Abstract
The conception of ancestors is of the utmost importance in African death. But becoming an ancestor implies strict requirements and the performance of specific ceremonies. What happens when someone with the potential to become an ancestor dies as a migrant, far from the home grounds? In this text, we will follow the process of creating an ancestor through a voyage from Guinea-Bissau to Portugal and back to the original grounds. We will see how transnationalism, the circulation of material goods, bodies and spirits work to re-create identities that connect the life and death of African migrants in the contemporary world.
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Saraiva, C. (2019). Ancestors and Death: From West Africa to Southwest Europe. In: Selin, H., Rakoff, R.M. (eds) Death Across Cultures. Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18826-9_10
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