{"id":3912,"date":"2019-06-17T13:21:53","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T17:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/practicalmattersjournal.ecdsdev.org\/?p=3912"},"modified":"2019-06-21T11:50:54","modified_gmt":"2019-06-21T15:50:54","slug":"teaching-religious-traditions-through-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmcleanup.ecdsdev.org\/2019\/06\/17\/teaching-religious-traditions-through-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Religious Traditions through Place: A Case for Place-Based Associative Pedagogy in Orisha Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Download PDF: Penagos, Teaching Religious Traditions<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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Abstract<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Associative place-based pedagogy uniquely provides strategies inclusive of a wide range of traditions beyond those of traditional Western classrooms and provides a foundation for educators to build upon in ways that are practical for teaching traditions courses in Religious Studies. In order to create richer repositories of information for students and minimize comparative approaches in teaching Religious Studies, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of place in its rich and varied expressions and explicitly associate pertinent religious phenomena to ideas of place. Using associative place-based pedagogy helps students form deeper connections with information and create affective links resulting in an overall stronger ability to recall that information. Building on associative learning theories and methods of indigenous discourse, I propose this pedagogical model using the orisha, the deities in Yoruba-derived African heritage traditions like Cuban Santeria. However, my overarching goal is that educators leverage this pedagogical model to offer students a new and radically needed approach to teaching and learning in Religious Studies. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What are some of the challenges when\nteaching African heritage religions to undergraduate students who have had\nlittle to no exposure to them? How can we\nteach students the cosmologies of these religions\nwhile minimizing a comparative approach (for example comparing the African orisha\nto Greek\/Roman gods or Hindu gods), which sometimes uses a reductive or essentialist\nperspective to compare seemingly related aspects of religious traditions? Place-based\neducation, traditionally defined as \u201can approach to curriculum development and\ninstruction that directs students\u2019 attention to local culture, phenomena, and\nissues as the basis for at least some of the learning they encounter in school,\u201d\nserves as a point of departure for a place-based approach to teaching Religious\nStudies.[1]<\/a> As such, this essay argues for the value of a\nplace-based associative pedagogy for traditions courses in Religious Studies\nprograms by using the Afro-Cuban religion, La Regla de Osha, popularly known as\nSanter\u00eda, as a case study. I focus\nspecifically on the orisha, the deities in the Santer\u00eda pantheon, to\ndemonstrate the use of this pedagogical model. I\ndefine place-based associative teaching and learning as a pedagogical approach that\nemphasizes place elements, like natural and built environments as well as physical\nlocality, in order to reinforce and\nenrich students\u2019 recall of information. In other words, utilizing place-based\npedagogies helps students form deeper connections with information and create affective links resulting in an overall\nstronger ability to recall that information. Building on associative learning\ntheories[2]<\/a>\nand methods of indigenous discourse, [3]<\/a>\nI propose a place-based associative\npedagogy as a pragmatic model for traditions courses within Religious Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embodiment, for example, and its\nconnection to place through material or consciousness of\/with placement enables associations that increase\nthe breadth of recollection of religious concepts across a broader range and\ngrasp of various phenomena. By paying close\nattention to bodies in places and as places, and the interactions of bodies within\nthe places and spaces they inhabit, we begin to widen pedagogical borders and perceptions.\nThe process of emphasizing place elements and associating them with other key\nconcepts in Religious Studies develops students\u2019 awareness to place in other\ndisciplines. As such, place-based associative pedagogy can strengthen\nconnections to other bodies of knowledge, as evident in much of the scholarship\non indigenous epistemologies.[4]<\/a>\nAdditionally, a materialist approach such as place-based associative teaching\nand learning encourages experiential pedagogical practices that leverage\nembodied experiences and arts-based methods\u2014visual arts, music, photography,\nnarrative arts, etc.\u2014to create and shape\nenduring understanding for students. In this case study, place-based\nassociative pedagogy focuses on concrete\nconceptions of place and utilizes arts-based research methods to engage with\nthe orisha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scope and Methodological and\nTheoretical Rationale<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I developed this pedagogical model for a course I designed as a part of a Place and Space graduate seminar during the spring of 2018. The goal of the assignment was to create an educational unit for undergraduate students that made use of some aspect of place and space. Focusing on Cuba, I designed a course to introduce undergraduates to Caribbean religions and divided it into four modules. The four modules move from a history of the Caribbean to an in-depth analysis of the most well-known orisha in Santer\u00eda. The course concludes by paying attention to how Afro-Cuban religiosity is articulated through various mediums in popular culture such as music, film, literature, and art. The flow of inquiry commences with a historical overview beginning with the European encounter with the Caribbean and the Americas and culminates with slavery in the Caribbean. The course then examines the development of culture on the island through important Cuban writers from the twentieth century like Fernando Ortiz, Nicol\u00e1s Guill\u00e9n, and Lydia Cabrera, as well as artists like Wifredo Lam working during the Vanguardia period of the 1920\u2019s through the 1950\u2019s. Following the section on culture, the course delves into Afro-Cuban religions, looking specifically at Regla de Ocha<\/em> (Santer\u00eda), Reglas de Palo<\/em>, Abaku\u00e1<\/em>, and Espiritismo<\/em>. Place-based associative pedagogy arises from the final section of the course that focuses on the orisha in Africa and Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A place-based associative approach is not only useful for teaching about traditions; it is also useful to teach theories of religions to students. I draw from Thomas Tweed\u2019s theory of religions in Crossing and Dwelling<\/em> to show how the patakis<\/em>, mythological stories of the orisha, elucidate a type of fluid place-based religious orthopraxy through their confluences and flows.[5]<\/a> Santer\u00eda, while not a land-based religion in the same way as Judaism, is however a religion where place matters; therefore, I suggest it is a place-based religion. Although the orisha are part of a place-based religious structure, they are not geographically confined and can (and do) move with their devotees. The orisha and their implements are portable, but they do not move arbitrarily. A significant part of the ritual knowledge that practitioners must learn deals with place\u2014the placement of the orisha inside their homes, the places in their bodies and in natural and built environments over which specific orisha have dominion, and the places where practitioners must conduct rituals and discard of ritual remains. Knowledge and awareness of place are fundamental to the religious formation that practitioners receive from their godparents, the ones who initiate them into the religion. Religious knowledge, including knowledge that underscores the importance of place, is transmitted by godparents and elders in the religion through the use of narrative and storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attesting to the power of narrative, Richard Zaner states, \u201cWe care for one another with the stories we place in each other\u2019s memory; they are our food for thought, and life.\u201d[6]<\/a> Correspondingly, Charles Taylor maintains that humans understand our lives \u201cin a narrative\u201d meaning that we are placed through our stories.[7]<\/a> Stories orient us, telling us not only where we came from but also showing us multiple possibilities of where we can go. This understanding of stories as maps that guide human movement through places is a fundamental aspect that I privilege when teaching Religious Studies classes. Accordingly, I utilize arts-based research methods, primarily narrative inquiry, to show how, through their stories, the orisha are place-based deities.[8]<\/a> For example, when I teach students about the orisha in the Santer\u00eda pantheon, I emphasize the natural and\/or built environments over which each orisha has dominion and stress that the orisha have dominion over a particular place and<\/em> are the particular place, as in the case of Osh\u00fan who is both the orisha with dominion over the river and the actual river itself. In return, the students often use the place elements related to an orisha to elucidate and elaborate points in arguments in their written assignments. Writing her term paper on Eshu\/Elegba and other associated deities like Papa Legba in Vodou, a student in an African Religious Cultures class that I lectured in during Fall 2018, used a place-base understanding of the trickster orisha as the basis for her analysis.[9]<\/a> She explained, \u201cEshu\/Elegba\u2019s and Papa Legba\u2019s identity as a trickster connects to his role both at and as the crossroads. His identity has been conflated with but is not that of the devil, and this distinction is important. Eshu\/Elegba and Papa Legba are tricksters because they are the crossroads.\u201d[10]<\/a> While I focus on narrative inquiry through the patakis<\/em>, this method can be exchanged with music, visual arts, or other arts-based methods and still achieve similar results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My pedagogical and research\nagendas ideally privilege indigenous epistemologies and methodologies\u2014ways of\nknowing that rely on and are inseparable from spatial orientation as well as\nnarratives revealing space and place. For African heritage and indigenous\nreligious traditions, place and space are\nboth spiritually and physically embodied ways of knowing. These ways of understanding and relating to the world can be seen in the\nrich oral histories of these communities. Coupling a placed-based\npedagogy with arts-based methods is fitting because artistic expressions\u2014song,\ndance, narratives, poetry, visual arts\u2014are central to the ways in which African heritage and indigenous traditions\ntransmit knowledge.[11]<\/a>\nThe importance of place cannot be understated. Place plays an intrinsic role in\nhow events unfold, and conditions the way in which knowledge is produced, organized,\nand disseminated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To create richer repositories of information for students, we must emphasize the importance of place in its rich and varied expressions and explicitly associate pertinent religious phenomena to place. The model I propose in this paper is specific to the orisha, but my overarching goal is that this pedagogical model offers a new and radically needed approach to teaching and learning in Religious Studies. It uniquely provides strategies inclusive of a wide range of traditions beyond those of traditional Western classrooms and provides a foundation for educators to build upon in ways that are practical for teaching traditions courses in Religious Studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Orisha in Place and Practice: A\nCase Study<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are multiple ways to present the orisha to students as place-based deities\u2014through their places in the natural world, their places in built environments, and their ritual placement. Focusing on the place elements present in the orisha\u2019s patakis<\/em> and on the various ways in which the orisha are ritually placed strengthens associative learning pathways for students, giving them rich references with which to recall information about the orisha as well as other relevant information relating to Santer\u00eda and the socio-historical environment in which it developed.[12]<\/a> By understanding the orisha as placed-based deities, students obtain a greater understanding of the catastrophic displacement caused by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, by immigration, and by exile. Moreover, the ways enslaved and displaced Africans were able to reinterpret the orisha in their new place(s) creatively speaks to the resilience and malleability of these traditions that allowed them to survive and flourish in the diaspora. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before exploring the place-based elements of this case study, it is important to understand the cast of characters involved. To employ place-based associative pedagogy, I divide the orisha into three broad and sometimes overlapping categories. The first group contains nature-oriented orisha. The orisha in this group are those who have a direct affiliation, dominion, or stewardship over a specific place or type of place in nature. Examples include Ol\u00f3kun, the depth of the ocean floor; Yemay\u00e1, the sea; Osh\u00fan, Ob\u00e1, and Oy\u00e1, rivers; and Agay\u00fa, volcanoes.[13]<\/a> To illustrate how these nature-oriented orisha are placed, I focus on a pataki<\/em> of Ol\u00f3kun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ol\u00f3kun is the bottom of the ocean, the unknown depth, and unknowable world beneath the salt waters of the known world. As a place-based deity, Ol\u00f3kun represents the place where all that is lost in oceanic voyages ends up, including lives lost at sea. The pataki<\/em> about Ol\u00f3kun states that Obatal\u00e1, the orisha of knowledge, peace, and the white cloth, keeps the androgynous orisha chained to the bottom of the ocean to contain his\/her incredible power from destroying the world. From an associative learning perspective, understanding Ol\u00f3kun as the orisha of the bottom of the ocean creates a connection to the horrors of the Middle Passage thereby affectively linking the movement of bodies from Africa into the Caribbean and the Americas with the slaving voyages. Speaking to the unknowability of Ol\u00f3kun mysteries, Lydia Cabrera states that Ol\u00f3kun never allows his\/her face to be seen, and practitioners who perform Ol\u00f3kun\u2019s dance must wear a mask that completely covers their face.[14]<\/a> Ol\u00f3kun\u2019s face, according to Cabrera\u2019s informants, is only visible in dreams.[15]<\/a> Understanding Ol\u00f3kun as the ocean floor invites students to envision the unknowable depths of the ocean, similar to viewing Jason deCaires Taylor\u2019s underwater sculpture, Vicissitudes<\/em>.[16]<\/a> Associating Ol\u00f3kun with the mysteries of the ocean\u2019s depth through an image like deCaires Taylor\u2019s Vicissitudes<\/em> creates affective ties to the catastrophe of slavery, the intercontinental flow of bodies, and the uncountable deaths known only to the orisha of the ocean floor.[17]<\/a> Comparing Ol\u00f3kun to Neptune or Poseidon fails to convey the level of information that relating Ol\u00f3kun to a place can do. These place-based associations provide a richer and much more nuanced understanding of both Ol\u00f3kun\u2019s place within the orisha pantheon and the conditions under which orisha traditions came to the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Osh\u00fan is an apt orisha with which to bridge nature-oriented orisha to orisha with connections to built environments. Within Santer\u00eda, practitioners often associate Osh\u00fan with the La Virgen de la Caridad Del Cobre<\/em>, Our Lady of Charity, a Marian figure who is the patron saint of Cuba. Partly due to her affiliation with brass in Africa, Osh\u00fan is related to La Caridad<\/em> whose effigy was discovered floating in the sea by enslaved workers of a copper mine located in a Cuban town known as El Cobre. The workers brought the effigy back to the mines where Spanish officials installed her in an altar. The faithful attributed miracles that occurred after the effigy\u2019s arrival to La Caridad<\/em> and stories claim that whenever clergy members relocated the statue out of her altar to more formal setting she would mysteriously disappear and return to the mines.[18]<\/a> A distinctly Cuban pataki<\/em> about Osh\u00fan tells of her arrival on the island and provides additional context to the affiliation between the orisha and the Catholic Saint. Osh\u00fan was watching as her devotees, her children, were taken away on slave ships and sought out her sister Yemay\u00e1 to inquire about what was going on. Yemay\u00e1 explained to Osh\u00fan that their children were being taken to a new place that was similar to Africa in many ways but different in that white people lived there too. Worried about her children, Osh\u00fan tells Yemay\u00e1 that she will accompany them on their voyage to this new place but first would like Yemay\u00e1 to lighten her skin and straighten her hair a bit so that all the inhabitants of this new place might better receive her.[19]<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contained within this pataki<\/em> and the story of La Caridad<\/em> are several place-based elements. First, the Marian effigy is found floating in the sea by enslaved workers from a copper mine, echoing the fluvial orisha who approaches the orisha of the sea for help traveling from Africa to Cuba. Second, Osh\u00fan\u2019s association with brass in Africa changes to copper in Cuba, and the statue of La Caridad<\/em> is installed in the copper mines in a town named El Cobre, literally copper.  Lastly, because Osh\u00fan crossed from the African continent into the Caribbean with the help of Yemay\u00e1, it reasons that she is the only fluvial orisha in Cuba. Embodying Tweed\u2019s definition of religions, Osh\u00fan converges into Yemay\u00e1 and flows through the Atlantic Ocean to accompany her devotees for whom she \u201cintensif[ies] joy\u201d and helps \u201cconfront suffering\u201d in order to \u201cmake [a] home\u201d in Cuba.[20]<\/a> The significance of place in the stories of Osh\u00fan and La Caridad<\/em> cannot be overemphasized and stressing the place elements in their stories is crucial for student learning. These stories show how a nature-oriented orisha changes from a single river in Africa to all rivers in Cuba, and how a nature-oriented orisha becomes associated with a human-constructed place like the copper mines in Cuba. As evidenced by the previous example from a student paper, for students, place in these stories has a meaning-making functionality. Place is not an arbitrary part of these stories but rather an integral element that helps students recall important parts of these religious narratives. Students\u2019 engagement with place as a concrete conception rather than an abstraction helps them analyze and even theorize the orisha and their respective attributes. The Cuban pataki<\/em> about Osh\u00fan and the myth about La Caridad<\/em> show how using a place-based associative pedagogy emphasizes connections and therefore associations between phenomena and the environment. This pedagogical approach strengthens learning by establishing connections to material place elements upon which students can draw from combining the power of narrative and storytelling with a sense of embodied placement to which they can relate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second group of place-based orisha are those connected to built environments. Orisha in this group relate to places imbued with function and meaning through human invention or intervention and include places like crossroads, cemeteries, and agricultural sites. The category of built environments also extends into places like railroad tracks, prisons, courthouses, and women\u2019s shelters. Included in this group of orisha are Elegu\u00e1, Oy\u00e1, Yew\u00e1, Ob\u00e1, Orisha Oko, Ochos\u00ed, and Og\u00fan. To explore an example of built environment associations with the orisha, I examine the pataki<\/em> of Yew\u00e1, the orisha that presides over human cadavers and their decomposition.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the orisha, Yew\u00e1 was the last remaining virgin and thus the favored child of Olofi. She lived inside Olofi\u2019s palace and tended his flower gardens. One day while fraternizing with Elegu\u00e1, the trickster orisha of the crossroads, Chang\u00f3, the orisha of thunder equated with male virility, was bragging about all of his female conquests, bolstering that he had seduced every woman in the land. Laughing at Chang\u00f3\u2019s lack of awareness, Elegu\u00e1 told him that one virgin remained who lived in Olofi\u2019s palace. Determined to win over the last virgin, Chang\u00f3 went to the palace and made himself known to Yew\u00e1. Falling prey to Chang\u00f3\u2019s temptation, Yew\u00e1 looked at the orisha of thunder and instantly became smitten. Chang\u00f3 and Yew\u00e1 ran off together and consummated their passion for one another. Months later, Yew\u00e1 felt a growth inside her womb and knew that she was pregnant. Ashamed of her indiscretion with Chang\u00f3 and afraid that Olofi would find out, she reached into her womb, removed her unborn child, and buried it amongst the flowers in the garden. After some time had passed, Olofi called Yew\u00e1 to the garden to inquire about some of the flowers. Yew\u00e1 told Olofi about the new flowers in the garden and recounted how she had removed the ones that had died to give way for fresh blossoms. Catching Yew\u00e1 by surprise Olofi then asked her what she did with the flower that was growing inside her womb. Grief-stricken and mortified by her actions, Yew\u00e1 confessed, asking Olofi to send her away to a place where she would never see another man again. Olofi obliged and sent Yew\u00e1 to the cemetery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the cemetery, Yew\u00e1 became responsible for overseeing the\ndecomposition of human bodies. She dwells within coffins and watches over corpses while maggots consume them and return them to\nthe earth. Placing Yew\u00e1 in the cemetery, and specifically inside buried\ncoffins, recalls her role as caretaker of Olofi\u2019s garden and her burial of her\nunborn child in the garden creating multiple place associations for this\norisha. First, her transformation from her status as a virgin gardener is an\nemotional story that locates Yew\u00e1\u2019s dominion inside cemeteries, and within the\ncemetery, inside coffins and caskets. Second, it accounts for Yew\u00e1\u2019s placement\ninside the graveyard along with Ob\u00e1 and Oy\u00e1.[21]<\/a>\nAs an aside, it should be noted that Chang\u00f3 is very afraid of death (Iku) and\nghosts and therefore Yew\u00e1\u2019s placement within cemeteries assures her that she\nwill never have to look upon Chang\u00f3 again. Finally, this story rationalizes the\nritual praxis of Yew\u00e1\u2019s cult, namely the observation that all her devotees must\nadhere to in placing the basket holding her tureen (containing her stones\nimplements) far away from Chang\u00f3\u2019s batea<\/em>,\na covered bowl made of wood used to store his sacred stones and tools. The\nplace-based associations in Yew\u00e1\u2019s patakis<\/em>\ncontain significant data about Yew\u00e1 and Santer\u00eda such as information about her\norigins and instructions for ritual praxis in the orisha\u2019s cult. The\naccessibility of this information for students is facilitated and enhanced by\nthe emphasis put on the place elements of the story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yew\u00e1\u2019s pataki<\/em> leads us into the third group of place-based orisha, the ways the orisha are ritually placed. Because the orisha are dynamic entities, many of them can be categorized in more than one place group, but all of them have their own distinct rules for ritual placement. Therefore, all of the orisha fall into the third group as place-based through ritual placement. Ritual placement includes the placement of the orisha within their soperas<\/em>, soup tureens in which practitioners house their sacred stones and implements, as well as how practitioners situate those vessels within their homes, and how the orisha are placed on and in the bodies of practitioners. As with the stories of Yew\u00e1 and Chang\u00f3, the orisha pantheon and Santer\u00eda\u2019s overall cosmology is revealed through the patakis<\/em> and is reenacted through the placement of the orisha vessels inside practitioners\u2019 home altars. For example, due to Yew\u00e1\u2019s interactions Chang\u00f3, practitioners cannot keep her sopera<\/em> and his batea<\/em> inside the same room. In fact, a ritual convention for Yew\u00e1 maintains that when consecrating Yew\u00e1 as a part of an initiation, practitioners must prepare two separate rooms, one for Yew\u00e1 alone and the other for all the other orisha since it is said that Yew\u00e1 cannot stand the smell of men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describing orisha altars, David Brown\nstates, \u201cThrones of the orishas\u2014special altars . . . are often huge, stunning\ninstallations. Composed of colorful cloth, porcelain vessels, and beadwork\nobjects, they rise above bountiful spreads of fresh fruit, flowers, and plates\nof prepared foods. Wherever important ritual events take place . . . thrones\npreside as commanding presences in practitioners’ homes.\u201d[22]<\/a>  The use of the word \u2018thrones\u2019 by Brown and\nothers (including practitioners) is fitting for many reasons dealing with\nsocio-political intricacies represented by orisha altars that fall outside the\nimmediate scope of this project. However, amongst those reasons, and relevant\nto this study, is the notion that orisha altars present the orisha \u201cin state,\u201d\nalluding to their kingly or queenly statuses.[23]<\/a>\nAccording to Yoruba myth, Chang\u00f3, the orisha of thunder, was a king of Oyo who was\ndeified after his death. Although Chang\u00f3 is not place-based in the same way\nthat Ol\u00f3kun and the other orisha we have analyzed thus far are, his ritual\nplacement is particular to his kingly status and the details from his patakis<\/em>. Due to his constant warring\nwith Og\u00fan, the orisha of iron, Chang\u00f3\u2019s tools, and his batea<\/em> must be made of wood. As a reminder of his kingly status,\nChang\u00f3\u2019s batea<\/em> sits on top of a pilon<\/em>, a wooden mortar associated with\nYoruba royalty. [24]<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The orisha of thunder is among the five orisha\nthat most practitioners of Santer\u00eda receive upon initiation.[25]<\/a>\nHowever, his placement in a practitioner\u2019s home altar is distinct in that he is\ntypically not placed within the same hierarchical arrangement as the other\nfour. Instead, practitioners usually place Chang\u00f3\u2019s batea<\/em> to the side, on top of his pilon<\/em> placing him perpetually in state. As we have seen, the patakis<\/em> in which Chang\u00f3 is featured\ncontain many important details that dictate how this seemingly placeless orisha\nis placed. While thunder is not geographically fixed to any particular natural\nor built environment, Chang\u00f3\u2019s status as king of Oyo, his rivalry with Og\u00fan,\nand his seduction of Yew\u00e1 all form part of this orisha\u2019s placement. Chango\u2019s\nstories, like all of the other orisha, include place-based particulars which\ndictate ritual practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Although the focus of this case study is\nto advocate for the use of associative place-based pedagogy in the Religious\nStudies classroom, it is important to\nacknowledge, however briefly, how educators can assess the efficacy of this\napproach in the classroom. Ideal assessment types are grounded in an arts-based\npractice and should be congruent with indigenous epistemologies. Building on\nrecent uses of virtual reality environments in the classroom, example\nassessments can include having students can create 360-degree videos that\nvirtually recreate their understanding of place-based orisha. Alternatively,\nstudents can utilize digital story as\nwell. Other visual arts mediums such as photography, drawing, painting, and\ncollage in addition to poetry and story writing can also be utilized to assess if\nstudents have adequately understood the centrality of place in the tradition they are learning. As illustrated by the\naforementioned student example, educators can also use more traditional\nassessments like term papers to effectively assess student learning.\nUltimately, the goal is not to assess a student\u2019s artistic capabilities but\nrather their efficacy and ability to retell orisha myths and Religious Studies\nconcepts through a creative use of place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I introduce the orisha to students through place-based associative pedagogy, I am also introducing them to the orisha\u2019s relationships with the people and places from which they emerged. Through this indigenous epistemological approach, students become acquainted with ways of knowing that highlight the complexities of reciprocity that are intrinsic to this religious tradition. This case study for place-based associative pedagogy aimed to show how religious traditions, in this case, Santer\u00eda, can be used to teach students without deferring to a comparative approach, especially with Western traditions. By emphasizing the place elements in the orisha\u2019s patakis,<\/em> place becomes the stimuli, the association, which triggers responsive learning in students. Calling attention to place elements increases students sensitivity to place and encourages them to focus on the ways place plays a significant role in religious practices. Using narrative inquiry as part of the arts-based methods paradigm shows that stories contain information about the environment that relate to religious meanings. Stories demonstrate that \u201cwisdom sits in places.\u201d[26]<\/a> Encouraging students to be attentive listeners to indigenous discourses emboldens them to make associations by creating their individual pathways to knowledge.[27]<\/a> Indigenous discourse also shows students ways of successfully organizing their ideas in a non-linear fashion, privileging indigenous methodologies and epistemologies. In the case of Santer\u00eda, place-based associative pedagogy highlights the relationships between the orisha and places and creates a language that enables students to understand the relationships between the orisha, practitioners, and rituals. Without using a comparative approach, teaching and learning religious traditions is like teaching and learning another language. Place acts as a widely understood vocabulary through which the words in a story are given functional, instructive, and multidimensional meanings.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feature image by <\/em>Caleb George<\/em><\/a> on <\/em>Unsplash<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Notes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Gregory A. Smith, “Place-Based Education.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, <\/em>2017,  http:\/\/oxfordre.com\/education\/view\/10.1093\/acrefore\/9780190264093.001.0001\/acrefore-9780190264093-e-95<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Gabrielle Weidemann and Gavan McNally, Neuroscience of Associative Learning,<\/em> November 29, 2011, accessed May 5, 2018,  http:\/\/www.oxfordbibliographies.com\/view\/document\/obo-9780199828340\/obo-9780199828340-0080.xml<\/a>. According to the authors, \u201cIn the narrowest definition of associative learning, it is restricted to the learning that occurs during classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning. However, associative learning can also be used more broadly to encompass all memory for the relationship between events and as such includes other forms of short-term and long-term memory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> <\/sup>Barbara Alice Mann, Spirits of Blood, Spirits of\nBreath: The Twinned Cosmos of Indigenous America<\/em> (New York: Oxford\nUniversity Press, 2016), 1\u00ad\u20132. Mann describes indigenous discourse as a style\nthat challenges “the Western demand for Categorically Demarcated Linearity\nwith Conclusions” and argues that Indians do not “feel the necessity\nto provide elaborate apparatuses shepherding the reader to a conclusion.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> See\nKeith H. Basso, Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the\nWestern Apache<\/em> (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996); Linda\nTuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples<\/em>\n(Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 1999); and Shawn Wilson, Research is\nCeremony: Indigenous Research Methods.<\/em> (Black Point: Fernwood Publishing,\n2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> Thomas\nA. Tweed, Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion <\/em>(Cambridge:\nHarvard University Press, 2006), 54.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> Arthur\nP. Bochner and Nicholas A. Riggs, “Practicing\nNarrative Inquiry” in The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research<\/em>,\nedited by Patricia Leavy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 195.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid.\nI use narrative inquiry as my method of analysis for the patakis<\/em> according to the principles put forward by Bochner and\nRiggs, which state, \u201cNarrative inquiry seeks to\nhumanize the human sciences, placing people, meaning and personal identity at\nthe center, inviting the development of reflexive, relational, and interpretive\nmethodologies and drawing attention not only on the actual but also to the\npossible and the good.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]<\/a> Eshu\/Elegba\nis a name variant for the Santer\u00eda orisha known as Eshu or Elegu\u00e1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10]<\/a> Arianna\nMurray, \u201cThe Limping Trickster: Analyzing Eshu\/Elegba,\u201d (essay, Emory\nUniversity, 2018), 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11]<\/a> John Mason, Orin Orisa: Songs for Selected Heads<\/em>\n(Brooklyn: Yoruba Theological Archministry, 1992) 4. According to Mason, the\nYoruba conceive of art as “the propagation and investigation of\nwisdom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12]<\/a> <\/sup>Unless\notherwise cited, the patakis<\/em> in this\npaper come from memory as multiple practitioners throughout my years of\nresearch in Santer\u00eda communities have taught them to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13]<\/sup><\/a>\nThe place-based associations for these orisha are broadly based on their Cuban\nand Nigerian understandings. In Cuba, Ob\u00e1 and Oy\u00e1 lose their affiliations as\nfluvial deities with Ob\u00e1 becoming the orisha of marriage and domesticity while\nOy\u00e1 becomes the wind. In Nigeria, Yemay\u00e1 is a fluvial orisha that resides in\nthe Og\u00fan river while Agay\u00fa is associated with the desert and wilderness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14]<\/a> Lydia Cabrera, El Monte<\/em> (Habana: Editorial\nLetras Cubanas, 1986), 37.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[15]<\/a> Ibid.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[16]<\/a> Jason deCaires Taylor, Jason deCaires Taylor,<\/em> n.d., accessed May 5, 2018, https:\/\/www.underwatersculpture.com\/works\/colonised\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[17]<\/sup><\/a> Davide Carozza, “Jason de Caires Taylor, Vicissitudes,”<\/em> Deeps<\/em>, The Black Atlantic, Duke University, April 19, 2014, http:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/blackatlantic<\/a>. Photographs depicting deCaires Taylors’s Vicissitudes<\/em> gained viral attention across the internet when the images were interpreted as a memorial of the Middle Passage. However, according to Carozza, the artist did not create the underwater statue with those specific intentions but rather that the image became representative of the ways that viewers interpreted the piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[18]<\/a> <\/sup>Michelle\nA. Gonzalez, Afro-Cuban Theology: Religion, Race, Culture, and Identity.<\/em>\n(Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2006), 80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[19]<\/a> <\/sup>Raul Canizares, Oshun: Santer\u00eda and the Orisha of Love, Rivers, and\nSensuality<\/em> (Old Bethpage: Original\nPublications, 2001), 8\u20139. This Cuban pataki<\/em> also appears in the work of\nCuban-American scholars Mercedes Cros Sandoval’s Worldview, the Orichas, and Santer\u00eda<\/em> and in Michelle A. Gonzalez’s Afro-Cuban Theology<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[20]<\/a> <\/sup>Tweed, 54.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[21]<\/a> <\/sup>These\nthree orisha are all associated with some aspect of cemeteries and burial\ngrounds. Among practitioners of Santer\u00eda, Yew\u00e1, Ob\u00e1, and Oy\u00e1 are known\ncollectively as las muerteras<\/em>, which\nroughly translates to the death women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[22]<\/a> <\/sup>David H. Brown, “Thrones of the Orichas:\nAfro-Cuban Altars in New Jersey, New York, and Havana.” African Arts<\/em>\n26, no. 4 (October 1993): 44\u201359 85\u201387.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[23]<\/a> Joseph M. Murphy, Santer\u00eda: African Spirits in\nAmerica.<\/em> (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993), 59. David H. Brown also refers to\nthe orisha as being “in state” in his work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[24]<\/a> <\/sup>David\nH. Brown, Santer\u00eda Enthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban\nReligion.<\/em> Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003, 270.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[25]<\/a>\nUpon initiation, most practitioners of Santer\u00eda receive Obatal\u00e1, Yemay\u00e1, Och\u00fan, Oy\u00e1, and Chang\u00f3. These five orisha are considered\nfundamental for any initiate in Cuban Santer\u00eda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[26]<\/a> <\/sup>Basso, 121.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[27]<\/a> <\/sup>Mann, 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Additional\nSources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Basso, K. H. Wisdom\nSits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache.<\/em>\nAlbuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bochner, A. P. Practicing\nNarrative Inquiry. In P. Leavy (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative\nResearch<\/em> (pp. 195-222). New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooke, R. E. Rural\nVoices : Place-Conscious Education and the Teaching of Writing.<\/em> New York:\nTeachers College Press, 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown, D. H.\nThrones of the Orichas: Afro-Cuban Altars in New Jersey, New York, and Havana. African\nArts <\/em>26, no. 4(October\n1993), 44-59 85-87. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown, D. H. Santer\u00eda\nEnthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion.<\/em> Chicago:\nUniversity of Chicago Press, 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cabrera, L. El\nMonte.<\/em> Habana, Cuba: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canizares, R. Oshun:\nSanter\u00eda and the Orisha of Love, Rivers, and Sensuality.<\/em> Old Bethpage:\nOriginal Publications, 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carozza, D. “Jason de Caires Taylor, Vicissitudes<\/em>.”Deeps, The Black Atlantic<\/em>, Duke University, April 19, 2014. http:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/blackatlantic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chilton, G. A. “Arts-Based\nResearch Practice: Merging Social Research and the Creative Arts.” Pages\n403\u2013422 in The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research<\/em>. Edited by P.\nLeavy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

deCaires Taylor, J. Jason deCaires Taylor<\/em>. Accessed May 5 2018. https:\/\/www.underwatersculpture.com\/works\/colonised\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonzalez, M. A. Afro-Cuban\nTheology: Religion, Race, Culture, and Identity.<\/em> Gainesville: University of\nFlorida Press, 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mann, B. A. Spirits\nof Blood, Spirits of Breath: The Twinned Cosmos of Indigenous America.<\/em> New\nYork: Oxford University Press, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mason, J. Orin\nOrisa: Songs for Selected Heads.<\/em> Brooklyn: Yoruba Theological Archministry,\n1992. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murphy, J. M. Santer\u00eda:\nAfrican Spirits in America.<\/em> Boston: Beacon Press, 1993.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuhiwai Smith, L. Decolonizing\nMethodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples.<\/em> Dunedin: University of\nOtago Press, 1999. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tweed, T. A. Crossing\nand Dwelling: A Theory of Religion.<\/em> Cambridge: Harvard University Press,\n2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weidemann, G. A. and Gavan McNally. “Neuroscience of Associative Learning.” Oxford Bibliographies. Last Modified November 29, 2011. https:\/\/www.oxfordbibliographies.com\/view\/document\/obo-9780199828340\/obo-9780199828340-0080.xml;jsessionid=4442D040DC093572A7ED9279AA28D1F5<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson, S. Research\nis Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods.<\/em> Black Point: Fernwood Publishing,\n2008. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Download PDF: Penagos, Teaching Religious Traditions Abstract Associative place-based pedagogy uniquely provides strategies inclusive of a wide range of traditions beyond those of traditional Western classrooms and provides a foundation for educators to build upon in ways that are practical<\/p>\n

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