritual conception of ancestral objects with their inheritors and the well-being of the community they represent. However, most studies on African religious art objects have focussed essentially on the symbolism behind ancestral objects and their motifs rather than on the interplay between ancestral objects and meaning-making in relation to community’s well-being. This article sets out to examine this relation and other performative aspects associated with ancestral objects in the Cameroon Grassfields. It argues that Grassfields religious traditions are materially oriented in the way they shape human meaning-making and interpretation of reality, and represent ancestors as manifested reality and living-dead agents who are part of collective communal action.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | a5174 |
| Journal | HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 Jan 1 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Religious studies
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Embodied ancestors : Religious objects, moral actions and well-being in the Cameroon western grassfields. / Alubafi, Mathias F.; Kaunda, Chammah J.
In: HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, Vol. 75, No. 1, a5174, 01.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Embodied ancestors
T2 - Religious objects, moral actions and well-being in the Cameroon western grassfields
AU - Alubafi, Mathias F.
AU - Kaunda, Chammah J.
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - In African spirituality, ancestor engagement with the community is always mediated through material objects. This article argues that materiality gives meaning and validity to the ancestral system. Ancestral objects are an embodiment of the ancestors or ancestral meaning-making, which links the visible community to the world of the spirits. However, ancestral objects also draw meaning and validation from those who inherit them, such as kings or titleholders who together with them connect the community to the spiritual source of well-being and vice versa. The article argues that such interplay is based on the material, religious and ritual conception of ancestral objects with their inheritors and the well-being of the community they represent. However, most studies on African religious art objects have focussed essentially on the symbolism behind ancestral objects and their motifs rather than on the interplay between ancestral objects and meaning-making in relation to community’s well-being. This article sets out to examine this relation and other performative aspects associated with ancestral objects in the Cameroon Grassfields. It argues that Grassfields religious traditions are materially oriented in the way they shape human meaning-making and interpretation of reality, and represent ancestors as manifested reality and living-dead agents who are part of collective communal action.
AB - In African spirituality, ancestor engagement with the community is always mediated through material objects. This article argues that materiality gives meaning and validity to the ancestral system. Ancestral objects are an embodiment of the ancestors or ancestral meaning-making, which links the visible community to the world of the spirits. However, ancestral objects also draw meaning and validation from those who inherit them, such as kings or titleholders who together with them connect the community to the spiritual source of well-being and vice versa. The article argues that such interplay is based on the material, religious and ritual conception of ancestral objects with their inheritors and the well-being of the community they represent. However, most studies on African religious art objects have focussed essentially on the symbolism behind ancestral objects and their motifs rather than on the interplay between ancestral objects and meaning-making in relation to community’s well-being. This article sets out to examine this relation and other performative aspects associated with ancestral objects in the Cameroon Grassfields. It argues that Grassfields religious traditions are materially oriented in the way they shape human meaning-making and interpretation of reality, and represent ancestors as manifested reality and living-dead agents who are part of collective communal action.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85073269972&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4102/hts.v75i1.5174
DO - 10.4102/hts.v75i1.5174
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073269972
VL - 75
JO - HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies
JF - HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies
SN - 0259-9422
IS - 1
M1 - a5174
ER -