Pentecostal exorcism and Afro-Cuban endorcism: ‘Radical participation’ and the proliferation of symmetries

• Published in: Social compass Vol. 68; no. 4; pp. 582 - 599
• Main Authors: Cantón-Delgado, Manuela, Panagiotopoulos, Anastasios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-12-2021; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Black people; Ethnographic research; Ethnography; Exorcism; Faith healing; Participation; Pentecostalism; Religiosity; exorcisme; religion afro-cubaine; Guatemalan Pentecostalism; Afro-Cuban religion; exorcism; ethnographie symétrique; symmetrical ethnography; pentecôtisme guatémaltèque; conversion
• ISSN: 0037-7686; 1461-7404
• DOI: 10.1177/00377686211043715

In this article, we discuss personal moments of our respective ethnographic research on Guatemalan Pentecostalism and Afro-Cuban religiosity. Through our own involvement, we expose the approaches of the two religious forms, the former working by way of exorcism and the latter by way of endorcism. Guatemalan Pentecostal exorcism works by a radical expulsion of the previous non-Pentecostal past to strictly convert the person. Afro-Cuban endorcism, on the other hand, endorses the past, present, and future, as it accepts a simultaneity and multiplicity of ‘influences’. No ‘demon’ is perceived, as in the case of Pentecostalism, no ‘idolatry’ is detected and, instead of conversion, what occurs is a cumulative incorporation of multiple initiations. Our approach, we argue, as also inspired by theories of ‘radical participation’ and ‘symmetrisation’, affords a useful vantage point to engage with fine ethnographic nuances of a proliferation of comparative symmetries in the study of religiosity.