ABSTRACT
I conclude by summarising the theme of the book and theoretical ideas that will enhance our understanding of totemism and human–animal relationships more generally. During the course of the book, I examined the academic history of totemism, the debates it generated and how these contributed to the ontological turn in anthropology. I explored human–animal relations amongst the Bebelibe of northwestern Benin with a focus on how they relate to their totem animals and the key theoretical ideas that I propose will take us beyond semiotic abstraction and ontological classification. I unpacked the theoretical ideas of presencing, ontological penumbras and ontonic semiotics. These ideas are foundational to furthering our understanding of human–animal relations not only in West Africa, but beyond, as people endeavour to make sense of their engagement with the different entities that populate their world.
