book chapter

Priests, spirit mediums, and guerillas in Suriname

Transactions : essays in honor of Jeremy F. Boissevain • Amsterdam • Published In 1994 • Pages: 209-228

By: Thoden van Velzen, H. U. E..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

This is an article about the rediscovery of Ndyuka possession cults and medicinemen by young, urbanized maroons who joined the rebel army during Suriname's civil war (1986-1989). Traditional medicinemen took care of the wounded in the interior. Also, members of the rebel group found a magic elixer (OBEAH) and fell into a trance. Impressed by the magic and spirits of traditional religion, the army began to employ traditional medicinemen to perform protective rituals. However, this practice backfired on some medicinemen, following disastrous military campaigns. The rebel army also tried to get priests, who controlled important cults which lay at the center of Ndyuka social organization, to mobilize the local population to their cause. However, the priests were circumspect, wishng to protect their power base from outside manipulation.

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Revolution

Shamans and psychotherapists

Eschatology

Spirits and gods

Magicians and diviners

cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)

Ndyuka

HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document

1999

RegionThe area the document pertains to

South America

Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region

Amazon and Orinoco

Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs

book chapter

Evaluation

Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.

Ethnologist

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.

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection

Ian Skoggard ; 1997

Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document

not specified

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

1980-1989

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

Suriname

NotesAdditional notes

Bonno Thoden van Velzen

Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-228)

LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number

94227141

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Djuka people