SACRED BIOENGINEERING: BODY, INITIATION AND ANCESTRAL TECHNOLOGIES IN AFRICAN-BASED RELIGIONS

Abstract

This article analyzes the body and initiation in African and Afro-Indigenous matrix religions as expressions of sacred bioengineering, that is, as sophisticated ancestral technologies for producing, maintaining, and transmitting life. Based on theoretical-bibliographical review, it is demonstrated that the body does not constitute a mere passive support for the sacred, but an active territory of Àṣẹ inscription, where nature, ancestry, and divinity converge. The work articulates three fundamental axes: (1) the body as an ontological category in African cosmologies, in contrast to the modern Cartesian split; (2) initiation as a technical process of Orí reconfiguration and conscious insertion into the vital circulation network; (3) herbs, blood, and trance as constitutive elements of an empirically grounded ritual pharmacopoeia. It is argued that these practices represent not folklore or superstition, but complex systems of integral care that articulate physical, mental, spiritual, and community health. The study shows that recognizing initiation as bioengineering implies overcoming historical epistemicides and affirming the plurality of legitimate rationalities in producing knowledge about the body and life.