Ranks and robes: art symbolism and identity in the Celestial Church of Christ in the European diaspora
The Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) represents one of the most popular African-instituted churches with a geo-ethnic, demographic spread in Africa and the African diaspora. Since its debut in Europe in the late 1960s, the new cultural context has posed significant challenges of expansion, mobility,...
| Published in: | Material religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2009]
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| In: |
Material religion
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| Further subjects: | B
Dress
B Europe B Religious Symbols B African Diaspora B African Independent Church |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | The Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) represents one of the most popular African-instituted churches with a geo-ethnic, demographic spread in Africa and the African diaspora. Since its debut in Europe in the late 1960s, the new cultural context has posed significant challenges of expansion, mobility, and social relevance to the Church and its members. The CCC is often negotiating between resilience, change, and transformation of its ethos, worldview, and ritual praxis. This article explores continuing and changing aspects of CCC aesthetics and art symbology in the context of a new geocultural environment. The Sutana, their sacred white dress and insignia, portrays a certain ambivalence in the ways that the Sutana mutes social-class distinctions while accentuating hierarchy within the CCC. Ranks within the hierarchy are clearly differentiated by their spiritual regalia against the backdrop of strict adherence to official provisions relating to seniority, robes, and ranks, thus portraying how identity is partly constructed and shaped. In addition, object symbols are prominently employed as means to an end and not ends in themselves; that is, ritual objects and symbolism can best be understood in relation to particular belief systems. The appropriation of concrete ritual objects within CCC art symbology demonstrates how the significance of symbols in ritual lies in the organizing potential. The import of ritual sequence shows how what is symbolized by ritual is also created through its material performance. |
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| ISSN: | 1751-8342 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Material religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2752/175183409X418720 |