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Contents
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Contents List of Illustrations and Tables ix Preface xiii PART I. INTRODUCTION AND THEORETICAL PREMISES 1. Introduction 3 2. Believers of Cemíism: Who Were the Taínos and Where Did They Come From? 6 3. Webs of Interaction: Human Beings, Other Beings, and Many Things 43 4. Personhood and the Animistic Amerindian Perspective 48 5. Contrasting Animistic and Naturalistic Worldviews 53 PART II. THE FORM, PERSONHOOD, IDENTITY, AND POTENCY OF CEMÍ IDOLS 6. The Cemí Reveals Its Personhood and Its Body Form 59 7. Cemí Idols and Taínoan Idolatry 64 8. Cemís and Personal Identities 67 PART III. THE SOCIAL RELATIONS AND CIRCULATION OF CEMÍ IDOLS AND HUMAN BEINGS 9. The Power and Potency of the Cemís 73 10. The Display of Cemís: Personal vs. Communal Ownership, Private vs. Public Function 77 11. Face-to-Face Interactions: Cemís, Idols, and the Native Political Elite 83 12. Hanging On to and Losing the Power of the Cemí Idols 87 13. The Inheritance and Reciprocal Exchange of Cemí Icons 103 viii Contents 14. Cemís: Alienable or Inalienable; To Give or To Keep 109 PART IV. STONE COLLARS, ELBOW STONES, THREE-POINTERS, STONE HEADS, AND GUAÍZAS 15. Stone Collars, Elbow Stones, and Caciques 121 16. Ancestor Cemís and the Cemíification of the Caciques 141 17. The Guaíza Face Masks: Gifts of the Living for the Living 148 18. The Circulation of Chiefs’ Names, Women, and Cemís: Between the Greater and Lesser Antilles 157 PART V. THE BATTLES FOR THE CEMÍS IN HISPANIOLA, BORIQUÉN, AND CUBA 19. Up in Arms: Taíno Freedom Fighters in Higüey and Boriquén 191 20. The Virgin Mary Icons and Native Cemís: Two Cases of Religious Syncretism in Cuba 221 21. Religious Syncretism and Transculturation: The Crossroads toward New Identities 232 PART VI. CONCLUSIONS 22. Final Remarks 247 References Cited 257 Photo Credits and Copyrights 281 Index 287 ...