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THE STORY OF A MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN WEST AFRICA

demonstrate how, through Sàngó, political and religious realms were inextricably linked to kingship in pre-colonial Ò ̇ yó ̇ and how, today, they remain entwined in Brazil, where Xangô’s power, rather than being an integral part of the state, is a central element in binding together a ritually based communal hierarchy. The volume is additionally valuable in that the contributors show that Sàngó is an active element in present-day life by concentrating on the ways in which his image is widely disseminated among the general public. Dúrótoyè Adélékè’s study of Sàngó in contemporary video is outstanding in this respect. The filmic enactment of Sàngó (and formerly in traveling theatrical performances) accounts for his recognition as a significant figure primarily because visual media have the capacity to capture more fully than other forms of representation the nuanced aspects of a supernatural figure’s unique characteristics and historical meanings. Videographers more than other producers of popular culture are able to touch on the multiple aspects of the deity’s existence that, as Adélékè puts it, keep Sàngó’s spirit visible in the minds of the public. Contemporary depictions of S ̇ àngó mark his transformation, for some people, from sacred to mythological figure in much the same way that classical Mediterranean deities have become embedded in the secular cultural fabric of the Western world. Yet devotee Ernesto Pichardo informs us, in a conversation with Michael Atwood Mason in the last section of the book, that for many other people Sàngó continues to play a spiritually significant role – and does so on both sides of the Atlantic. Pichardo is the ritual leader whose suit against the City of Hialeah, Florida, was successfully argued before the US Supreme Court in 1993 and led to constitutional protections for òrı̀s ̇ à worshippers. His success in winning the case no doubt rested on his ability, as shown in this essay, to translate the existential preoccupations of the Sàngó community into the universal language of human experience.