ABOUT THIS BOOK

In Fragments of Bone, thirteen essayists discuss African religions as forms of resistance and survival in the face of Western cultural hegemony and imperialism. The collection presents scholars working outside of the Western tradition with backgrounds in a variety of disciplines, genders, and nationalities. These experts draw on research, fieldwork, personal interviews, and spiritual introspection to support a provocative thesis: that fragments of ancestral traditions are fluidly interwoven into New World African religions as creolized rituals, symbolic systems, and cultural identities.

Contributors: Osei-Mensah Aborampah, Niyi Afolabi, Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, Randy P. Conner, T. J. Desch-Obi, Ina Johanna Fandrich, Kean Gibson, Marilyn Houlberg, Nancy B. Mikelsons, Roberto Nodal, Rafael Ocasio, Miguel "Willie" Ramos, and Denise Ferreira da Silva

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Patrick Bellegarde-Smith is a professor emeritus of Africology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the author of Haiti: The Breached Citadel and other books.

REVIEWS

"Takes the reader to a deeper and broader understanding of Afro-Caribbean traditions than we have had before. . . . The cumulative effect of this unusual collection moves religions such as Vodou, Santeria, Palo, and Candomblé out of the realm of the exotic and into a merited position among progressive religious alternatives in the contemporary world."--Karen McCarthy Brown, author of Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn

"Impeccably researched, persuasively argued, and engagingly written. . . . This is the most comprehensive, creative collection available, and should become the standard text for courses on the subject in the United States and abroad."--Richard Brent Turner, University of Iowa

"This is a rare and important work. Fragments of Bone makes major progress toward reconstructing and rehabilitating historically subjugated indigenous spirituality. It is innovative, informative, and of the utmost significance."--Claudine Michel, author of Aspects moraux et educatifs du Vodou haitien

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
 Introduction
 Patrick Bellegarde Smith
 1. Magique Marasa: The Ritual Cosmos of Twins and Other Sacred
 Children
 Marilyn Houlberg
 2. Out of frica? Umbanda and the "Ordering" of the Modern
 Brazilian Space
 Denise Ferreira da Silva
 3. The Spirit of the Thing: Religious Thought and
 Social/Historical Memory
 Patrick Bellegarde-Smith
 4. Deadly Dances: The Spiritual Dimensions of Kongo-Angolan
 Martial Art Traditions in the New World
 T. J. Desch-Obi
 5. Dancing to the Beat of Babalu Aye: Santería and Cuban Popular
 Culture
 Rafael Ocasio
 6. Axé: Invocation of Candomblé and Afro-Brazilian Gods in
 Brazilian Cultural Production (for Abdias do Nascimento)
 Niyi Afolabi
 7. Out of the Same Bowl: Religious Beliefs and Practices in Akan
 Communities in Ghana and Jamaica
 Osei-Mensah Aborampah
 8. Rainbow's Children: Gender and Sexual Diversity in African-
 Diasporic Spiritual Traditions
 Randy P. Conner
 9. Let the Power Flow: Ebó as a Healing Mechanism in Lukumi
 Orisha Worship
 Roberto Nodal and Miguel "Willie" Ramos
 10. Defiant African Sisterhoods: The Voodoo Arrests of the 1850s
 and 1860s in New Orleans
 Ina Johanna Fandrich
 11. Guyana Comfa and Cultural Identity
 Kean Gibson
 12. Homage to Eva Fernandez Bravo, Espiritista Cruzado
 Nancy B. Mikelsons
 Appendix
 Selected Bibliography
 Index
 Contributors