Question.1284 - Reading Response 12: ANTHROPOLOGY in the Caribbean 11 unread reply.11 reply. Chose one of the following two readings: Jamaica: Barry Chevannes, Betwixt and Between: Explorations in African Caribbean Mindscape, (2018). Trinidad: Stephen D. Glazier, Marchin the Pilgrims Home: A Study of the Spiritual Baptists of Trinidad. (1941). Post a response to Week 8 from your reading choice of one of the above options. Write between 500 and 600 words (80% credit): Give a summary of the book: who? what? when? where? What are the basic ideas? (20%) Give your critical (and personal) reaction to the readings. Which things do you agree with? Which do you disagree with? What did you learn that was new? How did text impact you emotionally, if at all? (20%). What are the strengths and weaknesses of this work? Will it be useful in your research interests? Do not forget to proofread your post for grammar, punctuation and verb agreement. Use the spell checker!
Answer Below:
Trinidad: Stephen D. Glazier,?Marchin the Pilgrims Home: A Study of the Spiritual Baptists of Trinidad. (1941). Who: Stephen D. Glazier What: Marching the Pilgrims Home: A Study of the Spiritual Baptists of Trinidad (1941) When: 1941 (Published) Where: Trinidad, the author tends to explore the Spiritual Baptists from a Christian denomination that had its cultural influence from African religious traditions through various historical references in relation to rituals and beliefs within constrained and yet developing social organization within the context of Trinidadian society in the mid-20th century. As far as I read, the author has had a biased portrayal of the centrality of possession by the Holy Spirit, instances of faith acting as social healer depicting a distinct amalgamation of Christianity and African elements through their practices; these practices are assessed by the author from anthropogenic lens to understand how it influenced lives and identities of Spiritual Baptists by offering a window into their cultural mixed world. This was achieved by participating in the process of gathering firsthand data with participants over 200, involving six churches for a period of 6 years - wherein the Spiritual Baptist Faith that stands as a symbol of blends culture was established by Africans who were enslaved in St. Vincent around the region Tobago, Grenada and The Virgin Islands. The religion provided comfort and hope during oppression by the government, unlike previous researchers who saw it as a syncretistic religion, Glazier argues that the Spiritual Baptists created a unique and cohesive belief system by reinterpreting Christian and other religious elements; they sustained the control by determining the leadership roles within the religion through dream interpretation rituals of native Africans, which had shifted its focus due to dynamics of social changes within their social organization. In terms of critical reaction, some of the strengths would be that there is a lot of emphasis given to the historical and social context that aids in comprehending the blend of religious practices, which also challenges the idea of syncretism by proposing a nuanced view of how native religion was infused into Christianity. This itself serves as a weakness since viewing it from the current societal structure seems to draw in several ethical concerns, also somewhat ethnocentric; although history is not to be viewed from present understanding and societal values, I feel the sense of potential biases since a Christian researcher studying a different religious group could see the things from a different light. However, the concept of emulsification to convey how the Spiritual Baptists incorporated varying religious elements was new, as also the changing role of dream interpretation rituals within the Spiritual Baptist community - yet it was not easy for them to climb against the oppression with their unique way of creating meaning through their religion, it depicts the resilience of the community. I would like to add another observation that is - I feel Glazier's research approach seems to be somewhat ethnocentric since the whole book tends to present Spiritual Baptists through the lens of an outsider with restricted perspectives of the practitioners themselves, more like an emic perspective and also, it neglects the roles and experiences of women within the faith. Nonetheless, the insights from the book tend to provide an extended understanding of Afro-Caribbean religion in terms of historical and cultural context through varying religious practices and how it influenced the development of the society and understanding the concept of syncretism.More Articles From History
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