Archives of Conjure

Archives of Conjure

Author: Solimar Otero

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2020-03-24

Total Pages: 137

ISBN-13: 0231550766

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In Afrolatinx religious practices such as Cuban Espiritismo, Puerto Rican Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé, the dead tell stories. Communicating with and through mediums’ bodies, they give advice, make requests, and propose future rituals, creating a living archive that is coproduced by the dead. In this book, Solimar Otero explores how Afrolatinx spirits guide collaborative spiritual-scholarly activist work through rituals and the creation of material culture. By examining spirit mediumship through a Caribbean cross-cultural poetics, she shows how divinities and ancestors serve as active agents in shaping the experiences of gender, sexuality, and race. Otero argues that what she calls archives of conjure are produced through residual transcriptions or reverberations of the stories of the dead whose archives are stitched, beaded, smoked, and washed into official and unofficial repositories. She investigates how sites like the ocean, rivers, and institutional archives create connected contexts for unlocking the spatial activation of residual transcriptions. Drawing on over ten years of archival research and fieldwork in Cuba, Otero centers the storytelling practices of Afrolatinx women and LGBTQ spiritual practitioners alongside Caribbean literature and performance. Archives of Conjure offers vital new perspectives on ephemerality, temporality, and material culture, unraveling undertheorized questions about how spirits shape communities of practice, ethnography, literature, and history and revealing the deeply connected nature of art, scholarship, and worship.


Book Synopsis Archives of Conjure by : Solimar Otero

Download or read book Archives of Conjure written by Solimar Otero and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Afrolatinx religious practices such as Cuban Espiritismo, Puerto Rican Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé, the dead tell stories. Communicating with and through mediums’ bodies, they give advice, make requests, and propose future rituals, creating a living archive that is coproduced by the dead. In this book, Solimar Otero explores how Afrolatinx spirits guide collaborative spiritual-scholarly activist work through rituals and the creation of material culture. By examining spirit mediumship through a Caribbean cross-cultural poetics, she shows how divinities and ancestors serve as active agents in shaping the experiences of gender, sexuality, and race. Otero argues that what she calls archives of conjure are produced through residual transcriptions or reverberations of the stories of the dead whose archives are stitched, beaded, smoked, and washed into official and unofficial repositories. She investigates how sites like the ocean, rivers, and institutional archives create connected contexts for unlocking the spatial activation of residual transcriptions. Drawing on over ten years of archival research and fieldwork in Cuba, Otero centers the storytelling practices of Afrolatinx women and LGBTQ spiritual practitioners alongside Caribbean literature and performance. Archives of Conjure offers vital new perspectives on ephemerality, temporality, and material culture, unraveling undertheorized questions about how spirits shape communities of practice, ethnography, literature, and history and revealing the deeply connected nature of art, scholarship, and worship.

The Conjure Woman

The Conjure Woman

Author: Charles W. Chesnutt

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2019-08-27

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 035987889X

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Originally released in 1899, this seminal collection of short stories present the complexities of the Black-American experience in the Postbellum South. Chesnutt's often subversive tales challenge popular representations of racial identity.


Book Synopsis The Conjure Woman by : Charles W. Chesnutt

Download or read book The Conjure Woman written by Charles W. Chesnutt and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-08-27 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally released in 1899, this seminal collection of short stories present the complexities of the Black-American experience in the Postbellum South. Chesnutt's often subversive tales challenge popular representations of racial identity.

Old Style Conjure

Old Style Conjure

Author: Starr Casas

Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser

Published: 2017-01-01

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1578636221

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Conjure, hoodoo, rootwork - these are all names for southern American folk magic. Conjure first emerged in the days of slavery and plantations and is widely considered among the most potent forms of magic. Its popularity continues to increase, both in the United States and worldwide. This book is a guide to using conjure to achieve love, success, safety, prosperity, and spiritual fulfillment. Author Starr Casas, a hereditary master of the art, introduces readers to the history and philosophy of conjure and provides practical information for using it. Featuring Casas's own rituals, spells, and home recipes, the book provides useful information suitable for novices and seasoned practitioners alike. In its pages, you'll learn about: Bone reading Candle burning Conjure bags Building your own conjure altar At last, a book that answers every questions you had about Conjure but were afraid to ask! Old Style Conjure is an absolute treasure. It?s a must-read for every practitioner of the ancient arts and a must-have for every magical library! - Dorothy Morrison, author of Everyday Magic, The Craft and Utterly Wicked.


Book Synopsis Old Style Conjure by : Starr Casas

Download or read book Old Style Conjure written by Starr Casas and published by Red Wheel/Weiser. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conjure, hoodoo, rootwork - these are all names for southern American folk magic. Conjure first emerged in the days of slavery and plantations and is widely considered among the most potent forms of magic. Its popularity continues to increase, both in the United States and worldwide. This book is a guide to using conjure to achieve love, success, safety, prosperity, and spiritual fulfillment. Author Starr Casas, a hereditary master of the art, introduces readers to the history and philosophy of conjure and provides practical information for using it. Featuring Casas's own rituals, spells, and home recipes, the book provides useful information suitable for novices and seasoned practitioners alike. In its pages, you'll learn about: Bone reading Candle burning Conjure bags Building your own conjure altar At last, a book that answers every questions you had about Conjure but were afraid to ask! Old Style Conjure is an absolute treasure. It?s a must-read for every practitioner of the ancient arts and a must-have for every magical library! - Dorothy Morrison, author of Everyday Magic, The Craft and Utterly Wicked.

Conjure Women

Conjure Women

Author: Afia Atakora

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks

Published: 2021-02-23

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 0525511504

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A mother and daughter with a shared talent for healing—and for the conjuring of curses—are at the heart of this dazzling first novel WINNER OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN HISTORIANS PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • NPR • Parade • Book Riot • PopMatters “Lush, irresistible . . . It took me into the hearts of women I could otherwise never know. I was transported.”—Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of White Houses and Away Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a midwife; and their master’s daughter Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women and their community come to a head at the beginning of a war and at the birth of an accursed child, who sets the townspeople alight with fear and a spreading superstition that threatens their newly won, tenuous freedom. Magnificently written, brilliantly researched, richly imagined, Conjure Women moves back and forth in time to tell the haunting story of Rue, Varina, and May Belle, their passions and friendships, and the lengths they will go to save themselves and those they love. LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE “[A] haunting, promising debut . . . Through complex characters and bewitching prose, Atakora offers a stirring portrait of the power conferred between the enslaved women. This powerful tale of moral ambiguity amid inarguable injustice stands with Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An engrossing debut . . . Atakora structures a plot with plenty of satisfying twists. Life in the immediate aftermath of slavery is powerfully rendered in this impressive first novel.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)


Book Synopsis Conjure Women by : Afia Atakora

Download or read book Conjure Women written by Afia Atakora and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2021-02-23 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mother and daughter with a shared talent for healing—and for the conjuring of curses—are at the heart of this dazzling first novel WINNER OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN HISTORIANS PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • NPR • Parade • Book Riot • PopMatters “Lush, irresistible . . . It took me into the hearts of women I could otherwise never know. I was transported.”—Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of White Houses and Away Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a midwife; and their master’s daughter Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women and their community come to a head at the beginning of a war and at the birth of an accursed child, who sets the townspeople alight with fear and a spreading superstition that threatens their newly won, tenuous freedom. Magnificently written, brilliantly researched, richly imagined, Conjure Women moves back and forth in time to tell the haunting story of Rue, Varina, and May Belle, their passions and friendships, and the lengths they will go to save themselves and those they love. LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE “[A] haunting, promising debut . . . Through complex characters and bewitching prose, Atakora offers a stirring portrait of the power conferred between the enslaved women. This powerful tale of moral ambiguity amid inarguable injustice stands with Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An engrossing debut . . . Atakora structures a plot with plenty of satisfying twists. Life in the immediate aftermath of slavery is powerfully rendered in this impressive first novel.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Afro-Cuban Diasporas in the Atlantic World

Afro-Cuban Diasporas in the Atlantic World

Author: Solimar Otero

Publisher: University Rochester Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1580463266

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Afro-Cuban Diasporas in the Atlantic World explores how Yoruba and Afro-Cuban communities moved across the Atlantic between the Americas and Africa in successive waves in the nineteenth century. In Havana, Yoruba slaves from Lagos banded together to buy their freedom and sail home to Nigeria. Once in Lagos, this Cuban repatriate community became known as the Aguda. This community built their own neighborhood that celebrated their Afrolatino heritage. For these Yoruba and Afro-Cuban diasporic populations, nostalgic constructions of family and community play the role of narrating and locating a longed-for home. By providing a link between the workings of nostalgia and the construction of home, this volume re-theorizes cultural imaginaries as a source for diasporic community reinvention. Through ethnographic fieldwork and research in folkloristics, Otero reveals that the Aguda identify strongly with their Afro-Cuban roots in contemporary times. Their fluid identity moves from Yoruba to Cuban, and back again, in a manner that illustrates the truly cyclical nature of transnational Atlantic community affiliation. Solimar Otero is Associate Professor of English and a folklorist at Louisiana State University. Her research centers on gender, sexuality, Afro-Caribbean spirituality, and Yoruba traditional religion in folklore, literature and ethnography. Dr. Otero is the recipient of a Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund grant (2013), a fellowship at the Harvard Divinity School's Women's Studies in Religion Program (2009 to 2010), and a Fulbright award (2001).


Book Synopsis Afro-Cuban Diasporas in the Atlantic World by : Solimar Otero

Download or read book Afro-Cuban Diasporas in the Atlantic World written by Solimar Otero and published by University Rochester Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Afro-Cuban Diasporas in the Atlantic World explores how Yoruba and Afro-Cuban communities moved across the Atlantic between the Americas and Africa in successive waves in the nineteenth century. In Havana, Yoruba slaves from Lagos banded together to buy their freedom and sail home to Nigeria. Once in Lagos, this Cuban repatriate community became known as the Aguda. This community built their own neighborhood that celebrated their Afrolatino heritage. For these Yoruba and Afro-Cuban diasporic populations, nostalgic constructions of family and community play the role of narrating and locating a longed-for home. By providing a link between the workings of nostalgia and the construction of home, this volume re-theorizes cultural imaginaries as a source for diasporic community reinvention. Through ethnographic fieldwork and research in folkloristics, Otero reveals that the Aguda identify strongly with their Afro-Cuban roots in contemporary times. Their fluid identity moves from Yoruba to Cuban, and back again, in a manner that illustrates the truly cyclical nature of transnational Atlantic community affiliation. Solimar Otero is Associate Professor of English and a folklorist at Louisiana State University. Her research centers on gender, sexuality, Afro-Caribbean spirituality, and Yoruba traditional religion in folklore, literature and ethnography. Dr. Otero is the recipient of a Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund grant (2013), a fellowship at the Harvard Divinity School's Women's Studies in Religion Program (2009 to 2010), and a Fulbright award (2001).

Black Magic

Black Magic

Author: Yvonne P. Chireau

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2006-11-20

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 0520249887

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"Chireau has written a marvelous text on an important dimension of African American religious culture. Expanding beyond the usual focus of scholarship on Christianity, she describes and analyzes the world of magical-medical-religious practice, challenging hallowed distinctions among "religion" and "magic." Anyone interested in African American religion will need to reckon seriously with Chireau's text on conjure."—Albert J. Raboteau, Princeton University "Deprived of their own traditions and defined as chattel, enslaved Africans formed a new orientation in America. Conjuring—operating alongside of and within both the remnants of African culture and the acquired traditions of North America—served as a theoretical and practical mode of deciphering and divining within this, enabling them to create an alternate meaning of life in the New World. Chireau's is the first full-scale treatment of this important dimension of African American culture and religion. A wonderful book!"—Charles H. Long, Professor of History of Religions University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Significations: Signs, Symbols and Images in the Interpretation of Religion


Book Synopsis Black Magic by : Yvonne P. Chireau

Download or read book Black Magic written by Yvonne P. Chireau and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2006-11-20 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Chireau has written a marvelous text on an important dimension of African American religious culture. Expanding beyond the usual focus of scholarship on Christianity, she describes and analyzes the world of magical-medical-religious practice, challenging hallowed distinctions among "religion" and "magic." Anyone interested in African American religion will need to reckon seriously with Chireau's text on conjure."—Albert J. Raboteau, Princeton University "Deprived of their own traditions and defined as chattel, enslaved Africans formed a new orientation in America. Conjuring—operating alongside of and within both the remnants of African culture and the acquired traditions of North America—served as a theoretical and practical mode of deciphering and divining within this, enabling them to create an alternate meaning of life in the New World. Chireau's is the first full-scale treatment of this important dimension of African American culture and religion. A wonderful book!"—Charles H. Long, Professor of History of Religions University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Significations: Signs, Symbols and Images in the Interpretation of Religion

The Ethnic Avant-Garde

The Ethnic Avant-Garde

Author: Steven S. Lee

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2015-10-06

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 0231540116

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During the 1920s and 1930s, American minority artists and writers collaborated extensively with the Soviet avant-garde, seeking to build a revolutionary society that would end racial discrimination and advance progressive art. Making what Claude McKay called "the magic pilgrimage" to the Soviet Union, these intellectuals placed themselves at the forefront of modernism, using radical cultural and political experiments to reimagine identity and decenter the West. Shining rare light on these efforts, The Ethnic Avant-Garde makes a unique contribution to interwar literary, political, and art history, drawing extensively on Russian archives, travel narratives, and artistic exchanges to establish the parameters of an undervalued "ethnic avant-garde." These writers and artists cohered around distinct forms that mirrored Soviet techniques of montage, fragment, and interruption. They orbited interwar Moscow, where the international avant-garde converged with the Communist International. The book explores Vladimir Mayakovsky's 1925 visit to New York City via Cuba and Mexico, during which he wrote Russian-language poetry in an "Afro-Cuban" voice; Langston Hughes's translations of these poems while in Moscow, which he visited to assist on a Soviet film about African American life; a futurist play condemning Western imperialism in China, which became Broadway's first major production to feature a predominantly Asian American cast; and efforts to imagine the Bolshevik Revolution as Jewish messianic arrest, followed by the slow political disenchantment of the New York Intellectuals. Through an absorbing collage of cross-ethnic encounters that also include Herbert Biberman, Sergei Eisenstein, Paul Robeson, and Vladimir Tatlin, this work remaps global modernism along minority and Soviet-centered lines, further advancing the avant-garde project of seeing the world anew.


Book Synopsis The Ethnic Avant-Garde by : Steven S. Lee

Download or read book The Ethnic Avant-Garde written by Steven S. Lee and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 1920s and 1930s, American minority artists and writers collaborated extensively with the Soviet avant-garde, seeking to build a revolutionary society that would end racial discrimination and advance progressive art. Making what Claude McKay called "the magic pilgrimage" to the Soviet Union, these intellectuals placed themselves at the forefront of modernism, using radical cultural and political experiments to reimagine identity and decenter the West. Shining rare light on these efforts, The Ethnic Avant-Garde makes a unique contribution to interwar literary, political, and art history, drawing extensively on Russian archives, travel narratives, and artistic exchanges to establish the parameters of an undervalued "ethnic avant-garde." These writers and artists cohered around distinct forms that mirrored Soviet techniques of montage, fragment, and interruption. They orbited interwar Moscow, where the international avant-garde converged with the Communist International. The book explores Vladimir Mayakovsky's 1925 visit to New York City via Cuba and Mexico, during which he wrote Russian-language poetry in an "Afro-Cuban" voice; Langston Hughes's translations of these poems while in Moscow, which he visited to assist on a Soviet film about African American life; a futurist play condemning Western imperialism in China, which became Broadway's first major production to feature a predominantly Asian American cast; and efforts to imagine the Bolshevik Revolution as Jewish messianic arrest, followed by the slow political disenchantment of the New York Intellectuals. Through an absorbing collage of cross-ethnic encounters that also include Herbert Biberman, Sergei Eisenstein, Paul Robeson, and Vladimir Tatlin, this work remaps global modernism along minority and Soviet-centered lines, further advancing the avant-garde project of seeing the world anew.

Conjure; Selected Poems, 1963-1970

Conjure; Selected Poems, 1963-1970

Author: Ishmael Reed

Publisher:

Published: 1972

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Conjure; Selected Poems, 1963-1970 by : Ishmael Reed

Download or read book Conjure; Selected Poems, 1963-1970 written by Ishmael Reed and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Sounding the Break

Sounding the Break

Author: Jason Frydman

Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Published: 2014-04-03

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 0813935741

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The idea of "world literature" has served as a crucial though underappreciated interlocutor for African diasporic writers, informing their involvement in processes of circulation, translation, and revision that have been identified as the hallmarks of the contemporary era of world literature. Yet in spite of their participation in world systems before and after European hegemony, Africa and the African diaspora have been excluded from the networks and archives of world literature. In Sounding the Break, Jason Frydman attempts to redress this exclusion by drawing on historiography, ethnography, and archival sources to show how writers such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Alejo Carpentier, Derek Walcott, Maryse Condé, and Toni Morrison have complicated both Eurocentric and Afrocentric categories of literary and cultural production. Through their engagement with and revision of the European world literature discourse, he contends, these writers conjure a deep history of "literary traffic" whose expressions are always already cosmopolitan, embedded in the long histories of cultural and economic exchange between Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is precisely the New World American location of these writers, Frydman concludes, that makes possible this revisionary perspective on the idea of (Old) World literature.


Book Synopsis Sounding the Break by : Jason Frydman

Download or read book Sounding the Break written by Jason Frydman and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2014-04-03 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of "world literature" has served as a crucial though underappreciated interlocutor for African diasporic writers, informing their involvement in processes of circulation, translation, and revision that have been identified as the hallmarks of the contemporary era of world literature. Yet in spite of their participation in world systems before and after European hegemony, Africa and the African diaspora have been excluded from the networks and archives of world literature. In Sounding the Break, Jason Frydman attempts to redress this exclusion by drawing on historiography, ethnography, and archival sources to show how writers such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Alejo Carpentier, Derek Walcott, Maryse Condé, and Toni Morrison have complicated both Eurocentric and Afrocentric categories of literary and cultural production. Through their engagement with and revision of the European world literature discourse, he contends, these writers conjure a deep history of "literary traffic" whose expressions are always already cosmopolitan, embedded in the long histories of cultural and economic exchange between Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is precisely the New World American location of these writers, Frydman concludes, that makes possible this revisionary perspective on the idea of (Old) World literature.

Modern Witch

Modern Witch

Author: Devin Hunter

Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide

Published: 2020-02-08

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 0738757462

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Spells, Rituals, and Workings for the Modern Witch Filled with magical workings, lush photography, and creative inspiration, Modern Witch is a dazzling display of art and craft. Esthetic meets esoteric as author Devin Hunter shows how to work magic for love, healing, protection, prosperity, and divination. Color photos and artistic renderings show essential aspects of the workings, helping you develop a successful magical practice that achieves the results you desire. With dozens of spells, rituals, and recipes from the personal grimoire of a working witch, this book empowers you to work with dynamic magical energies and fulfill your deepest spiritual, physical, and emotional needs. With this powerful magic, you don't need to wait for some unknown fate; you can take charge and create your own. Discover an authentic collection of spells, recipes, charms, and correspondences that have been used and refined by the author for nearly twenty years. Combined with the author's original photographs and art, these teachings illuminate the five most popular types of magical entreaties: love, healing, protection, prosperity, and divination. Within these pages you will find spells and workings such as: A Love Magic Charm Bag • A Finger Scrying Spell • The Bottle of 1,000 Eyes • A Spell for a Correct Diagnosis • The Witch's Foot Spell • A Serpent Candle Spell • The Jupiter Budget Working • A Golem Fetish • The Prayer of Fortuna • A Self-Love Spell • The Honey Jar Spell • A Himmelsbrief for Success


Book Synopsis Modern Witch by : Devin Hunter

Download or read book Modern Witch written by Devin Hunter and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2020-02-08 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spells, Rituals, and Workings for the Modern Witch Filled with magical workings, lush photography, and creative inspiration, Modern Witch is a dazzling display of art and craft. Esthetic meets esoteric as author Devin Hunter shows how to work magic for love, healing, protection, prosperity, and divination. Color photos and artistic renderings show essential aspects of the workings, helping you develop a successful magical practice that achieves the results you desire. With dozens of spells, rituals, and recipes from the personal grimoire of a working witch, this book empowers you to work with dynamic magical energies and fulfill your deepest spiritual, physical, and emotional needs. With this powerful magic, you don't need to wait for some unknown fate; you can take charge and create your own. Discover an authentic collection of spells, recipes, charms, and correspondences that have been used and refined by the author for nearly twenty years. Combined with the author's original photographs and art, these teachings illuminate the five most popular types of magical entreaties: love, healing, protection, prosperity, and divination. Within these pages you will find spells and workings such as: A Love Magic Charm Bag • A Finger Scrying Spell • The Bottle of 1,000 Eyes • A Spell for a Correct Diagnosis • The Witch's Foot Spell • A Serpent Candle Spell • The Jupiter Budget Working • A Golem Fetish • The Prayer of Fortuna • A Self-Love Spell • The Honey Jar Spell • A Himmelsbrief for Success