Other examples of dreaming Flashcards
Nancy J. Fairley - ancestors veneration
Dreaming was one dimension of ancestor venerations
Fairley - importance of dreams
Many descendants of enslaved Africans residing in the USA consider oneiric information a legitimate source of knowledge about the world they inhabit, especially the ancestral dream
Ancestors who appear in dreams are believed to communicate requests and advice to their kin
Fairley - fieldwork scope
Collected in 1994, 1995 and 1997 in two eastern North Carolina towns
Fairley - initial religious direction of enslaved AAs
Intensive missionary efforts among enslaved Africans began in the late 18th century, but large numbers did not convert to Christianity until the 19th century
Thus during the first 200 years of their history in the USA, the majority of the enslaved population practiced some variation of the religions they had known in Africa
Fairley - traditional religions and Christianity
Pagan customs like ritual dances were initially incorporated into their Christianity
Came under attack by educated members of the clergy in the early 20th century
Fairley - change in expression of veneration
Clear that veneration of the ancestors remained important, but had to be expressed in other ways (through dreaming)
Basil Sansom - nature of Aboriginal religion and epistemology
They are both gnostic
Differentiate between dreaming, reality and people
Sansom - fishing
The fishing practices of white men (gutting them before removal, leaving detritus on the bank) clashed with Aboriginal beliefs and customs, as well as encouraging crocodiles
Dreams of fish began to occur in response to this
Sansom - buffalos
Myths of buffalos and gunships began after the 1970s government decided buffalo should be exterminated to stop disease spreading, and used helicopters as gun platforms
Some buffalos survived by becoming nocturnal - dream culture arose around this too
Sansom - significance of dreaming
‘Dreamings irrupt into contemporary histories and act in ways that have political significance, contesting whitefella paradigms and re-asserting the world-view of the original Australians.’
Patricia Manning - significance of dreams in earlier eras
For dreamers of earlier eras, a dream was a prophecy
Manning - recording dreams
18th and 17th century dreamers frequently kept dream journals or dictated the content of their dreams to others if they could not write
Manning - dreams in Spanish religion
Spanish popular religious movement of Illuminism stressed the individual’s direct interaction with the divine through visions, valuing them over formal religious rituals
Mystic elements to Catholicism seen from John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila
Manning - increasing frequency of dreams in Spain
They became more prolific and were subjected to increased scrutiny due to economic pressures (such as increasing raids from British privateers) and deaths in the royal family which challenged the stability of Spain
Manning - dreams and the Inquisition
The question of potential sources of dreams intrigued the Inquisition so much that it was prepared to assist judges in determining whether or not a dream was divinely inspired
Spanish Indices of Prohibited Books attempted to solidify the Church’s control of oneiromancy in 1583 by prohibiting a variety of texts, however dream narratives circulated anyway
