Olori, the Head Owner. A typology of African descent

Authors

  • José Jorge de Morais Zacharias UNIPAULISTANA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7976.2010v17n23p151

Abstract

The question about individual differences has awaked the human curiosity for a long time past. Justifying these differences and comprehending the people that present different or similar behavior in comparison the others, religious-magical system was building in distinct cultures and periods. The astrology,  the medicine of Galeno and chiromancy are examples about this unquietness. In a scientific world, the behavior searchers' established human typologies to explain the phenomenon. Carl Gustav Jung, swiss psychiatric, developed a typology which classify people in 16 types, based on categories as introversion and extroversion; world's perception through five senses or inspiration and decision-making personal or impersonal. However many people look the african-descendants culture as primitive, in it we found a system to explain the individual differences elaborated in its complex and ritualistic mythology. In this tradition, each person is conceived having a orisha's head, since their born, it's called Olori (the head sir). Therefore, the characteristics of personality are distributed, in according of Myths, to orisha's son. For example, an Ogum son's tends to be combative and impulsive, while an Oxalá son's will be calm and obstinate. This typology configuration contributes to the social interaction on african-descendants communities, valuating the individual differences contrary to tendencies about social uniformization.

Author Biography

José Jorge de Morais Zacharias, UNIPAULISTANA

Doutor em Psicologia Social (USP), Professor do Centro Universitário Paulistano - UNIPAULISTANA

Published

2010-06-28

How to Cite

de Morais Zacharias, J. J. (2010). Olori, the Head Owner. A typology of African descent. Esboços: Histories in Global Contexts, 17(23), 151–164. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7976.2010v17n23p151

Issue

Section

Special issue