Collaborating with Existence: Conjure, Imagination, and Magical Dynamism in Vodún
Timothy R. Landry
Journal of Religion in Africa September 23, 2026 DOI: 10.1163/15700666-bja10157 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key findings | Argues that Fon conjurers in southern Bénin experience objects as living beings whose capacities arise from their social histories rather than symbolic resonance, and that conjurers cultivate a 'magician's imagination' to recognize and mobilize an object's hidden experiences. Proposes a pan-ontological framework centered on existence and embodied experience, rather than mind-centered models such as panpsychism, and frames magic as a creative practice that assembles living beings into new configurations capable of reshaping reality. |
Abstract
Abstract This article draws on my apprenticeship with a conjurer in southern Bénin to explore the ways in which objects are experienced as living beings whose capacities emerge from their social histories rather than from their symbolic resonance. In Bénin Fon conjurers assemble magical entities by drawing on the memories, relationships, and ontological vitality of objects. I argue they cultivate a ‘magician’s imagination’, a trained perceptual capacity that allows them to recognize and mobilize an object’s hidden experiences. Situating this practice within Fon cosmology, I show how existence itself is understood as inherently creative and agentive. I propose a pan-ontological framework that shifts attention away from mind-centered models such as panpsychism, toward existence-centered models grounded in embodied experience. This approach reveals magic as a creative practice that assembles living beings into new configurations capable of dynamically reshaping reality.