Lecture Series: Rethinking Transnational Processes: Talk, 10/23

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A Center for International Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences Presents:

NYU-CNRS 2009-2010 Lecture Series
Rethinking Transnational Processes
and Multiple Modernities in the Atlantic World

October 23, 2009
2 - 4 pm, 4 Washington Square North, Conference room, 2nd floor

Roger Sansi
(Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Encountering Images in Candomblé: events, representations, and iconoclasm

"Images" are a problem in the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé in two senses. First, the presence of Catholic images in altars has been questioned by the "reafricanization" movement in the last decades, as a form of "syncretism". Second it is often said that taking pictures or videos of rituals is not allowed. However, in my ethnographic experience, both religious images, pictures, and videos are used in many Candomblé houses. How can we understand this contradiction? What is the problem with images in Candomblé after all? To answer this question, we will have to examine the transformation of the practices and notions of "representation" within Candomblé itself, as a result of the incorporation of the modern discourse of "culture" by Afro-Brazilian elites.

Roger Sansi (PhD University of Chicago 2003) is Lecturer in Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He works on Afro-Brazilian religion and culture and international contemporary art. His recent publications include Fetishes and Monuments. Afro-Brazilian art and Culture in the 20th century (Berghahn Books, 2007) and Sorcery in the Black Atlantic, coedited with Luis Nicolau Parés (University of Chicago Press, in press).

Contacts:
Stefania Capone, scl350@nyu.edu
Aisha Khan, ak105@nuy.edu

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