Bantu Religious Traditions in Africa and the Americas: a course

Many do not have a clear idea of the roots and character of Bantu spirituality nor the extent of its influence in the Americas. Indeed, many view the terms Bantu and Congo (or Kongo) as synonymous. While they are related, synonymous they are not.

There are many Bantu ethnicities each with their own languages and religions across most of subsaharan Africa. The BaKongo with an important historical kingdom was one of these, and happens to be the one that left a significant mark on African derived religious traditions in the Americas.

While Bantu religions in Africa shared many similarities, they also had significant differences, and thus should not be considered interchangable. Few actually had any significant impact on New World practices.

There are also many speculative attempts to classify their practices. For better or worse, modern attempts claim a scientific character to them, or to Khemeticize them.

After having received requests to do so, I am planning a course to explore many of these themes.

"The King of Congo and the Bantu Roots of Afro-diasporic traditions" will look broadly at the diverse Bantu practices in Africa, from initiations to divination. It will also explore the Congo influences in the Americas from carnivals to spiritual practices. Along the way we will touch on the reasons for C or K in Congo/Kongo, and what that difference is not.

Cost for the course is $250. Email  to register. As with all my classes all lectures and written/graphic materials are delivered asynchronously so that you can participate on your schedule and can review materials often.

A New Raprochement: The Church and Masonry

Cardinal Calls for Permanent Dialogue with Freemasons

Following a closed-door meeting in Milan, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmiero reportedly said he believed ‘an evolution in mutual understanding’ had taken place between masonry and the Church over the past 50 years.

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/pentin-cardinal-calls-for-permanent-dialogue-with-freemasons?amp

 

Gender and Transgender in Masonry: Evolution in Advanced Societies

Género y Transgénero en la Masonería: Evolución en sociadades avanzadas.

Gender and transgender in Freemasonry seem to be unrelatable concepts. However, Freemasonry as a social movement that has crossed the barrier of centuries of existence, is not impermeable to changes in society.

It has been able to adapt very well to them, although for archaic mentalities such ideas represent a taboo or red line that should not be crossed much less talked about. LGTBIQ+ groups and feminism have been interrelated with each other, and they have also done so within Freemasonry.

That is what this work is concerned with, demystifying, making visible and self-criticizing the institution from within from a microsociological, constructivist and, why not, deconstructivist perspective of sex and gender relations. It makes visible, through a mixed methodology (quantitative and qualitative that includes statistical analysis and four case studies: France, Spain, Portugal and Ecuador as advanced societies understood as democratic) the formation of behaviors, prejudices, stigmas by which masculinity prevent the humanization and total incorporation of everything feminine, even in the case of trans women.

Género y transgénero en la Masonería parecen conceptos que no se pueden relacionar. Sin embargo, la Masonería como movimiento social que ha traspasado la barrera de los siglos de existencia, no es impermeable a los cambios de la sociedad.

Ha sabido adaptarse muy bien a ellos, aunque para las mentalidades arcaicas sea una especie de tabú o de línea roja de la que no hay que hablar. Los colectivos LGTBIQ+ y el feminismo se han interrelacionado entre sí, y también lo han hecho dentro de la Masonería.

Es de eso que se encarga esta obra, de desmitificar, visibilizar y autocriticar la institución desde adentro bajo una perspectiva microsociológica, constructivista y por qué no, deconstructivista de las relaciones sexo y género. Visibiliza, a través de una metodología mixta (cuantitativa y cualitativa que incluye la estadística prospectiva y cuatro casos de estudio: Francia, España, Portugal y Ecuador como sociedades avanzadas entendidas como delocraticas) la formación de los comportamientos, los prejuicios, los estigmas que desde la masculinidad impiden la humanización y total incorporación de todo lo femenino, inclusive en el caso de las mujeres trans.

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