2005/06/03 by Roger Sansi · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Anthropological Studies and Insights #Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory #Diverse Cultural and Historical Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/1359183505053072
openalex publication_date 2005/06/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
In the last century, the objects of Candomblé, a religion of African origin in Bahia, suffered radical transformations in their public value. After discussing in general terms the life of ‘saint’ stones ( otã) in Candomblé, this article then focuses on the traces of the life history of one of these otã. This stone was seized in a police raid in a Candomblé house, and then displayed in a museum, until a legal action recently undertaken by political activists obliged the museum to withdraw the stone from exhibition. In the conclusion, I propose to recognize notions of historicity and materiality as keys to understanding the life and ‘agency’ of this and other objects.