2018/08/31 by Diana Espírito Santo · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Cuban History and Society #Latin American and Latino Studies #Caribbean history, culture, and politics #Materiality (auditing) #Subjectivity #Ethnography #Assemblage (archaeology) #Relation (database) #Sociology #Epistemology #Aesthetics #Anthropology #Philosophy #Archaeology #History #Computer science
paper · doi:10.3167/sa.2018.620304
openalex publication_date 2018/08/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
In this article I use my ethnographic data on an Afro-Cuban religion called Palo Monte to argue that ontologically discrepant ‘bits’ of the cosmos can become stuck together for particular purposes, at times producing ‘synchronicities’. I argue that the practitioners of this religion, Paleros, can be trained into producing synchronicities in the form of witchcraft. This coheres with a concept of self that can be seen as an assemblage rather than an essence. This article contributes to a person-centered theory of plasticity in relation to discussions on lenience. In Palo, discipline does not lie in molding one’s subjectivity or in searching for a deep self. Lenience is imperative as the principle with which the self articulates with its environment and itself.