article
Bakku: possessing spirits of witchcraft on the Tapanahony
Nieuwe West-Indische gids • 54 (1) • Published In 1980 • Pages: 1-38
By: Vernon, Diane.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Vernon writes about a realtively new (post-1972) category of possessing spirits among the Ndyuka, called BAKUU, which she argues are related to acculturation. The Bakuu originate in the coastal city of Paramaribo and are either purchased, or unwittingly brought back, by soujourners. Unlike other spirits which affect one person, the Bakuu exist in groups and often kill several people. Vernon discusses the case of one person accused of witchcraft in relation to Bakuu possession and death. She traces the lines of possession, death and accusations between competing affinal lineages in a tribal village, and attributes this tension to the unstable relationship between the lineages as a result of their growing and unequal connection to the market economy of the coast.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- External migration
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Kin relationships
- Informal in-group justice
- Sorcery
- Spirits and gods
- Revelation and divination
- 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
- article
- 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.
- 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
- 1976-1979
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1972-1979
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Tabiki, Suriname
- NotesAdditional notes
- Diane Vernon
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-38)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- sn86012467
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Djuka people