Domingos Álvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual His

Domingos Álvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual History of the Antlantic World

Monday, September 08, 2014

James Sweet

Engl 5321

Country of Origin

-Displaced/Isolated

-Selfhood

-Healing

-Community

-Social Alienation

-Witchcraft

Naogon, Benin

THEMES

-Colonialism

-Slavery

-Freedom/Manumission

-Knowledge

-Power/Authority

-Race

-Religion

Narrative: History and Individual Experience

Dahomey Kingdom

Dahomey's Warriors

Keywords

Auto da Fe

Limpeza de sangue

Preto Bucal

Mannumission

Fetish/feiticos

Maleficios

Bochio

Voduns

Legba

Skapata

Biomedicine

Racial animus

Yoruba

Gbo/Gbespeaking

Diaspora

Ecclesiastical Jail

Spiritual Propitioation

Sold into Slavery

The Middle Passage

Portuguese Inquisition

Portuguese Empire

18th century

Domingos Alvares was first transported to the Mina Coast. Also known as the The Portuguese Gold Coast, Mina Coast was a Portuguese colony on the West African Gold Coast (present day Ghana) on the Gulf of Guinea. Alvares was then moved throughout Brazil and Portugal, to such places as Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon

Thesis

In 1773 and 1774 Pombaline Reforms abolished autos-da-fé and ended the Limpeza de Sangue (blood cleansing) statutes and their discrimination against New Christians, the Jews that had converted to Christianity, and their descendants regardless of genealogical distance, in order to escape the Portuguese Inquisition.

The Portuguese inquisition was extinguished in 1821 by the "General Extraordinary and Constituent assembly of the Portuguese Nation" .

By carefully following Domingos’ movements and experiences in this vast, interconnected world, we can begin to piece together the series of events that eventually led to his Portuguese imprisonment and exile

Altars & the Asen

Questions

The Knife

Divination and the Devil: A Dearth of Evidence

Important Passages

“portable altar, generally of metal. It is planted in the ground at the ceremonial location, and one pours in offering, on the plateau that crowns it, sacrificial blood and alcohol” (Paul Mercier).

On September 19, 1748, a little over a year after his arrest, the Holy Office handed down its sentence. In their ruling, the Inquisitors concluded that Domingos did not cure by “virtue” because in his cures with chickens, fish, and cups of water on the head, “some of the sick people did not return to health, nor in their application did he use words indicating a pact with the Devil” (e-book locations 4239-4241).

Melons and Medicinal Efficacy

"The knife could kill, slaying malevolent forces, but it could also cut through the forest, helping the healer find lifesaving medicines. Furthermore, the knife could cut the cords of attachment and confinement, opening paths to freedom" (e-book loc 2457)

1) Considering the ultimate sentence Domingo receives from the second and final Inquisition trial, do you think that this judgment was handed down because they indeed lacked evidence or wanted to eschew issues of “divination” that would undermine the power and authority of the court and the church?

2) a. Why do you think that various rituals and beliefs became shared between the Vodun and Catholic religions (i.e. the significance of salt)?

b. Would you call this a new or hybrid culture/religion? Why or why not?

3) Do instances of Domingo's "performance" hinder or satisfy his need for a stable identity and community?

Food

"Recent scientific research demonstrates that the fruit of melão de São Caetano [bitter melon] contains flavanoids and alkaloids that trigger insulin production in the pancreas, thereby making it an ideal herbal medicine for boosting blood-sugar levels. It has been used to treat diabetes, gout, and rheumatism for years in Africa and India...it would take science 250 years to “rationalize” the pharmaceutical properties of melão de São Caetano" (e-book location 2234-2266).

-Salt (e-book loc 1074-1085;1093)

-"Performing" and healing for "sustenance" (loc 4167-4186)