“Yo he venido a buscar, los pasos que me han faltado”: Un acercamiento a la noción de muerto a partir del alabado en las comunidades afrodescendientes de Cértegui y Winandó
Thesis
In this research I propose to observe the praised as a node of relationships, where various factors converge such as artistic, political, religious-spiritual, territorial, patrimonial, mortuary, community, among others. These elements can be analyzed from my ethnography, both in rural communities and in urban contexts, and serve to understand that the praised should not only be thought of as a song from the Pacific that occurs in funeral or political contexts; but rather as a song crossed by elements that help some to make community processes visible. In this sense, the objective of this monograph is to analyze the construction of the notion of the dead in the communities of Cértegui and Winandó based on the relationships generated by the praised. When the relationships of the praised are enunciated, reference is made to the interconnections found in my field work, where I was able to observe that both the territory and the community exert a transversal influence to understand the notions of the dead. This general objective led to two other specific objectives that allowed me to answer the research question. The first of them, analyze from the dead-praised-community relationship the role of Afro-Colombian communities during mortuary processes and the effect that the deceased has on said communities. In my second chapter I analyzed the dead-praised-territory relationship, from the collective processes that the communities carry out in each of the chosen locations. From the fulfillment of my objectives, in this investigation I enunciate the complexity contained in the praised. In this sense, I maintain that the praised should not be seen solely as a song from the Pacific that is sung on the occasion of a death or in artistic settings. The praised can be understood or approached as a node of relationships from which it was possible for me to understand social, community, territorial and mortuary processes of the Afro-Colombian communities that I visited.
publication date
May 6, 2021 9:58 PM
Research
keywords
Christian and African religious syncretism in Los Alabados
Melodies intoned at the wakes of the Afrocolombian communities
Mortuary rituals in black communities of Winandó and Cértegui, Colombia
The soul, death and the afro community in the Colombian Pacific
