Women, Ancestors, and Alterity among the Manjaco of Guinea-Bissau

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Periodical article

Title:	Women, Ancestors, and Alterity among the Manjaco of Guinea-Bissau
Author:	Gable, Eric
Year:	1996
Periodical:	Journal of Religion in Africa
Volume:	26
Issue:	2
Period:	May
Pages:	104-121
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Guinea-Bissau
Subjects:	African religions Mandjak women Women's Issues Religion and Witchcraft Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Cultural Roles
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/1581451
Abstract:	The author explores ancestor worship among the Manjaco of Guinea-Bissau by interpreting the rituals associated with the installation of a new ancestor figure in Manjaco household shrines. Among the Manjaco, death turns an elder into a child again. Subsequently, the deceased's ritualized apotheosis as an ancestor emphasizes the ghost's youthfulness and his struggle to assert his autonomy against his elders. The ancestor returns to the world of the living as an angry and violent young man, demanding that he be recognized. It is this moment of intergenerational conflict that is enshrined in the iconography of the ancestor post and symbolized in the 'planting' ritual of ancestral apotheosis. Moreover, it is the 'dangerous egotism' of the ancestors that allows elder women - specifically fathers' sisters - to assert their parental version of morality. Elder women emphasize the virtues of other-interest by creating as an alter a selfish ancestor to scold and cajole. In speaking to the ancestors as superego, they enact the language of other-interest. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.