Caciques and Cemí idols the web spun by Taíno rulers between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico /

• Main Author: Oliver, José R.
• Format: Electronic
• Language: English
• Published: Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, c2009.
• Series: Caribbean archaeology and ethnohistory.
• Subjects: Taino Indians > Religion.; Taino Indians > Implements.; Taino Indians > Colonization.; Indians of the West Indies > First contact with Europeans > Hispaniola.; Stone implements > History. > Hispaniola; Icons > History. > Hispaniola; Christianity and culture > Hispaniola.; Christianity and other religions > Hispaniola.; Syncretism (Religion) > Hispaniola.; Taino Indians.; HISTORY > General.; Spain > Colonies > America.; Hispaniola > Colonization.; Hispaniola > Antiquities.; Electronic books.
• Online Access: View fulltext via EzAccess
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xviii, 306 p.) : ill., maps.
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. [257]-279) and index.
• ISBN: 9780817381172 (electronic); 0817381171 (electronic)

Cemís are both portable artifacts and embodiments of persons or spirit, which the Taínos and other natives of the Greater Antilles (ca. AD 1000-1550) regarded as numinous beings with supernatural or magic powers. This volume takes a close look at the relationship between humans and other (non-human) beings that are imbued with cemí power, specifically within the Taíno inter-island cultural sphere encompassing Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. The relationships address the important questions of identity and personhood of the cemí icons and their human ?owners? and the implications of cemí gift-givin.