Indigenous peoples: religions Books

Trade Review"Insightful, beautifully written, and empirically sophisticated, this book will be cited by many others, as it establishes the core of what it means to turn to religious conversion, to become an Orisha 'priest'… a joy to read." -- Salvador Vidal-Ortiz * associate professor, sociology, American University *"[Carr] offers both an insider and outsider perspective (initiate and researcher) that allows us to be privy to the trials and triumphs, the struggles and joys of committing to a faith largely misunderstood and often disparaged by the American mainstream." * Times Higher Education *“Carr has executed a methodologically innovative study of religious identification and self-creation in American Lukumi with integrity, intimacy and insight. Its focus on the 'everyday religion' of devotees is especially welcome.” -- George Brandon * professor emeritus, anthropogy, City University of New York *" An excellent contribution to the study of the complicated process of negotiating religious identity in the increasingly pluralistic context of twenty-first century America." -- Sarah M. Pike * professor, comparative religion, California State University, Chico *"A Year in White is a very fine account and a thoughtful exploration of conversion, deepening faith, and religious socialization, and a thoughtful portrait of the worldview of the Lukumi religion from the inside and how it is incorporated into the lives of the converts that Carr studies." * Reading Religion *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 Situating the Iyawo 2 Iyawo Experience 3 Iyawo Rules 4 Iyawo Social Relations 5 Relating to the Orisha 6 Conclusion: Two (or more) Worlds Appendix A: Interview & Survey Participants Appendix B: Survey Appendix C: Research Methods Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAfrican immigration to North America has been increasing. This title focuses on new understandings and insights concerning the presence and relevance of African immigrant religious communities in the US. It describes key social and historical aspects of African immigrant religion in the US and builds a conceptual framework for theory and analysis.Trade ReviewAn excellent collection of essays. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *African Immigrant Religions in America is a significant contribution, laying the foundation for what promises to be a rich field of study. -- Peter Pham,James Madison UniversityA masterful study of the role African immigrants play in shaping religion in the United States and Canada. This significant publication should be required reading for all those interested in understanding the links between ethnicity, transnationalism, and religion. -- Tite Tienou,Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IllinoisA much needed scholarly study of firstgeneration African immigrants who have come voluntarily to America for the first time. In their search for better opportunities they have brought with them a wide diversity of religious and moral traditions as their legacy to the cultural life of this nation. This book will be a necessary resource for all who study contemporary religions in America. -- Peter J. Paris * Princeton Theological Seminary *This book challenges scholars to go beyond traditional explanations of migration from Africa . * Journal of American Academy of Religion *African Immigrant Religions in America . . . is a very important book, which has wide implications for sociology of immigration, race, ethnicity, gender, and international studies, in addition to religion. They compile an impressive and diverse array of experts on African immigrant religious communities. * Sociology of Religion *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Jacob K. Olupona and Regina GemignaniI. Historical and Theoretical Perspectives1. Communities of Believers: Exploring African Immigrant Religion in the United States Jacob K. Olupona2. African Immigrant Churches in the United States and the Study of Black Church History David D. Daniels3. The Andrew SyndromeOgbu M.KaluII. Reverse Mission4. Non-Western Christianity in the Western WorldAkintunde Akinade5. Portable FaithElias BongmbaIII. Gender, Ethnicity, and Identity6. Gender, Identity, and Power in African Immigrant Evangelical Churches Regina Gemignani7. Gender and Change in an African Immigrant ChurchDeidre Helen Crumbley and Gloria Malake Cline-Smythe8. West African Muslims in AmericaLinda Beck9. African Religious Beliefs and Practices in DiasporaWorku NidaIV. Civic Engagement and Political Incorporation10. Transnationalism, Religion, and the African Diaspora in CanadaWisdom J. Tettey11. Singing the Lord's Song in a Foreign LandMoses Biney12. African Immigrant Churches and the New Christian Right Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome13. African Muslims in the United States14. Conclusion Jacob K. Olupona and Regina GemignaniContributors Index

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Book SynopsisThis book describes how anthropologists in the twentieth century went about documenting the religions of those independent peoples who still lived beyond the frontiers of the global economy and the world religions. It begins by examining the enormous popularity of the newly invented field of anthropology in the nineteenth century as a site of multiple intellectual developments. Its climax was Frazer's Golden Bough, which is a pillar of modernity second only to Darwin's Origin of Species. But its notion of religion was entirely speculative. When anthropologists went to see for themselves, they encountered formidable obstacles. How to access a people's most profound understandings of the world and everything in it? Holding fast to the premise that ethnographers have no special powers of seeing inside other people's brains, this book teaches students to proceed slowly, a step at a time, watching how people perform rituals great and small, asking questions that seem stupid to their hostTable of ContentsIntroducing the Independent Thinkers 1. "Such Turbulent Human Material" 2. The Mirror of Modernity 3. The Phenomenon of the Golden Bough 4. If I was a Horse 5. The Essence of Religion 6. On the Uselessness of Ritual 7. Einstein in The Outback 8. Real Knowledge of Real Worlds 9. Integrity of Science and Religion 10. Laying Tylor’s Ghost 11. Exorcising Freud 12. What’s Only Natural 13. Beginnings, Middles, and Ends 14. No One Believes in Things That Aren’t There 15. Being Reasonable 16. Invitations You Can’t Refuse 17. Nature Does Not Work Independently Of Man 18. Findings Postscript: Religion and Evolution

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Book SynopsisAn innovative history of the politics and practice of the Caribbean spiritual healing techniques known as obeah. Diana Paton traces how representations of obeah were entangled with key moments in Caribbean history, from eighteenth-century slave rebellions to the formation of new nations after independence.Trade Review'Paton takes a fresh approach to the study of black religion, examining the way obeah - as term and as practice - emerged amid the political tensions of slavery, state, and empire. With careful research, conceptual sophistication, and narrative force this book reveals the vital importance of African diaspora spiritual forms in the history of Atlantic political culture.' Vincent Brown, Harvard University, Massachusetts'Obeah is usually seen as an exotic and frightening phenomenon that sharply differentiates a spiritually and politically regressive Caribbean from the modern world. But obeah, as Diana Paton informs us in this sparkling, wide-ranging and multifaceted book, was much more than this. Her insightful and gracefully written book helps us understand not just obeah as the ritual manipulation of spiritual power, but transforms our understanding of the multiple cultural meanings of this religious practice within Anglophone Caribbean society from slavery days to the present.' Trevor Burnard, University of Melbourne'This absorbing, beautifully written account offers a new angle into multiple issues at the core of British Caribbean lives and struggles from the era of enslavement to the dawn of independence. The Cultural Politics of Obeah reveals the realm of spiritual power and healing to have been a crucial resource and potent target alike. It was African-Caribbean peoples most of all who hewed to and renewed that resource, but Indo-Caribbeans, Europeans and others also sought power and healing in obeah. Obeah was a crossroads, a common ground, a mystery, a flashpoint, and a quotidian part of Caribbean life all at once. Diana Paton brings alive the voices of bureaucrats and rebels, con-men and balm mothers, to help us understand why obeah mattered so very much.' Lara Putnam, University of Pittsburgh'The Cultural Politics of Obeah is a major contribution to Caribbean history. Obeah was part of a feared shadow world of African spiritual practice, illegal and thus almost invisible. Diana Paton's achievement in this masterful experiment in social and cultural history is to map its meanings for Caribbean society from the era of slavery to the postcolonial moment. She helps us towards a new view of the intellectual life of the Caribbean underclass, and of how colonial and nationalist state-makers sought to contain or conjure with its power.' Richard Drayton, King's College London'The Cultural Politics of Obeah is an elegantly written, deeply researched, and wideranging account of spiritual powers and healing practices that have long been central to Caribbean people's daily lives as well as targets of ridicule and prosecution. It is a major contribution to Caribbean history and essential reading for historians of slavery and emancipation.' Randy M. Browne, Slavery and Abolition'Diana Paton's recently published book, The Cultural Politics of Obeah: Religion, Colonialism, and Modernity in the Caribbean World, helps us understand how the 1904 Obeah Act is not only still in existence in the Caribbean, but also active … This rich text shows how the crime of obeah emerged as a homogenizing tool used by police, prosecutors, and governments to consolidate a wide range of healing practices deemed subversive and uncivilized … The Cultural Politics of Obeah does an excellent job demonstrating how racial hostilities have been mobilized as obeah for different reasons at different moments. Through a range of historical detail it demonstrates how anti-obeah legislation has defined racial governance where obeah is an artifact of colonial law. Rather than a singular practice or object of knowledge, it shows how obeah must be understood as a hostile term.' Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús, Journal of Latin American and Caribbean AnthropologyTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. The emergence of Caribbean spiritual politics; 2. Obeah and the slave-trade debates; 3. Creole slave society, obeah, and the law; 4. Obeah and its meanings in the post-emancipation era; 5. Obeah in the courts, 1890–1939; 6. Obeah prosecutions from the inside; 7. Protest, development, and the politics of obeah; 8. The postcolonial politics of obeah; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisA refreshed edition of the Kebra Nagast.

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Book SynopsisFollowing their first contact in 1519, accounts of Aztecs identifying Spaniards as gods proliferated. But what exactly did the Aztecs mean by a god (teotl), and how could human beings become gods or take on godlike properties? This sophisticated, interdisciplinary study analyzes three concepts that are foundational to Aztec religion-teotl (god), teixiptla (localized embodiment of a god), and tlaquimilolli (sacred bundles containing precious objects)-to shed new light on the Aztec understanding of how spiritual beings take on form and agency in the material world. In The Fate of Earthly Things, Molly Bassett draws on ethnographic fieldwork, linguistic analyses, visual culture, and ritual studies to explore what ritual practices such as human sacrifice and the manufacture of deity embodiments (including humans who became gods), material effigies, and sacred bundles meant to the Aztecs. She analyzes the Aztec belief that wearing the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim during a sacred rite could transform a priest into an embodiment of a god or goddess, as well as how figurines and sacred bundles could become localized embodiments of gods. Without arguing for unbroken continuity between the Aztecs and modern speakers of Nahuatl, Bassett also describes contemporary rituals in which indigenous Mexicans who preserve costumbres (traditions) incorporate totiotzin (gods) made from paper into their daily lives. This research allows us to understand a religious imagination that found life in death and believed that deity embodiments became animate through the ritual binding of blood, skin, and bone.Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. God-Bodies, Talk-Makers: Deity Embodiments in Nahua ReligionsChapter 1. Meeting the GodsChapter 2. Ethnolinguistic Encounters: Teotl and Teixiptla in Nahuatl ScholarshipChapter 3. Divining the Meaning of TeotlChapter 4. Gods in the Flesh: The Animation of Aztec TeixiptlahuanChapter 5. Wrapped in Cloth, Clothed in Skins: Aztec Tlaquimilolli (Sacred Bundles) and Deity EmbodimentConclusion. Fates and Futures: Conclusions and New DirectionsAppendix A. Ixiptla Variants in Early LexiconsAppendix B. A List of Terms Modified by Teo- in the Florentine CodexAppendix C. Turquoise, Jet, and GoldNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisJ. Lorand Matory casts an Afro-Atlantic eye on European social theory to show how Marx's and Freud's conceptions of the fetish illuminate and misrepresent the nature of Africa's gods while demonstrating that Afro-Atlantic gods have their own social logic that is no less rational than European social theories.Trade Review"J. L. Matory provides a critical and provocative account of how the concept of the fetish has been appropriated and used as a key concept in the writings of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. The work is especially strong in demonstrating the fantastical appropriations of the idea of the fetish, plucked from the complex and rich contexts of meaning and agency in transatlantic black religion. . . . . A fascinating, readable, and wandering book. . . . Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." -- G. E. Marcus * Choice *"Matory’s The Fetish Revisited is a masterful work, stunning in its erudition, ambitious argument, and prodigious ethnographic detail." -- Laura S. Grillo * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *"The Fetish Revisited is an important book and a pleasure to read." -- Steven Engler * Studies in Religion *"... [Matory] offers important insights into the Afro-Atlantic origins and makings of fetishes and into the unequal relations they comprise. One of the great merits of this book is that it takes Afro-Atlantic things, practices, and voices as theory and not merely as something to be described and analyzed." -- Benedikt Pontzen * Anthropos *"Matory's The Fetish Revisited is a well-researched and provocative work that combines academic research with a deep intellectual reflection in a work mainly directed to the disciples of Freud and Marx, but amazingly insightful into the fields of religious studies, anthropology, ethnology and meta-theory." -- Cyril-Mary Pius Olatunji and Fracis Kayode Fabidun * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *Table of ContentsA Note on Orthography ix Preface xi Introduction 1 Part I. The Factory, the Coat, the Piano, and the "Negro Slave": On the Afro-Atlantic Sources of Marx's Fetish 41 1. The Afro-Atlantic Context of Historical Materialism 45 2. The "Negro-Slave" in Marx's Labor Theory of Value 60 3. Marx's Fetishization of People and Things 78 Conclusion to Part I 91 Part II. The Acropolis, the Couch, the Fur Hat, and the "Savage": On Freud's Ambivalent Fetish 97 4. The Fetishes That Assimilated Jewish Men Make 103 5. The Fetish as an Architecture of Solidarity and Conflict 117 6. The Castrator and the Castrated in the Fetishes of Psychoanalysis 145 Conclusion to Part II 165 Part III. Pots, Packets, Beads, and Foreigners: The Making and the Meaning of the Real-Life "Fetish" 171 7. The Contrary Ontologies of Two Revolutions 175 8. Commodities and Gods 191 9. The Madeness of Gods and Other People 249 Conclusion to Part III 285 Conclusion. Eshu's Hat, or An Afro-Atlantic Theory of Theory 289 Acknowledgments 325 Notes 331 References 339 Index 349

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Book SynopsisSince the early-modern encounter between African and European merchants on the Guinea Coast, European social critics have invoked African gods as metaphors for misplaced value and agency, using the term “fetishism” chiefly to assert the irrationality of their fellow Europeans. Yet, as J. Lorand Matory demonstrates in The Fetish Revisited, Afro-Atlantic gods have a materially embodied social logic of their own, which is no less rational than the social theories of Marx and Freud. Drawing on thirty-six years of fieldwork in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, Matory casts an Afro-Atlantic eye on European theory to show how Marx’s and Freud’s conceptions of the fetish both illuminate and misrepresent Africa’s human-made gods. Through this analysis, the priests, practices, and spirited things of four major Afro-Atlantic religions simultaneously call attention to the culture-specific, materially conditioned, physically embodied, and indeed fetishisticTrade Review"J. L. Matory provides a critical and provocative account of how the concept of the fetish has been appropriated and used as a key concept in the writings of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. The work is especially strong in demonstrating the fantastical appropriations of the idea of the fetish, plucked from the complex and rich contexts of meaning and agency in transatlantic black religion. . . . . A fascinating, readable, and wandering book. . . . Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." -- G. E. Marcus * Choice *"Matory’s The Fetish Revisited is a masterful work, stunning in its erudition, ambitious argument, and prodigious ethnographic detail." -- Laura S. Grillo * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *"The Fetish Revisited is an important book and a pleasure to read." -- Steven Engler * Studies in Religion *"... [Matory] offers important insights into the Afro-Atlantic origins and makings of fetishes and into the unequal relations they comprise. One of the great merits of this book is that it takes Afro-Atlantic things, practices, and voices as theory and not merely as something to be described and analyzed." -- Benedikt Pontzen * Anthropos *"Matory's The Fetish Revisited is a well-researched and provocative work that combines academic research with a deep intellectual reflection in a work mainly directed to the disciples of Freud and Marx, but amazingly insightful into the fields of religious studies, anthropology, ethnology and meta-theory." -- Cyril-Mary Pius Olatunji and Fracis Kayode Fabidun * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *Table of ContentsA Note on Orthography ix Preface xi Introduction 1 Part I. The Factory, the Coat, the Piano, and the "Negro Slave": On the Afro-Atlantic Sources of Marx's Fetish 41 1. The Afro-Atlantic Context of Historical Materialism 45 2. The "Negro-Slave" in Marx's Labor Theory of Value 60 3. Marx's Fetishization of People and Things 78 Conclusion to Part I 91 Part II. The Acropolis, the Couch, the Fur Hat, and the "Savage": On Freud's Ambivalent Fetish 97 4. The Fetishes That Assimilated Jewish Men Make 103 5. The Fetish as an Architecture of Solidarity and Conflict 117 6. The Castrator and the Castrated in the Fetishes of Psychoanalysis 145 Conclusion to Part II 165 Part III. Pots, Packets, Beads, and Foreigners: The Making and the Meaning of the Real-Life "Fetish" 171 7. The Contrary Ontologies of Two Revolutions 175 8. Commodities and Gods 191 9. The Madeness of Gods and Other People 249 Conclusion to Part III 285 Conclusion. Eshu's Hat, or An Afro-Atlantic Theory of Theory 289 Acknowledgments 325 Notes 331 References 339 Index 349

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Book SynopsisThroughout West African societies, at times of social crises, postmenopausal women—the Mothers—make a ritual appeal to their innate moral authority. The seat of this power is the female genitalia. Wielding branches or pestles, they strip naked and slap their genitals and bare breasts to curse and expel the forces of evil. In An Intimate Rebuke Laura S. Grillo draws on fieldwork in Côte d’Ivoire that spans three decades to illustrate how these rituals of Female Genital Power (FGP) constitute religious and political responses to abuses of power. When deployed in secret, FGP operates as spiritual warfare against witchcraft; in public, it serves as a political activism. During Côte d’Ivoire’s civil wars FGP challenged the immoral forces of both rebels and the state. Grillo shows how the ritual potency of the Mothers’ nudity and the conjuration of their sex embodies a moral power that has been foundational to West African civilizatTrade Review"A detailed and thoughtful history of Côte d’Ivoire that gives due placement to civilian women who have largely been ignored in the definitive historical monographs. . . . Grillo’s scholarship has groundbreaking strengths. For those interested in religion, her detailed documentation of myth, ritual, secret societies, symbolism, witchcraft, and the appeal to the spiritual domain—and her defense of the inclusion of this knowledge as a requisite in understanding a country’s history—is utterly exquisite. . . . The work is inimitable—Grillo is sensitive, sensible, and devotes attention to detail." -- Dianna Bell * Reading Religion *“Ultimately, Grillo demonstrates how knowledge of the moral authority of women elders remained and remains embedded in West Africa and that women enact FGP to defend not only social equity and justice but also their own rights. An Intimate Rebuke will be required reading for all future analysis of women’s authority and mobilization.” -- Jill E. Kelly * African Studies Review *“Grillo’s work redefines our understanding of the use of ritual and moral values in the current postcolonial political order by focusing on the ignored phenomenon of Female Genital Power.... Grillo’s work is an important contribution to the study of gender, religion, history, and politics, particularly in Côte d’Ivoire but also in the whole West African subregion.” -- Carole Ammann * Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part I. Home and the Unhomely: The Foundational Nature of Female Genital Power 19 1. Genies, Witches, and Women: Locating Female Powers 21 2. Matrifocal Morality: FGP and the Foundations of "Home" 54 3. Gender and Resistance: The "Strategic Essentialism" of FGP 81 Part II. Worldliness: FGP in the Making of Ethnicity, Alliance, and the War in Côte D'Ivoire 117 4. Founding Knowledge/Binding Power: The Moral Foundations of Ethnicity and Alliance 121 5. Women at the Checkpoint: Challenging the Forces of Civil War 152 Part III. Timeliness: Urgent Situations and Emergent Critiques 171 6. Violation and Deployment: FGP in Politics in Côte D'Ivoire 175 7. Memory, Memorialization, and Morality 198 Conclusion. An Intimate Rebuke: A Local Critique in the Global Postcolony 228 Notes 239 References 255 Index 275

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Book SynopsisIn this ethnography of female empowerment, Laura S. Grillo offers new perspectives on how elder West African women deploy an ancient ritual in which they dance naked and slap their genitals and bare breasts to protest abuses of state power, globalization, witchcraft, rape, and other social dangers.Trade Review"A detailed and thoughtful history of Côte d’Ivoire that gives due placement to civilian women who have largely been ignored in the definitive historical monographs. . . . Grillo’s scholarship has groundbreaking strengths. For those interested in religion, her detailed documentation of myth, ritual, secret societies, symbolism, witchcraft, and the appeal to the spiritual domain—and her defense of the inclusion of this knowledge as a requisite in understanding a country’s history—is utterly exquisite. . . . The work is inimitable—Grillo is sensitive, sensible, and devotes attention to detail." -- Dianna Bell * Reading Religion *“Ultimately, Grillo demonstrates how knowledge of the moral authority of women elders remained and remains embedded in West Africa and that women enact FGP to defend not only social equity and justice but also their own rights. An Intimate Rebuke will be required reading for all future analysis of women’s authority and mobilization.” -- Jill E. Kelly * African Studies Review *“Grillo’s work redefines our understanding of the use of ritual and moral values in the current postcolonial political order by focusing on the ignored phenomenon of Female Genital Power.... Grillo’s work is an important contribution to the study of gender, religion, history, and politics, particularly in Côte d’Ivoire but also in the whole West African subregion.” -- Carole Ammann * Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Part I. Home and the Unhomely: The Foundational Nature of Female Genital Power 19 1. Genies, Witches, and Women: Locating Female Powers 21 2. Matrifocal Morality: FGP and the Foundations of "Home" 54 3. Gender and Resistance: The "Strategic Essentialism" of FGP 81 Part II. Worldliness: FGP in the Making of Ethnicity, Alliance, and the War in Côte D'Ivoire 117 4. Founding Knowledge/Binding Power: The Moral Foundations of Ethnicity and Alliance 121 5. Women at the Checkpoint: Challenging the Forces of Civil War 152 Part III. Timeliness: Urgent Situations and Emergent Critiques 171 6. Violation and Deployment: FGP in Politics in Côte D'Ivoire 175 7. Memory, Memorialization, and Morality 198 Conclusion. An Intimate Rebuke: A Local Critique in the Global Postcolony 228 Notes 239 References 255 Index 275

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Book SynopsisIn Queering Black Atlantic Religions Roberto Strongman examines Haitian Vodou, Cuban Lucumí/Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé to demonstrate how religious rituals of trance possession allow humans to understand themselves as embodiments of the divine. In these rituals, the commingling of humans and the divine produces gender identities that are independent of biological sex. As opposed to the Cartesian view of the spirit as locked within the body, the body in Afro-diasporic religions is an open receptacle. Showing how trance possession is a primary aspect of almost all Afro-diasporic cultural production, Strongman articulates transcorporeality as a black, trans-Atlantic understanding of the human psyche, soul, and gender as multiple, removable, and external to the body.Trade Review"Strongman’s contribution is an innovative deployment of cultural studies that looks at art, performance, film, and literature to research the religiosity of African diaspora communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. . . . The work is ultimately an important and sophisticated addition to the growing consideration of the transnational aesthetics that interconnect different kinds of queerness, blackness, and spirituality in the Americas." -- Solimar Otero * Journal of Folklore Research *"Strongman's expansion of transcorporeality is pivotal.… This book is a necessary read that contributes to the growing body of scholarship on gender and sexuality in African diasporic religions. . . . " -- Eziaku Nwokocha * Reading Religion *"[Strongman] pursues his materials with investigative prowess and scholarly verve, making this a major new reference point for scholarship on the subject." -- Kieth E. McNeal and Martin Tsang * New West Indian Guide *"Strongman's exploration of the body in literary genres provides an excellent framework for a new understanding of the body, transcending the Cartesian dialectics. Strongman's three case studies present indeed the 'full queer potentiality.'" -- Bettina E. Schmidt * Journal of Contemporary Religion *“Strongman’s audacity in exploring the evolution and intersection of Afro-Atlantic religiosity with queer bodies is a significant contribution to the literature and discourse on Afro-diasporic religions and cultural studies.... Strongman illustrates how scholarship can be expressive and an agent of radical transformation of social experience.” -- Mary Nyangweso * Hypatia *"Strongman’s work is a worthy and important effort. . . . I can only hope that future scholars will follow in Strongman’s footsteps, laboring to patch together the shattered mirror of queer Afro-diasporic affinities in spite of the logistic difficulties this labor presents." -- Marina Magloire * GLQ *"Queering Black Atlantic Religions ought to be a required read—a vade mecum—for those interested in studying expressions of Afro-diasporic religions found in the trans-Atlantic world and beyond. The work sheds light on the sophistication of these religious traditions and worldviews. In fact, even adherents of these religions in their original homes in Africa cannot ignore the dynamism inherent in these religions." -- SimonMary Asese Aihiokhai * Theology & Sexuality *"Strongman’s text is a valuable addition to the already rich corpus on Black Atlantic religions. Its significance is not limited to this subdiscipline, though. Readers from a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, gender and sexuality studies, and religious studies will find much to consider and engage. Further, readers in art history and literary studies will likewise be challenged by Strongman’s attention to the role of religion in art, film, and literature." -- Alejandro S Escalante * Religion and Gender *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Enter the Igbodu 1 Part I. Vodou 1. Of Dreams and Night Mares: Vodou Women Queering the Body 27 2. Hector Hyppolite èl Même: Between Queer Fetishization and Vodou Self-Portraiture 49 Part II. Lucumí/Santería 3. A Chronology of Queer Lucumí Scholarship: Degeneracy, Ambivalence, Transcorporeality 103 4. Lucumí Diasporic Ethnography: Fran, Cabrera, Lam 133 Part III. Candomblé 5. Queer Candomblé Scholarship and Dona Flor's S/Exua/lity 181 6. Transatlantic Waters of Oxalá: Pierre Verger, Mário de Andrade, and Candomblé in Europe 212 Conclusion: Transcripturality 251 Notes 255 References 261 Index 273

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Book SynopsisIn Queering Black Atlantic Religions Roberto Strongman examines Haitian Vodou, Cuban Lucumí/Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé to demonstrate how religious rituals of trance possession allow humans to understand themselves as embodiments of the divine. In these rituals, the commingling of humans and the divine produces gender identities that are independent of biological sex. As opposed to the Cartesian view of the spirit as locked within the body, the body in Afro-diasporic religions is an open receptacle. Showing how trance possession is a primary aspect of almost all Afro-diasporic cultural production, Strongman articulates transcorporeality as a black, trans-Atlantic understanding of the human psyche, soul, and gender as multiple, removable, and external to the body.Trade Review"Strongman’s contribution is an innovative deployment of cultural studies that looks at art, performance, film, and literature to research the religiosity of African diaspora communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. . . . The work is ultimately an important and sophisticated addition to the growing consideration of the transnational aesthetics that interconnect different kinds of queerness, blackness, and spirituality in the Americas." -- Solimar Otero * Journal of Folklore Research *"Strongman's expansion of transcorporeality is pivotal.… This book is a necessary read that contributes to the growing body of scholarship on gender and sexuality in African diasporic religions. . . . " -- Eziaku Nwokocha * Reading Religion *"[Strongman] pursues his materials with investigative prowess and scholarly verve, making this a major new reference point for scholarship on the subject." -- Kieth E. McNeal and Martin Tsang * New West Indian Guide *"Strongman's exploration of the body in literary genres provides an excellent framework for a new understanding of the body, transcending the Cartesian dialectics. Strongman's three case studies present indeed the 'full queer potentiality.'" -- Bettina E. Schmidt * Journal of Contemporary Religion *“Strongman’s audacity in exploring the evolution and intersection of Afro-Atlantic religiosity with queer bodies is a significant contribution to the literature and discourse on Afro-diasporic religions and cultural studies.... Strongman illustrates how scholarship can be expressive and an agent of radical transformation of social experience.” -- Mary Nyangweso * Hypatia *"Strongman’s work is a worthy and important effort. . . . I can only hope that future scholars will follow in Strongman’s footsteps, laboring to patch together the shattered mirror of queer Afro-diasporic affinities in spite of the logistic difficulties this labor presents." -- Marina Magloire * GLQ *"Queering Black Atlantic Religions ought to be a required read—a vade mecum—for those interested in studying expressions of Afro-diasporic religions found in the trans-Atlantic world and beyond. The work sheds light on the sophistication of these religious traditions and worldviews. In fact, even adherents of these religions in their original homes in Africa cannot ignore the dynamism inherent in these religions." -- SimonMary Asese Aihiokhai * Theology & Sexuality *"Strongman’s text is a valuable addition to the already rich corpus on Black Atlantic religions. Its significance is not limited to this subdiscipline, though. Readers from a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, gender and sexuality studies, and religious studies will find much to consider and engage. Further, readers in art history and literary studies will likewise be challenged by Strongman’s attention to the role of religion in art, film, and literature." -- Alejandro S Escalante * Religion and Gender *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Enter the Igbodu 1 Part I. Vodou 1. Of Dreams and Night Mares: Vodou Women Queering the Body 27 2. Hector Hyppolite èl Même: Between Queer Fetishization and Vodou Self-Portraiture 49 Part II. Lucumí/Santería 3. A Chronology of Queer Lucumí Scholarship: Degeneracy, Ambivalence, Transcorporeality 103 4. Lucumí Diasporic Ethnography: Fran, Cabrera, Lam 133 Part III. Candomblé 5. Queer Candomblé Scholarship and Dona Flor's S/Exua/lity 181 6. Transatlantic Waters of Oxalá: Pierre Verger, Mário de Andrade, and Candomblé in Europe 212 Conclusion: Transcripturality 251 Notes 255 References 261 Index 273

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Book SynopsisAn updated introduction to the religions developed in the Caribbean regionCreole Religions of the Caribbean offers a comprehensive introduction to the overlapping religions that have developed as a result of the creolization process. Caribbean peoples drew on the variants of Christianity brought by European colonizers, as well as on African religious and healing traditions and the remnants of Amerindian practices, to fashion new systems of belief. From Vodou, Santería, Regla de Palo, the Abakuá Secret Society, and Obeah to Quimbois and Espiritismo, the volume traces the historicalcultural origins of the major Creole religions, as well as the newer traditions such as Rastafari. This third edition updates the scholarship by featuring new critical approaches that have been brought to bear on the study of religion, such as queer studies, environmental studies, and diasporic studies. The third edition also expands the regional considerations of the diaspora to the US Latinx communities thTrade ReviewCreole Religions of the Caribbean approaches readers as if they were out-of-town guests at a dinner party, thoroughly acquainting them with the topics of conversation and encouraging them to mingle among the liveliest characters. -- The Journal of ReligionBravo! A well-written text that de-mystifies Creole spiritual practices and places them in historical perspective . . . a major contribution. -- Multicultural ReviewProvides a unique sociocultural, historical and political analysis of Caribbean religion. -- Centro JournalOffers an excellent . . . multidisciplinary introduction to the scholarship in this area of study. -- New West Indian Guide

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Book SynopsisAn updated introduction to the religions developed in the Caribbean regionCreole Religions of the Caribbean offers a comprehensive introduction to the overlapping religions that have developed as a result of the creolization process. Caribbean peoples drew on the variants of Christianity brought by European colonizers, as well as on African religious and healing traditions and the remnants of Amerindian practices, to fashion new systems of belief. From Vodou, Santería, Regla de Palo, the Abakuá Secret Society, and Obeah to Quimbois and Espiritismo, the volume traces the historicalcultural origins of the major Creole religions, as well as the newer traditions such as Rastafari. This third edition updates the scholarship by featuring new critical approaches that have been brought to bear on the study of religion, such as queer studies, environmental studies, and diasporic studies. The third edition also expands the regional considerations of the diaspora to the US Latinx communities thTrade ReviewCreole Religions of the Caribbean approaches readers as if they were out-of-town guests at a dinner party, thoroughly acquainting them with the topics of conversation and encouraging them to mingle among the liveliest characters. -- The Journal of ReligionBravo! A well-written text that de-mystifies Creole spiritual practices and places them in historical perspective . . . a major contribution. -- Multicultural ReviewProvides a unique sociocultural, historical and political analysis of Caribbean religion. -- Centro JournalOffers an excellent . . . multidisciplinary introduction to the scholarship in this area of study. -- New West Indian Guide

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Book SynopsisUncovers the influence of Yoruba culture on women's religious lives and leadership in religions practiced by Yoruba people Women in Yoruba Religions examines the profound influence of Yoruba culture in Yoruba religion, Christianity, Islam, and Afro-Diasporic religions such as Santeria and Candomblé, placing gender relations in historical and social contexts. While the coming of Christianity and Islam to Yorubaland has posed significant challenges to Yoruba gender relations by propagating patriarchal gender roles, the resources within Yoruba culture have enabled women to contest the full acceptance of those new norms. Oyeronke Olademo asserts that Yoruba women attain and wield agency in family and society through their economic and religious roles, and Yoruba operate within a system of gender balance, so that neither of the sexes can be subsumed in the other. Olademo utilizes historical and phenomenological methods, incorporating impressive datTrade ReviewSignificantly captures the relevance of Yoruba women involved in not only the religious activities but also the political and socio-economic dynamics of their communities. Without any doubts whatsoever, this book will greatly contribute to its primary field of religion and associated fields of history, African studies, sociology, and anthropology. -- Ibigbolade Aderibigbe, University of GeorgiaFeaturing impressive ethnographic material, Women in Yoruba Religions illustrates how Yoruba women brought their active agency into Christianity, Islam, and contemporary forms of traditional religion. -- Mei Mei Sanford, the College of William and MaryBeautifully illustrates how women have—and have always had—a significant role in Yoruba culture and religion, both in its continental and diasporic manifestations. -- Funlayo E. Wood-Menzies, African and Diasporic Religious Studies AssociationA major introductory text to anybody interested in Yoruba women and their role in the people’s religious belief systems. The scholarship of the book is of top quality, providing a comprehensive, holistic sense of the role of women in the Yoruba religious sphere. -- Akintunde Akinyemi, Professor of Yoruba and Chair of Department, University of FloridaOládémo notes the tremendous agency of women in Yoruba religion, and she shows the considerable impact they have—impact, she argues, tied to such variables as the economy. The author also examines the forces that shaped women's various roles—colonialism, capitalism, and globalization—highlighting major historical phases. -- T. O. Falola, University of Texas * CHOICE *Professor Oyeronke Olademo has indeed brought her wealth of knowledge and experience to bear in writing this book…[T]his book will be of great value to students and scholars of Comparative religious studies, lovers of comparative religion and anyone interested in the role of women in the development of religion and in this regard. I recommend the book to all and sundry. -- Babatunji Abayomi Omotara * Nigerian Tribune *The book... concludes that Yoruba women have always made a way for themselves in spite of challenges of male domination in the religious space, and in spite of globalization and modernity, women have continued to evolve and play even increasing roles as Yoruba religion is being practiced abroad and also foreign religions are been practiced in Yorubaland. * Indigenous Religious Traditions *

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Book SynopsisUncovers the influence of Yoruba culture on women's religious lives and leadership in religions practiced by Yoruba people Women in Yoruba Religions examines the profound influence of Yoruba culture in Yoruba religion, Christianity, Islam, and Afro-Diasporic religions such as Santeria and Candomblé, placing gender relations in historical and social contexts. While the coming of Christianity and Islam to Yorubaland has posed significant challenges to Yoruba gender relations by propagating patriarchal gender roles, the resources within Yoruba culture have enabled women to contest the full acceptance of those new norms. Oyeronke Olademo asserts that Yoruba women attain and wield agency in family and society through their economic and religious roles, and Yoruba operate within a system of gender balance, so that neither of the sexes can be subsumed in the other. Olademo utilizes historical and phenomenological methods, incorporating impressive datTrade ReviewSignificantly captures the relevance of Yoruba women involved in not only the religious activities but also the political and socio-economic dynamics of their communities. Without any doubts whatsoever, this book will greatly contribute to its primary field of religion and associated fields of history, African studies, sociology, and anthropology. -- Ibigbolade Aderibigbe, University of GeorgiaFeaturing impressive ethnographic material, Women in Yoruba Religions illustrates how Yoruba women brought their active agency into Christianity, Islam, and contemporary forms of traditional religion. -- Mei Mei Sanford, the College of William and MaryBeautifully illustrates how women have—and have always had—a significant role in Yoruba culture and religion, both in its continental and diasporic manifestations. -- Funlayo E. Wood-Menzies, African and Diasporic Religious Studies AssociationA major introductory text to anybody interested in Yoruba women and their role in the people’s religious belief systems. The scholarship of the book is of top quality, providing a comprehensive, holistic sense of the role of women in the Yoruba religious sphere. -- Akintunde Akinyemi, Professor of Yoruba and Chair of Department, University of FloridaOládémo notes the tremendous agency of women in Yoruba religion, and she shows the considerable impact they have—impact, she argues, tied to such variables as the economy. The author also examines the forces that shaped women's various roles—colonialism, capitalism, and globalization—highlighting major historical phases. -- T. O. Falola, University of Texas * CHOICE *Professor Oyeronke Olademo has indeed brought her wealth of knowledge and experience to bear in writing this book…[T]his book will be of great value to students and scholars of Comparative religious studies, lovers of comparative religion and anyone interested in the role of women in the development of religion and in this regard. I recommend the book to all and sundry. -- Babatunji Abayomi Omotara * Nigerian Tribune *The book... concludes that Yoruba women have always made a way for themselves in spite of challenges of male domination in the religious space, and in spite of globalization and modernity, women have continued to evolve and play even increasing roles as Yoruba religion is being practiced abroad and also foreign religions are been practiced in Yorubaland. * Indigenous Religious Traditions *

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Book SynopsisFramed by theories of syncretism and revitalization, Religious Revitalization among the Kiowas examines changes in Kiowa belief and ritual in the final decades of the nineteenth century. During the height of the horse-and-bison culture, Kiowa beliefs were founded in the notion of daudau, a force permeating the universe that was accessible through vision quests. Following the end of the Southern Plains wars in 1875, the Kiowas were confined within the boundaries of the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache (Plains Apache) Reservation. As wards of the government, they witnessed the extinction of the bison herds, which led to the collapse of the Sun Dance by 1890.Though prophet movements in the 1880s had failed to restore the bison, other religions emerged to fill the void left by the loss of the Sun Dance. Kiowas now sought daudau through the Ghost Dance, Christianity, and the Peyote religion.Religious Revitalization among the Kiowas examines the historical and sociocultural conditions that spawned the Trade Review“Encyclopedic. . . . The Santa Fe materials take center stage but are also supplemented by previous and subsequent research by scholars like Mooney. The result is what could hardly be imagined as a more complete summary of a people’s beliefs and rituals at a particular moment in time—a moment that had just ended when the data were collected and that, despite all of the tribulations and losses faced by the Kiowa, continues not only to be remembered but to reverberate through their culture.”—Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database "Benjamin R Kracht's new book Religious Revitalization Among the Kiowas: The Ghost Dance, Peyote, and Christianity explores the often-intertwined histories of the Kiowa Ghost Dance, the Native American Church, and indigenous Christianity through the lens of revitalization movements. . . . This is a strong work in the field of anthropology of religion."—Angela Tarango, Reading Religion"This is a landmark contribution on Native American resistance to colonization, missionization, and domination by Euro-American settlers. . . . [Kracht's] masterful use of interviews and primary documents greatly contributes to original knowledge of life in the American Plains. . . . This book, recording individual, family, and community church histories, should benefit Kiowa for generations to come."—Great Plains Quarterly“Demonstrates a remarkable knowledge and familiarity with Kiowa life, history, and traditions, both past and present. . . . This book is a model of excellence in anthropological historiography, offering a multitude of cogent insights and many remarkable, moving Kiowa testimonies—an engaging, informative book!”—Lee Irwin, professor of religious studies at the College of Charleston and author of Coming Down from Above: Prophecy, Resistance, and Renewal in Native American Religions “Benjamin Kracht enlightens us about how indigenous groups, once called the vanishing race, survived and rebuilt their nations. Through religious syncretism and their unique understanding of the sacred, the Kiowa people established a new Kiowa Way—combining traditionalism with external religions. This extraordinary scholarship explores the resilience of indigenous peoples and the reinventing of culture.”—Donald L. Fixico, Distinguished Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University and author of Call for Change: American Indian History, Reality, and Ethos “An important book for students of Kiowa culture, for scholars of American Indian religion, and for anyone interested in how human communities adapt to changing environments and circumstances. A valuable contribution to anthropological literature.”—James Treat, author of Around the Sacred Fire: Native Religious Activism in the Red Power EraTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Kiowa Pronunciations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Kiowa Culture in the Nineteenth Century 1. Christianity, Peyotism, Shamanism, and Prophecy from the Reservation Period to Statehood, 1869–1906 2. The Ghost Dance, 1890–1916 3. Christianity and Peyotism in the Postallotment Era 4. Peyotism and Christianity after World War II Conclusion: Indigenized Christianity and Spirituality Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisIn Walking to Magdalena, Seth Schermerhorn explores a question that is central to the interface of religious studies and Native American and indigenous studies: What have Native peoples made of Christianity? By focusing on the annual pilgrimage of the Tohono O’odham to Magdalena in Sonora, Mexico, Schermerhorn examines how these indigenous people of southern Arizona have made Christianity their own. This walk serves as the entry point for larger questions about what the Tohono O’odham have made of Christianity. With scholarly rigor and passionate empathy, Schermerhorn offers a deep understanding of Tohono O’odham Christian traditions as practiced in everyday life and in the words of the O’odham themselves. The author’s rich ethnographic description and analyses are also drawn from his experiences accompanying a group ofO’odham walkers on their pilgrimage to Saint Francis in Magdalena. For many years scholars have agreed thaTrade Review“In the tradition of Keith Basso’s Wisdom Sits in Places, Seth Schermerhorn’s Walking to Magdalena grounds the study of Native American religion, and in this case Tohono O’odham Catholicism, in a profoundly sophisticated sense of place and deliberate movement across ancestral landscapes. Theoretically informed and tangibly grounded in respectful relationships with Tohono O’odham elders, Walking to Magdalena is as humble a book as it is game-changing. We come to think differently about pilgrimage, the indigenization of Christianity, and what it might mean to become fully human.”—Michael D. McNally, John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Professor of Religion at Carleton College"With methodological sophistication, sound original arguments, emic sensitivity, and even a good dose of self-aware, self-deprecating humor, Walking to Magdalena may very well become a young classic in the study of Native American Christianity."—David J. Howlett, Journal of the American Academy of Religion"[Schermerhorn] provokes in a wonderful way. . . . Walking to Magdalena succeeds as a study of walking and as a study in listening, and as such will be a welcome contribution across several fields within religious studies."—Kathleen Holscher, Journal of Religion"Walking to Magdalena makes many original contributions to the anthropology of the Southwest, and readers interested in these theoretical discussions (from ontology to transnationalism) will profit enormously from poring over the rich and sensitive ethnography in this book. As such, this book makes a number of important contributions to anthropology—as well as to the allied disciplines of Native American studies, history, and religious studies."—Sean O’Neill, Journal of Anthropological Research"Probably not since Ruth M. Underhill’s Singing for Power: The Song Magic of the Papago Indians of Southern Arizona . . . has anyone devoted a study to O’odham pilgrimage traditions. . . . Students of O’odham culture and history now have a worthy companion to Underhill’s seminal text."—David Martinez, Kiva: Journal of Southwestern Anthropology & History"Twenty years ago, Michael D. McNally proposed a compelling framework for decolonizing the study of Native American religions. . . . Nowhere since has that approach found greater resonance than in Seth Schermerhorn’s Walking to Magdalena, a terrific new book that reformulates McNally’s historiographical method as ethnographic practice."—Maxine Allison Vande Vaarst, Western Historical Quarterly"Walking to Magdalena is a fine ethnography that contributes to the emerging understanding of embodiment, emplacement, and religious co-existence or layering in contemporary cultures. Schermerhorn demonstrates a mastery of several bodies of academic literature, including anthropology and religious studies."—Jack David Eller, Reading Religion"This is a worthwhile text that demonstrates the deep importance and meaning that O’odham and other Indigenous peoples convey as they complete their yearly walk to Magdalena."—Juan A. Avila-Hernandez, Native American and Indigenous Studies"The subject-matter of the book is original: a decade-long partnership with the O'odham, built on trust, offers the reader insights into contemporary, every-day, lived religious experiences of this Indigenous Catholic community. . . . The conscious revelation of self, as it sits alongside the presentation of the O'odham, allows the author to acknowledge his position as the author, without effacing the co-production of this work with his partners in the O'odham community."—Kathryn N. Gray, Transmotion"This book will be of interest to those concerned with Native American Christianities, theories of pilgrimage, and the interaction between selfhood and place. Scholars of Tohono O’odham culture will be particularly drawn to this text, which provides such a careful analysis of material culture and song work."—Suzanne Crawford O’Brien, Material ReligionTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Tohono O’odham Pronunciation Guide Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Personhood and Place 2. O’odham Songscapes 3. Walkers and Their Staffs 4. Walking to Magdalena 5. Writing O’odham History Conclusion Appendix 1: O’odham Religious History and the Magdalena Pilgrimage Appendix 2: O’odham Speech Genres Notes Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis[LaPier’s] book refreshingly is tied to her extended family, especially its women, instead of the generalized ‘Blackfoot’ of most outside ethnographers. Readable in style, [Invisible Reality] conveys the self-respect and confidence that paternalist governance and poverty could not defeat.—A. B. Kehoe,ChoiceRosalyn R. LaPier demonstrates that Blackfeet history is incomplete without an understanding of the Blackfeet people’s relationship and mode of interaction with the “invisible reality” of the supernatural world. Religious beliefs provided the Blackfeet with continuity through privations and changing times. The stories they passed to new generations and outsiders reveal the fundamental philosophy of Blackfeet existence, namely the belief that they could alter, change, or control nature to suit their needs and that they were able to do so with the assistance of supernatural allies. The Blackfeet did not believe thTrade Review“[LaPier’s] book refreshingly is tied to her extended family, especially its women, instead of the generalized ‘Blackfoot’ of most outside ethnographers. Readable in style, [Invisible Reality] conveys the self-respect and confidence that paternalist governance and poverty could not defeat.”—A. B. Kehoe, Choice “Rosalyn LaPier guides us through the meanings the Blackfeet community has attached to the plants and natural phenomena that surround them and at the same time makes clear the boundless complexity and stunning beauty of this indigenous cultural tradition.”—Frederick E. Hoxie, Swanlund Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and editor of The Oxford Handbook of American Indian History “This is an important, accomplished, creative, [and] imaginative history that zings with original insights.”—Sarah Carter, professor and the Henry Marshall Tory Chair of the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta and editor of Montana Women Homesteaders: A Field of One’s Own“An important book that tackles some interesting philosophical issues in epistemology and ontology from a Native American perspective, [Invisible Reality] does so with a critical eye regarding change under colonization and modernity.”—Patricia Albers, professor of American Indian studies and anthropology at the University of Minnesota and coauthor of The Hidden Half: Studies of Plains Indian WomenTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Something Vital Was Missing 1. No Nothing: The Blackfeet Reservation in 1910 2. Invisible Reality: The Blackfeet Universe 3. Visible Reality: The Saokiotapi 4. Closed Season: The Blackfeet Winter 5. Opened Season: The Blackfeet Summer 6. Storytakers: Ethnographers Visit the Blackfeet 7. All That Remain: From the Prairies to the Atomic Age Epilogue: And the Dogs Have Separated Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIndigenous and African Diaspora Religions in the Americas offers an introduction and nine original perspectives on religious and cultural traditions emanating from communities in several regions across the Americas.Trade Review“One of the benefits of this book is the contributors’ use of a wide range of methodologies and approaches. There are few existing studies in comparative religion that offer such an intellectual feast to nourish the religious and critical mind. This is an excellent and well-researched book that is desperately needed in contemporary scholarship in religion and comparative religion.”—Celucien L. Joseph, author of Theologizing in Black: On Africana Theological Ethics and AnthropologyTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgements Introduction: Indigenous and African Diaspora Religions in the Americas: Multidisciplinary ApproachesBenjamin Hebblethwaite and Silke Jansen 1. Meeting Grounds in Saint-Domingue and the Emergence of Haitian Vodou; An Ecological ApproachLeGrace Benson 2. The Many Faces of Marie Laveau and Voudou in Nineteenth-century New OrleansEleanor A. Laughlin 3. Shamanic Healing, Initiation, and Ritual Technique in a Kwak’wala Narrative from the Boas-Hunt Corpus Daniel J. Frim4. Language and Rituals of the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit of the Kongos of Villa Mella José María Santos Rovira 5. “A Joyful Place”: Baniwa Jaguar Shamans’ Songs and Historical Change Robin M. Wright 6. Embodying, Reshaping, and Combining the Past and the Future: A Mapuche Shaman’s Historical Agency in Chile Ana Mariella Bacigalupo 7. Other Knowledges: Tensions and Negotiation between Religion, Knowledges, and School in a Wixárika community Francisco Iritamei Benítez de la Cruz and Itxaso García Chapinal 8. “It’s the Song that Cures”: Healing, Music, and Ayahuasca in Brazil’s Santo Daime Churches Dereck Daschke 9. Finding Orisha in New Places Jeffery M. Gonzalez ContributorsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisIndigenous and African Diaspora Religions in the Americas offers an introduction and nine original perspectives on religious and cultural traditions emanating from communities in several regions across the Americas.Trade Review“One of the benefits of this book is the contributors’ use of a wide range of methodologies and approaches. There are few existing studies in comparative religion that offer such an intellectual feast to nourish the religious and critical mind. This is an excellent and well-researched book that is desperately needed in contemporary scholarship in religion and comparative religion.”—Celucien L. Joseph, author of Theologizing in Black: On Africana Theological Ethics and AnthropologyTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgements Introduction: Indigenous and African Diaspora Religions in the Americas: Multidisciplinary ApproachesBenjamin Hebblethwaite and Silke Jansen 1. Meeting Grounds in Saint-Domingue and the Emergence of Haitian Vodou; An Ecological ApproachLeGrace Benson 2. The Many Faces of Marie Laveau and Voudou in Nineteenth-century New OrleansEleanor A. Laughlin 3. Shamanic Healing, Initiation, and Ritual Technique in a Kwak’wala Narrative from the Boas-Hunt Corpus Daniel J. Frim4. Language and Rituals of the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit of the Kongos of Villa Mella José María Santos Rovira 5. “A Joyful Place”: Baniwa Jaguar Shamans’ Songs and Historical Change Robin M. Wright 6. Embodying, Reshaping, and Combining the Past and the Future: A Mapuche Shaman’s Historical Agency in Chile Ana Mariella Bacigalupo 7. Other Knowledges: Tensions and Negotiation between Religion, Knowledges, and School in a Wixárika community Francisco Iritamei Benítez de la Cruz and Itxaso García Chapinal 8. “It’s the Song that Cures”: Healing, Music, and Ayahuasca in Brazil’s Santo Daime Churches Dereck Daschke 9. Finding Orisha in New Places Jeffery M. Gonzalez ContributorsNotesIndex

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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