Ebooks for the Classroom+Faculty

Africa’s Ogun, Second, Expanded Edition
ISBN: 9780253113818
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / Indiana University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Ogun (Yoruba deity); Ogun (Yoruba deity);

This landmark work of ethnography explores the enduring, global worship of the African god of war--with five new essays in this new, expanded edition. Ogun--the ancient African god of iron, war, and hunting--is worshiped by more than forty million adherents in Western Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas. This rich, interdisciplinary collection draws on field research from several continents to reveal Ogun's dramatic power and enduring appeal.Contributors examine the history and spread of Ogun throughout old and new worlds; the meaning of Ogun ritual, myth, and art; and the transformations of Ogun through the deity's various manifestations. This edition includes five new essays focusing mainly on Ogun worship in the new world. "[A]n ethnographically rich contribution to the historical understanding of West African culture, as well as an exploration of the continued vitality of that culture in the changing environments of the Americas." -- African Studies Review

Sandra T. Barnes is Professor of Anthropology and Director of African Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is author of Patrons and Power: Creating a Political Community in Metropolitan Lagos and Ogun: An Old God for a New Age.