Generation and transaction processes in the spirit ritual of the Baka pygmies in southeast Cameroon

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Periodical article

Title:	Generation and transaction processes in the spirit ritual of the Baka pygmies in southeast Cameroon
Author:	Tsuru, Daisaku
Year:	2001
Periodical:	African Study Monographs: Supplementary Issue
Issue:	27
Pages:	103-123
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Cameroon
Subjects:	magic Pygmies
External link:	http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/68415/1/ASM_S_27_103.pdf
Abstract:	Many kinds of spirit rituals can be found among the Baka pygmies. These differ with respect to the songs and costumes for the spirit dance performance, and with respect to the number, kind and combination of spirit rituals which occur at the level of Baka subgroups ('ba'). Based on field research in 1994-1995 among 228 Baka subgroups living in the tropical rain forest area of southeastern Cameroon, the author describes and analyses these differences, their formation and their social background. The role of individual activity in processes of ritual shift is important. Based on the conception of particular guardianship, individuals transact and generate new rituals, promoting the intracultural diversification of spirit rituals within an overall context in which a relatively homogeneous concept of the identity of spirits is maintained. The fluidity of the social and the religious system is interdependent and this relationship is mediated by the specific individualism of Baka society. Bibliogr., notes, sum.