Description
The first book-length ethnographic study on music and Ifa divination in Cuba and Nigeria.
Hailing from Cuba, Nigeria, and various sites across Latin America and the Caribbean, Ifa missionary-practitioners are transforming the landscape of Ifa divination and deity (ori s a /oricha) worship through transatlantic travel and reconnection. In Cuba, where Ifa and Santeria emerged as an interrelated, Yoruba-inspired ritual complex, worshippers are driven to "African traditionalism" by its promise of efficacy: they find Yoruba approaches more powerful, potent, and efficacious.
In the first book-length study on music and Ifa, Ruthie Meadows draws on extensive, multisited fieldwork in Cuba and Yorubaland, Nigeria, to examine the controversial "Nigerian-style" ritual movement in Cuban Ifa divination. Meadows uses feminist and queer of color theory along with critical studies of Africanity to excavate the relation between utility and affect within translocal ritual music circulations. Meadows traces how translocal Ifa priestesses (iyanifa), female bata drummers (bataleras), and priests (babalawo) harness Yoruba-centric approaches to ritual music and sound to heighten efficacy, achieve desired ritual outcomes, and reshape the conditions of their lives. Within a contentious religious landscape marked by the idiosyncrasies of revolutionary state policy, Nigerian-style Ifa-Ori s a is leveraged to transform femininity and masculinity, state religious policy, and transatlantic ritual authority on the island.
About the Author
Ruthie Meadows is assistant professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Reviews
"With this innovative book, Meadows significantly expands our understanding of Afro-Cuban religious music and its ever-changing manifestations. Her exploration of ritual music associated with divination across the island, her focus on transatlantic religious dialogues between Nigeria and Cuba, her emphasis on the contested nature of religious orthodoxy, and her close attention to the struggles of women all represent major contributions to existing scholarship." * Robin Moore, The University of Texas at Austin *
"Meadows's years of research and solid scholarship shed new light on the fast-moving nigeriano religious movement in Cuba. Her accessible and engaging writing allows diverse kinds of readers to understand a complex phenomenon. This important book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Cuban and Yoruba music and religion, as well as a vast international readership of ori s a devotees and musicians." * Amanda Villepastour, Cardiff University *
Book Information
ISBN 9780226830223
Author Ruthie Meadows
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 513g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 23mm
Hailing from Cuba, Nigeria, and various sites across Latin America and the Caribbean, Ifa missionary-practitioners are transforming the landscape of Ifa divination and deity (ori s a /oricha) worship through transatlantic travel and reconnection. In Cuba, where Ifa and Santeria emerged as an interrelated, Yoruba-inspired ritual complex, worshippers are driven to "African traditionalism" by its promise of efficacy: they find Yoruba approaches more powerful, potent, and efficacious.
In the first book-length study on music and Ifa, Ruthie Meadows draws on extensive, multisited fieldwork in Cuba and Yorubaland, Nigeria, to examine the controversial "Nigerian-style" ritual movement in Cuban Ifa divination. Meadows uses feminist and queer of color theory along with critical studies of Africanity to excavate the relation between utility and affect within translocal ritual music circulations. Meadows traces how translocal Ifa priestesses (iyanifa), female bata drummers (bataleras), and priests (babalawo) harness Yoruba-centric approaches to ritual music and sound to heighten efficacy, achieve desired ritual outcomes, and reshape the conditions of their lives. Within a contentious religious landscape marked by the idiosyncrasies of revolutionary state policy, Nigerian-style Ifa-Ori s a is leveraged to transform femininity and masculinity, state religious policy, and transatlantic ritual authority on the island.
About the Author
Ruthie Meadows is assistant professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Reviews
"With this innovative book, Meadows significantly expands our understanding of Afro-Cuban religious music and its ever-changing manifestations. Her exploration of ritual music associated with divination across the island, her focus on transatlantic religious dialogues between Nigeria and Cuba, her emphasis on the contested nature of religious orthodoxy, and her close attention to the struggles of women all represent major contributions to existing scholarship." * Robin Moore, The University of Texas at Austin *
"Meadows's years of research and solid scholarship shed new light on the fast-moving nigeriano religious movement in Cuba. Her accessible and engaging writing allows diverse kinds of readers to understand a complex phenomenon. This important book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Cuban and Yoruba music and religion, as well as a vast international readership of ori s a devotees and musicians." * Amanda Villepastour, Cardiff University *
Book Information
ISBN 9780226830223
Author Ruthie Meadows
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 513g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 23mm
