Truth in motion : the recursive anthropology of Cuban divination

346 Pages·2012·2.26 MB·English

by  Martin Holbraad

Truth in Motion

Truth in Motion
The Recursive Anthropology of
Cuban Divination
martin holbraad
the university of chicago press chicago and london
martin holbraad teaches social anthropology at University College London. He is co­
editor of Thinking Through Things: Theorising Artefacts Ethnographically and Technologies
of the Imagination.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2012 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2012.
Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5
isbn­13: 978­0­226­34920­6 (cloth)
isbn­13: 978­0­226­34921­3 (paper)
isbn­10: 0­226­34920­9 (cloth)
isbn­10: 0­226­34921­7 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging­in­Publication Data
Holbraad, Martin.
Truth in motion : the recursive anthropology of Cuban divination / Martin Holbraad.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn­13: 978­0­226­34920­6 (hardcover : alkaline paper)
isbn­13: 978­0­226­34921­3 (paperback : alkaline paper)
isbn­10: 0­226­34920­9 (hardcover : alkaline paper)
isbn­10: 0­226­34921­7 (paperback : alkaline paper) 1. Ifá (Religion)—Cuba.
2. Divination—Cuba. 3. Cuba—Religion. I. Title.
bl2532.i33h65 2012
299.6'833302097291—dc23
2011037298
a This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).
to eduardo viveiros de castro
and for the memory of javier alfonso isasi, oggunda teturá

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Preface xv
• The Book’s Agenda xv
• Rudiments of Argument and Strategy xvii
• Recursive Structure xx
Introduction: The Question of Truth in the Historiography and
Ethnography of Ifá Divination 1
• Truth as an Ethnographic Object 1
• Ifá in West Africa and the Prestige of Truth 3
• Afro­American Religion and the Politics of
Its Representation 9
chapter 1. Truth in Anthropology: From Nature and Culture to
Recursive Analysis 18
• Evolutionism, “Diffusionism,” Constructivism:
The Fall of Truth 19
• Toward a Recursive Analysis of Truth 34
chapter 2. Truth Beyond Doubt: The Alterity of Divination 54
• Divination in Anthropology 55
• Evans­Pritchard on Oracles 60
• Boyer on Divination, Causal Indices, and Truth 64
• Divination and Indubitability 67
• Desiderata for an Analysis of Divinatory Truth 73
viii contents
chapter 3. Living Ifá: The Matter of Truth 75
• True Encounters 75
• Divinatory Regulation: Javier’s Initiatory Career 80
• Divination and the Path of Initiation 84
• The Matrix of Initiation and the Propulsion of Paths 90
• Living Ifá 98
• Speaking Ifá and the Economy of Learning 102
• Secrets 106
chapter 4. Mythical Transcendence and Ritual Elicitation:
The Cosmo­Praxis of Ifá Divination 109
• The Problem with the Problem of Transcendence 109
• Myth and Transcendence 114
• Ritual and Immanence 121
• The Cosmological Problem of Divination 125
• The Liturgy of Ifá Divination 130
chapter 5. The Ontology of Motion: Power, Powder, and Vertical
Transformation 144
• Ontological Non Sequiturs 144
• Motile Practice—A Choreography of Nuts 148
• Motile Discourse—Talking of Paths 150
• Motile Cosmology—Aché in Divination 153
• An Interlude on the Analysis of Motility—or, the Power
of Powder 157
• Motile Ontology—Potential Relations and the Direction
of Motion 161
chapter 6. Divinatory Metamorphosis: Symbolism, Interpretation,
and the Motility of Meaning 173
• The Problem of Symbolism and the Motility of Meaning 175
• Interrogating Orula 184
• “Speaking the Signo,” “Interpreting the Paths” 187
• Motile Meanings in Divination 192
chapter 7. The Event of Truth: Coincidence, Revelation,
Bewilderment 196
• Coincidence, Paths, and the Event of Truth
(or Bewilderment) 197
• Motile Truth, Representation, and Their Mutual Eclipse 205
• Skepticism and Misunderstanding 210
contents ix
chapter 8. Definition and Obligation: The Truth of the Oracles 214
• No Lies, No Mistakes 215
• Divination and Definition 218
• Divination and Obligation 224
• Initiation as Ontological Transformation 231
• Equivocations 233
Conclusion: Anthropological Truth 237
• Divination and Anthropology 240
• Ontography as Antidivination 255
Epilogue: On Humility 260
Appendix A: The Naming and Ranking of Divinatory
Configurations 266
Appendix B: “Papers of Ifá”: An Example 270
Notes 273
Works Cited 289
Index 309