Includes bibliographical references (p. [257]-279) and index.

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

Cem s are both portable artifacts and embodiments of persons or spirit, which the Ta nos and other natives of the Greater Antilles (ca. AD 1000-1550) regarded as numinous beings with supernatural or magic powers. This volume takes a close look at the relationship between humans and other (non-human) beings that are imbued with cem power, specifically within the Ta no inter-island cultural sphere encompassing Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. The relationships address the important questions of identity and personhood of the cem icons and their human OC ownersOCO and the implications of cem gift-giving and gift-taking that sustains a complex web of relationships between caciques (chiefs) of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. a a a a a Oliver provides a careful analysis of the four major forms of cem sOCothree-pointed stones, large stone heads, stone collars, and elbow stonesOCoas well as face masks, which provide an interesting contrast to the stone heads. He finds evidence for his interpretation of human and cem interactions from a critical review of 16th-century Spanish ethnohistoric documents, especially the "Relacin Acerca de las Antigedades de los Indios" written by Friar Ramn Pan(r) in 1497OCo1498 under orders from Christopher Columbus. Buttressed by examples of native resistance and syncretism, the volume discusses the iconoclastic conflicts and the relationship between the icons and the human beings. Focusing on this and on the various contexts in which the relationships were enacted, Oliver reveals how the cem s were central to the exercise of native political power. Such cem s were considered a direct threat to the hegemony of the Spanish conquerors, as these potent objects were seen as allies in the native resistance to the onslaught of Christendom with its icons of saints and virgins.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2021. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.