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Sexuality Through the Eyes of the Orisa: An Exploration of Ifa/Orisa and Sacred Sexualities in Trinidad and Tobago

Fitzpatrick, Liseli A.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1525787971731433

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, African-American and African Studies.
Sexuality through the Eyes of the Orisa: An Exploration of Ifa/Orisa and Sacred Sexualities in Trinidad and Tobago engages the Yoruba cosmological system of Ifa to offer an expansive and emancipatory pedagogical praxis as it relates to human sexuality and gender, primarily, amongst African descendants from slavery to present day Trinidad and Tobago. As a former British colony, notions of sexuality and gender, in Trinidad and Tobago, have been significantly shaped by Western thought linked to a history of enslavement and colonialism predicated on sexual violence and white supremacy. European colonizers used phenotypical markers to classify persons into groups such as a race, sex/gender and class to establish power and maintain the status quo. Sexuality and gender have been central in the enslavement and colonization of African and indigenous peoples, alike, premised on phenotypical schemas that privileged white men and marginalized others. The philosophical underpinnings of sexuality and gender in Western societies have been undergirded by the rigid pairing of biology and phenotype catalogued into two asymmetrical categories male/man and female/woman premised on white heteropatriarchy. The Western construct is inherently hierarchal, exclusionary and discriminatory and, therefore, fails to provide a universal framework for conceptualizing sexuality and gender. Within recent times, we have seen an alarming increase of sexual violence as a legacy of coloniality and racist sexism, misogyny/misogynoir and homophobia as gender non-conforming individuals continue to challenge the status quo and push against the margins of Western notions of normative sexuality. Through a critical navigation of the Yoruba Ifa/Orisa worldview, against the historical trajectory of pre- and post-colonial Trinidad and Tobago, my study posits that sexuality is a transformative sacred ontology, which challenges the sociallyii constructed categories imposed by Western hegemonic thought and Christian supremacy. My study, therefore, traces the impact systems of slavery and colonialism had in constituting Western thought on sexuality and gender, and the resilience of the African spirit in subverting and resisting colonial domination despite sexual exploitation and expropriation that resulted in what I term sexual dis-ori-entation - the disruption and violation of sexualities through acts of sexual violence. In what Georgene Bess Montgomery coins as the Ifa Paradigm, I unearth the intrinsic ideological underpinnings of sacred sexualities, with particular emphasis on the metaphysical principle of Ori and the manifestation of the Orisa deities, which topple Western normative, narrowed and static binary sex/gender categories of male/man and female/woman. Through the cosmological eyes of the Orisa, I affirm that sexuality is, intrinsically, sacred, not to be confused with overriding religiosity, but rather, sexuality is embedded in a cosmological consciousness and ontology that transcends phenotypical appearance and ostracizing impositions. In this context, sacred sexualities disrupt other dichotomized hegemonic Western impositions such as black/white, gay/straight and sacred/secular. Ultimately, my study seeks to bring balance to the discourse by dismantling Western hegemonic thought through presenting a universal cosmological paradigm that fosters sexual citizenship and belongingness irrespective of color, creed or class!
Monika Brodnicka, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Adeleke Adeeko, PhD (Committee Chair)
Lupenga Mphande, PhD (Committee Member)
Niyi Coker, PhD (Committee Member)
African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Literature; African Studies; Philosophy; Religion
Sacred Sexualities; Ifa-Orisa; Universality

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fitzpatrick, L. A. (2018). Sexuality Through the Eyes of the Orisa: An Exploration of Ifa/Orisa and Sacred Sexualities in Trinidad and Tobago [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1525787971731433

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fitzpatrick, Liseli. Sexuality Through the Eyes of the Orisa: An Exploration of Ifa/Orisa and Sacred Sexualities in Trinidad and Tobago. 2018. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1525787971731433.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fitzpatrick, Liseli. "Sexuality Through the Eyes of the Orisa: An Exploration of Ifa/Orisa and Sacred Sexualities in Trinidad and Tobago." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1525787971731433

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1525787971731433
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.