Migración y desarrollo: una relación compleja

The overlap between messenger and message is not unique to Ifá. It is found in the logocentric approach of Christianity in which God is portrayed as being both "with the word" in the sense of a messenger, and "the word" in the sense of a message. This overlap is reiterated in the portrayal of Jesus as one who not only brings a message of salvation, but who functions as the ultimate form of the message—as the culmination of a series of prophecies, each of which foreshadowed his own prophecy—and, most importantly, as the means of the message's realization in both a physical and a spiritual sense. In a manner similar to that of the Yoruba religion, the personification of the Christian message in the figure of Jesus enhances its transferability between physical and spiritual realms, as well as between figurative and non-figurative functions.

Such an overlap also parallels the ambiguity—and to a certain degree, interchangeability—of the terms nkisi and nganga in the discussion of Yoruba fetishes or hexes, those who create or adapt these mixtures, and the containers into which they are placed. Nganga may refer to a priest, the fetish or hex, or the container that holds it, thus subsuming the roles of messenger, message, and conduit. Nkisi may refer to the dead, the fetish or hex that contains remnants of the dead, the medicines used by a Yoruba priest, and the Yoruba priest himself. Thus nkisi subsumes part of the origin of the message that existed prior to itself, a residual of this origin manifest in the message, the message itself, and the messenger. Since a nkisi is believed to be animate and possess its own volition— thus transcending, at least in a figurative sense, the division between the non-living and the living—it may also be said to transcend the distinction between message and messenger. Since some remains of the dead who existed prior to the message's

compilation are integrated into the message-cum-messenger of nkisi, one may say that they posthumously unite with an agent of their own perpetuation. The overlap of message and messenger is also evident in traditions where the term nganga is used in place of nkisi. Here, senior nganga priests mix the nganga fetish with their own blood as well as with the blood of junior initiates, in effect yielding a physical embodiment of the message in themselves and of themselves in the message. Thus one may conclude that message and messenger are mutually influential and, at least on a figurative level, incorporate certain elements of each other in their various manifestations.

1.17 Doubling

Doubling is an essential component of the Yoruba consciousness. Doubleness may be associated with richness, and fullness of life. Further, it is considered to be a facet of oneness. Humans possess both oneness as bodies, and twoness, with mortal and immortal components. Doubling realizes power through repetition, but also enjoys a connective quality (Armstrong 32). The principle of doubling is found in a variety of ways in the Western semiotic system, particularly in the four master tropes. It may also be found in the Yoruba meta-tropes, the Ifá divination system, and the functions of Eshu and other trickster figures.

Several examples of doubling are evident in the internal structures and external relations of Odu signs. An Odu sign consists of eight elements in short single lines and placed in two columns of four items each. There are sixteen possible combinations in which the marks on the right and left columns are identical. These are the principal Odus. The remaining 240 Odus have differences in their columns and are called children

of Odu or Omo Odu. The name of each principal Odu consists of the name of the right column followed by the left one. If the names of the two columns are identical, then the name is listed once and followed by a word, meji, indicating its doubleness (Morton- Williams, Bascom, and McClelland 406). Here, one may see an example of doubling via the repetition of names, and a symbolic attempt to convert doubleness to singleness through its representation as a single word. The word meji has a somewhat ironic role, since it communicates the concept of doubleness without a tangible doubling of a word on the page via repetition. However, in order for meji to clarify the object of its doubling power, it needs another word—the name being doubled—to serve as its referent. Thus, it still requires the same number of words to express doubling as does a repetition. In fact, by listing two different words rather than the same word twice, its visual effect contradicts the idea of doubleness that it serves to communicate and, in doing so, reflects its ironic aspect. This phenomenon reflects the observation that irony may be expressed through verbal structure, but lacks formal specified determinants. It always involves some type of doubling (Partner 107).

The ambiguous and potentially deceptive nature of bipartite names among the Odus is increased by the use of alternate names. The name of the highest ranking Odu is expressed by doubling the sign "Ogbe," and may be written "Ogbe-Ogbe," using a repetition of the referent. It may also be written "Ogbe Meji" or "Eji Ogbe," both of which use another word to indicate a doubling of the referent (Morton-Williams, Bascom, and McClelland 411). One interesting aspect of this is that the doubling component, or multiplier, may be placed either before or after its referent. Since its placement does not affect the name's interpretation by Ifá practitioners, all three forms of the name provide

an example of different signifiers yielding the same signified. This is a reversal of the phenomenon in which a single signifier yields multiple signifieds—an occurrence which may privilege the message's recipient over the emissor in the determination of its ultimate meaning. By token of this contrast—and the fact that Odu names are unlikely to have any meaning in other languages, especially when expressed in bipartite form, the existence of multiple signifiers that yield the same signified would privilege the emissor over the recipient.

While the variant forms of double names for the sixteen principle Odus are accepted as synonymous by their users, they inadvertently raise a deeper dilemma: the primacy of either metaphor or metonymy. The double name "Ogbe-Ogbe" visualizes both a metaphor—"Ogbe"—for a sign used in divination, and a metonym through the contiguous relationship inherent in the doubling of the sign for the purpose of identifying a specific Odu. By repeating the name, it also corresponds with the mathematical function of addition. The two alternate names, "Ogbe Meji" and "Eji Ogbe," which are bipartite but not double, correspond with the mathematical function of multiplication. Like the double name, they reflect both metaphoric and metonymic aspects by using names to represent divination signs and by displaying their contiguous relationship between the two signs. However, each alternate name prioritizes a different trope. "Ogbe Meji," which places the divination sign before the multiplier, and thus alludes to a general category of wisdom before naming the type of contiguity that narrows the search, prioritizes metaphor. Conversely, "Eji Ogbe," which places the multiplier first, and, in doing so, names the type of contiguity for narrowing the search before identifying the more general category of knowledge in which the search will occur, prioritizes

metonymy. If this name is interpreted in a strictly linear fashion, the word eji has no practical value prior to the naming of its referent, since it cannot double anything until the entity to be doubled is known. Until the second part of the name, "Ogbe," is factored in, the meaning of the expression is indeterminate. Although the expression's meaning is ultimately clarified, its propensity toward indeterminacy underscores the intrinsic connection between metonymy and irony. It also reiterates the broader freedom of signification that irony enjoys over the other three master tropes.

The use of alternate names is not limited to the sixteen principal Odus; it is also found among the 240 secondary Odus. For example, "Ogbe Iwori," which includes the names of the first and third Odus respectively, may also be expressed as "Ogbe-w(o)- ehin," meaning "Ogbe look back" (Morton-Williams, Bascom, and McClelland 411). In this case, as in those that involve the doubling of a name, the second referent of the original bipartite name is replaced by another entity that specifies the type of contiguity inherent in the original. For secondary Odus, whose original names consist of two different signs, a name that was originally expressed as a relationship between the signs of two different principal Odus is altered to reflect only the sign of the higher-ranking Odu. The prioritization of the higher Odu in a pair reflects the belief that only a higher- ranking Odu may initiate contact with another Odu. Ironically, the translation of the example provided, "Ogbe look back," suggests a responsive gesture on the part of the highest-ranking Odu—an occurrence that is prohibited by Odu protocol.

In a manner reminiscent of the Odus' alternate names, the names of the divination signs and their qualifiers have alternate pronunciations (Morton-Williams, Bascom, and McClelland 411-18). This phenomenon involves a less conscious process, since its

development is spread over a broad temporal and geographical span. Yet it still reflects multiple signifiers yielding the same signified and, in doing so, favors the emissor over the recipient. The wide variety of signs that may be used to invoke the Odus, and the potential confusion that they may create, are exemplified by the variant pronunciations and spellings of meji, the Yoruba signifier of doubleness that follows its referent. These include "magi," "megi," "jime," medji" among populations in Africa. Variants in Cuba include "meji," "meje," "melli," "melle" (411). There are also different forms of the name eji, the Yoruba signifier of doubleness that precedes the referent. These include "Edju" and "Edschu," "oji," and "ji" in Africa and "elli" in Cuba (411). These names are interesting for several reasons. First, they raise the possibility of linguistic syncretism, in which the substitution of different sounds, coupled with figurative connotations, might allow for a name to develop into another word with a different denotation. If so, then a word denoting doubleness could gradually evolve into a similar-sounding new word denoting not merely doubleness, but one of its aspects. If a connection were established for the post-referent qualifiers with "Jiwe," "Jigüe" and "Güije," or for the pre-referent qualifiers with "Eshu" and "Esu," each of which refers to either the Yoruba trickster figure or one of its Caribbean outgrowths, then it would underscore the inherently ironic facet of doubleness. Second, these names gradually shift power from the emissor to the recipient regarding the determination of an utterance's meaning. They also cause people who were once recipients to become emissors, and words that were once mere signifieds to become new signifiers. Thus, inherent changes in pronunciation, meaning, and semiotic roles for both messengers and their messages reflect the cycle of master tropes.

1.18 Tropological Interpretation of Ifá Signs

The fact that two opposing signs may be used to express the names of the orishas—and by extension, the sixteen major Odus, their 240 derivative Odus, and the entire Ifá compendium—illustrates the tropological or rhetorical nature of all forms of communication. Regardless of its intended or interpreted meaning, each mark—whether it is a black or white circle on paper, a single slash or two parallel slashes on wood, or a concave or convex surface on a palm nut or an opele chain—functions metaphorically by token of its representation of something other than itself. At the same time, it funct ions metonymically as part of a binary entity that implies a whole. The applications of metaphor and metonymy also apply to all 256 combinations of signs, regardless of their medium of expression. One may also say that each combination of signs constitutes both synecdoche and irony, a conclusion that appears even more logical, given that these are often defined as extensions of metaphor and metonymy respectively.

If this evaluation is based on the shape of the marks on the chain or palm nuts, then the convex or external half of the nut could be associated with metonymy and irony, due to the external nature of their discursive meanings. By the same token, the concave or internal half of the divining tool could be associated with metaphor and synecdoche, due to the internal nature of their discursive meanings (Clark 254). Yet, this interpretation is symbolic and largely superficial, since it considers only the initial sign— the signifier—that guides the Babalawo in his selection of texts. It does not consider any aspect of the content that he selects: the signified of the first, random, divinatory step— the Odu whose name has been invoked; the signifier of the second, voluntary, divinatory step—the Babalawo's selection of texts from within the Odu; or the signified which is

derived from these texts via the Babalawo's interpretation. While the chance-based first step in the Ifá divination system does not prove the selection of signifiers to be inherently random in all language systems, it is reminiscent of the trial-and-error approach used at virtually all levels of language production and interpretation. It also parallels the fact that, in a comparison of two dissimilar entities—the essential function of metaphor, the signifier is necessarily random—and may even vary among people who intend the same signified. This rule applies to the four master tropes—metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony—and, by extension, to all rhetorical tropes, which may be interpreted as variants or derivatives of the principal four, the principal two—metaphor and metonymy, or even, some may argue, the principal one—metaphor.

If each combination simultaneously constitutes all four master tropes, then it is difficult—if not impossible—to assign a master trope to the resulting story or greeting chosen from the Ifá compendium on the basis of a random combination rendered by a throw. A more logical approach for determining the predominant trope in each case would be to identify the predominant mode of emplotment of the story that is chosen— romance, tragedy, comedy, or satire—or the predominant mode of explanation— ideographic, organicist, mechanistic, contextualist—and then match it with its corresponding trope (White, Tropics 70). While romantic mode of emplotment supports a hero's victory and transcendence of worldly problems, irony does the opposite, by suggesting that the world dominates humans rather than vice versa. Comedy and tragedy, which correspond with synecdoche and metonymy respectively, allow for at least partial liberation from a fallen state. Comedy is the more optimistic of these two. It allows for the potential victory of humankind over the world. Tragedy, on the other hand, while

allowing for the victory of other humans, is standard in its narration of the protagonist's fall. Reconciliations at the end of comedy reflect generally improved conditions for humans as a result of their struggle. In tragedy, the reconciliations at the end represent humans' acceptance of limitations that they cannot overcome (White, Metahistory 8-9). Thus a text that is optimistic for the protagonist and for humanity as a whole would be romantic and correspond with metaphor. Texts of increasing degrees of pessimism would correspond with synecdoche, metonymy, and irony respectively.