Turning ‘Water Babies’ (Zaza Rano) into ‘Real Human Beings’ (Vrai Humains)

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" Turning ‘Water Babies’ (Zaza Rano) into ‘Real Human Beings’ (Vrai Humains) "
Erin Nourse

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1072800
Doc. No	:	LA116429
Call No	:	‭10.1163/15700666-12340104‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Erin Nourse
Title & Author	:	Turning ‘Water Babies’ (Zaza Rano) into ‘Real Human Beings’ (Vrai Humains) [Article]\ Erin Nourse
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Journal of Religion in Africa
Date	:	2017
Volume/ Issue Number	:	47/2
Page No	:	224–256
Abstract	:	This article examines the protective measures and rites of blessing that residents of Diégo Suarez use to keep their babies safe from harm and incorporate them into their respective religious and ethnic communities. I argue that new mothers, and their ‘water babies,’ are ‘acquiring bones’ (establishing themselves within the community) in ways that challenge the widely held perception that Malagasy practices around ancestors are primarily remembrance-oriented. By shifting our gaze away from death, and towards the family-specific ancestral practices around pregnancy and birth, we see that the process of ‘acquiring bones’ is as aspirational as it is retrospective. Moreover, securing one’s worth in society is not exclusively tied to adulthood activities or paternal ancestral lineages; instead it is a flexible process that begins in childhood when parents first instill in their children a sense of what it means to be a member of a particular family or religious community.
Descriptor	:	African religions
Descriptor	:	ancestors
Descriptor	:	birth rituals
Descriptor	:	Comparative Religion Religious Studies
Descriptor	:	gender
Descriptor	:	History of Religion
Descriptor	:	identity
Descriptor	:	Madagascar
Descriptor	:	Religious Studies
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/15700666-12340104‬