| This dissertation explores the relationships between Ewe Gorovodu religion, law, and subsistence in the modern global economy. This paper discusses the many ways that Gorovodu religious life is not congruent with the modern capitalist ethic. The paper begins with a history of the Ewe ethnic group and moves into ritual and ceremony, from there it delves into political-economy, life-history and the various purposes Gorovodu religion serves in Ewe life. This research focuses on the place of ritual and ceremonial changes on the local level and their relationship and connections to changes on the global level. The changing morphology of Gorovodu is crucial to understanding how local communities cope with sweeping global change.; The crux of this research came from four study trips to Ghana, Togo, and Benin in West Africa between 1996 and 2004. The sites were selected because of their proximity and my previous ties to people in these communities. Although the vast majority of my conclusions come from one village called Dogbeda, visits outside of this village were common place and crucial to my research. Data was gathered through extensive participation, observation and interpersonal interviews. In all I spent just under two years along the Bight of Benin studying Ewe Gorovodu and not until recently did I decide to link my research to the modern political economy. The bulk of this research is related to religious ceremony, divination, spirit possession, ritual, myth and other pieces of the sacred realm. At a time when outsiders and public policy makers alike are urging the death of tradition Africans continue to turn inwards toward their past. Gorovodu is a great example of this and hopefully this research which analyzes religion, economy, and history can add to the growing literature on religious movements like Gorovodu. |
