working paper #83 novembro/2018 FROM RITUAL INFANTICIDE TO POLITICAL POWER. A FRAME FOR THE STUDY OF POLITICAL POWERS IN GUINEA BISSAU 1 Cláudia Favarato Membro Associado do Observatório Político Abstract The present paper aims to frame political power configurations in Guinea Bissau, for pinpointing the foundational differences between the state system and the traditional powers. In order to unveil such a complex reality, a case study will be used, the criança-irân ritual of infanticide. The latter, underpinned in the local animist cosmological system, is a challenge to the ontology of humanness, and to the boundaries between nude and political life. The working paper presents the case study and contextualizes it in the specific political and social settings of Guinea Bissau. Also, it provides an account of political power in the African continent, and specifically of the Bissau-Guinean political system. Lastly, it exposes the necessity of including conceptual categories of African epistemology for the understanding of human life, as foundational tenets of a political order, among the main animist ethnical groups in Guinea Bissau. Keywords Humanness, African epistemology, African political power, Guinea Bissau, criança-irân. 1 PhD candidate in Political Science at Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, University of Lisbon (Portugal); Master‟s in African Studies from Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Universidade de Lisboa; Master‟s in International Relations and Diplomacy from Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy); collaborating researcher at Centro de Estudos Africanos (CEAF) of Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, University of Lisbon; associate member of Political Observatory [
[email protected]].