Extract
[...] The Tupinamba religion is problematic for Western clergy who have difficulty grasping the nature of the Indians' religion. ( . ) Initially, for the missionaries, this apparent lack of beliefs and rituals of the Indians appears as an advantage. The clergy think they will not have to practice the 'extirpation' of idolatries and are eager to fill the 'blank page'16 » (De Castelnau-L'Estoile, 2011). B. Towards the construction of a new spiritual conception Following the evangelization campaigns, the local populations of Latin America will therefore build their own conception of Christianity by borrowing customs and practices from their old beliefs. [...]
[...] Moreover, he shows at the end of the work that making a revolution does not happen without personal commitment: 'But it is easier to be constant with war than with poetry, than with a woman. Poetry and women pass, but the revolution has never passed.' (Nizan, 1931: 154) Bibliography Balandier, Georges, 'The Colonial Situation: A Theoretical Approach', In International Review of Sociology, vol.11, Presses Universitaires de France pp.44-79 Nizan, Paul, Aden Arabia, Seuil, coll. Points roman (1931). Pouchepadass, Jacques, 'Les Subaltern Studies or the postcolonial critique of modernity, in Man, 156/2000, p.162 Saïd, Edward, Orientalism, Seuil, coll. [...]
[...] In fact, in light of this statement, whether it is the process of evangelization or more broadly the colonization of the continent, it remains that the local populations have remained in a position that was not far from 'exploitation' in the Marxist sense. Indicative Bibliography Jean-Cassien Billier, 'Can conversion be a freedom?',Cahiers d'études du religieux. Interdisciplinary Research [Online] 2009, published online on September accessed on December URL: http://journals.openedition.org/cerri/359; DOI: 10.4000/cerri.359 François B?spflug. 'The syncretism and syncretisms. Imaginary perils, historical facts, current problems',Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques, vol. [...]
[...] Finally, the phenomenon of acculturation should not erase the idea that the latter remains complex in that, on the one hand, local resistances can merge into the connected phenomenon of cultural hybridization. In fact, we will see in the next sub-part how the question of syncretism will be central to understanding how this acculturation was carried out in parallel with the resistances of indigenous populations. IV. The question of syncretism To appreciate the question of syncretism, or more colloquially called cultural hybridization, one must avoid a pitfall. [...]
[...] The future communist writer will therefore proceed to a full indictment of colonialism. Here is a striking excerpt from Nizan's text: 'only the known land, surveyed, cadastrated, the people of Europe have put it in the cutting: we are everywhere stolen like in a wood; the paradises are commercial enterprises of cobalt, peanuts, rubber, copra; the virtuous savages are clients and slaves. The priests of all white gods have begun to convert these idolaters, these fetishists, to speak to them of Luther and the Virgin of Lourdes'24 » (Nizan, 1931: 70). [...]
