Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking, and the Making of

Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking, and the Making of Black Atlantic Traditions (North American Religions)

Winner, 2017 Clifford Geertz Prize in the Anthropology of Religion, presented by the Society for the Anthropology of Religion section of the American Anthropological Association

Finalist, 2017 Albert J. Raboteau Prize for the Best Book in Africana Religions presented by the Journal of Africana Religions

Before honey can be offered to the Afro-Cuban deity OchÃºn, it must be tasted, to prove to her that it is good. In African-inspired religions throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States, such gestures instill the attitudes that turn participants into practitioners. Acquiring deep knowledge of the diets of the gods and ancestors constructs adherentsâ€™ identities; to learn to fix the godsâ€™ favorite dishes is to be â€œseasonedâ€ into their service.
Â
In this innovative work, Elizabeth PÃ©rez reveals how seemingly trivial "micropractices" such as the preparation of sacred foods, are complex rituals in their own right. Drawing on years of ethnographic research in Chicago among practitioners of LucumÃ, the transnational tradition popularly known as SanterÃa, PÃ©rez focuses on the behind-the-scenes work of the primarily women and gay men responsible for feeding the gods. She reveals how cooking and talking around the kitchen table have played vital socializing roles in Black Atlantic religions.
Â
Entering the world of divine desires and the varied flavors that speak to them, this volume takes a fresh approach to the anthropology of religion. Its richly textured portrait of a predominantly African-American LucumÃ community reconceptualizes race, gender, sexuality, and affect in the formation of religious identity, proposing that every religion coalesces and sustains itself through its own secret recipe of micropractices.
Country USA
Brand NYU Press
Manufacturer NYU Press
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber black & white illustrations
ReleaseDate 2016-02-16
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781479839551

Country	USA
Brand	NYU Press
Manufacturer	NYU Press
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	black & white illustrations
ReleaseDate	2016-02-16
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781479839551

Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking, and the Making of Black Atlantic Traditions (North American Religions)

You might also like...