ABOUT THIS BOOK

In 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.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Roberto Strongman is Associate Professor of Comparative Caribbean Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

REVIEWS

"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 CONTENTS

Acknowledgments 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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