Book
An outline of Dahomean religious belief
The American Anthropological Association • (41) • Published In 1933 • Pages: 77
By: Herskovits, Melville J. (Melville Jean), Herskovits, Frances S. (Frances Shapiro).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
A collaborative work of Herskovits and Herskovits, this book systematically outlines the many dimensions of Dahomean religious beliefs. Combining information from existing accounts and original fieldwork, the authors describe Dahomey religion as a complex system consisting of a several gods, ancestral cults, personal spirits and magical powers. Relations among these powers are viewed as though hierarchical. Yet Dohomean did not worship to a universal God. Instead, each god was historically associated as the God of a specific community and/or locality. The authors argue that variations in degree of attachment and worship forms occurred only in the later years mainly due to population migration across different sections of the kingdom.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- General character of religion
- Animism
- Spirits and gods
- Cult of the dead
- Congregations
- Religious experience
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Revelation and divination
- Sacred objects and places
- Magic
- Theory of disease
- Sorcery
- Magical and mental therapy
- Priesthood
- Theological systems
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Fon
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2016
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Teferi Abate Adem ; 2014
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1931
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1863-1931
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- southern Benin (Dahomey)
- NotesAdditional notes
- By Melville J. Herskovits and Frances S. Herskovits
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 34005259
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Fon (African people)
- Ethnology--Benin
- Benin--Religion