Caciques and Cemi idols : the web spun by Taino rulers between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico / / Jose R. Oliver.

• Superior document: Caribbean archaeology and ethnohistory
• Author: ProQuest (Firm); Oliver, Jose R.
• TeilnehmendeR: ProQuest (Firm)
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Series: Caribbean archaeology and ethnohistory.
• Physical Description: xviii, 306 p. :; ill., maps.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Believers of Cemiism : who were the Tainos and where did they come from?
• Webs of interaction : human beings, other beings, and many things
• Personhood and the animistic Amerindian perspective
• Contrasting animistic and naturalistic worldviews
• The Cemi reveals its personhood and its body form
• Cemi idols and Tainoan idolatry
• Cemis and personal identities
• The power and potency of the Cemis
• The display of Cemis : personal vs. communal ownership, private vs. public function
• Face-to-face interactions : Cemis, idols, and the native political elite
• Hanging on to and losing the power of the Cemi idols
• The inheritance and reciprocal exchange of Cemi icons
• Cemis : alienable or inalienable; to give and to keep
• Stone collars, elbow stones, and caciques
• Ancestor Cemis and the Cemiification of the caciques
• The guaiza face masks : gifts of the living for the living
• The circulation of chief's names, women, and Cemis : between the greater and lesser Antilles
• Up in arms : Taino freedom fighters in Higuey and Boriquen
• The virgin Mary icons and native Cemis : two cases of religious syncretism in Cuba
• Religious syncretism and transculturation : the crossroads toward new identities
• Final remarks.