major role in the initiation preparatory process on
the village level; for example, mothers prepare
food and compose songs for the neophytes, and
the senior woman in the compound greets the
dancers at the ceremonial visit called thebuyeet.
In traditional thought,bukutis transformative;
all males were regarded as children until they
completed the bukut ritual. When the initiates
leave the sacred forest, they appear in a new style
of dress. At the close of the ritual, the newly initi-
ated men also adorn elaborate masks filled with
symbolism as part of the ceremonial process.
Although many Diola people have converted to
Christianity and Islam, rich traditional African reli-
gious practices continue to prevail. African religious
rituals, shrines, and other beliefs and practices con-
tinue to play a vital role in the lives of the people.
Willie Cannon-BrownSeealsoGod; Initiation; Rites of Passage
Further Readings
Baum, R. M. (1993, September). Shrines, Medicines, and
the Strength of the Head: The Way of the Warrior
Among the Diola of Senegambia.Numen, 40 (3).
Available at http://www.jstor.org
Cannon-Brown, W. (2006).Nefer:The Aesthetic Ideal in
Classical Egypt. New York: Routledge.
Linares, O. F. (1985, April). Cash Crops and Gender
Constructs: The Jola of Senegal.Ethnology, 24 (2).
Available at http://www.jstor.org
Mark, P. (1988, Summer). Ejumba: The Iconography of
the Diola Initiation Mask.Art Journal, 47 (2).
Available at http://www.jstor.org
Mark, P., de Jong, F., & Chupin, C. (1998, Winter).
Ritual Masking Traditions in Jola Men’s Initiation.
African Arts,31.Available at http://jstor.org.
Sapir, D. J. (1977, April). Fecal Animals: An Example of
Complementary Totemism.Man,New Series, 12 (1).
Available at http://www.jstor.org
JUJU
Jujucomes from the French wordjoujou, meaning
“plaything.” Juju belongs to the realm of magic.
Magic operates on the premise of the existence of
a spiritual force that can be tapped into by women
or men who have received the knowledge and the
training to do so. Magic, and ipso facto juju, is
neither good nor bad, but may be resorted to for
constructive purposes as well as for performing
nefarious deeds. Juju stems from the spiritual
belief system emanating from West African coun-
tries such as Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Ghana,
although its assumptions are shared by most
African people.
To be quite specific, Juju refers to the magical
power deliberately infused into a particular
object. Thus, juju indicates that a given thing has
been endowed with magical properties. However,
the jujued object also becomes known as juju.
A monkey’s head is probably the most common
juju object one may encounter in West Africa.
Juju operates on the principle of spiritual conta-
gious contact based on physical contact. The
underlying belief is that two entities that have been
in close contact have similar properties even after
being separated. It then becomes possible to
manipulate one in order to reach the other. Thus,
in that context, a person’s hair, fingernails, a piece
of clothing, a shoe, a sock, or a piece of jewel worn
by them are all perfect candidates for juju because
they retain the spiritual aura of their owner.
Likewise, it is possible to create spiritual simi-
larity by deliberately placing two things in physi-
cal contact. The underlying belief is that spiritual
assimilation and fusion will take place, with one
entity absorbing the qualities of the other.
Amulets, charms, and mascots are all common
forms of juju. Usually worn for protective
purposes, those objects have been infused with a
particular type of energy, and wearing them is
expected to create paths and possibilities for the
wearer, as well as guard them against ill fortunes
and evil spirits.
It usually takes a specialist, a woman or a man,
with extensive know-how and experience to
extract the spiritual aura of a given object. Such a
specialist may be a healer because juju is used to
cure physical and spiritual ailments—from healing
insect and animal bites to counteracting and neu-
tralizing curses. However, the specialist may also
be a witch or a sorcerer involved in the reprehen-
sible business of harming someone—through the
casting of spells or curses, as well as placing juju
objects in their close contact so they may become
spiritually contaminated and polluted.Juju 355