In Afroindigenization, Catherine A. John addresses the underbelly of spiritual resilience shaping a range of African diasporic institutions, traditions, and practices. John argues that repressed forms of indigenous African knowledge systems manifest in a myriad of culturally embodied ways in African diaspora spaces and places. From mermaid lore in rural Jamaica to hip-hop trance-induced dance in Los Angeles to the stories of two debaters-turned-social-media-influencers, John shows how the descendants of enslaved Africans express the signs and substance of their Afroindigenous power through collective creativity. Drawing from scholars such as Vèvè Clark, Hortense Spillers, Dianne Stewart, and Sylvia Wynter, Afroindigenization exposes the cultural and spiritual ancestries that lie at the heart of modern black identities and practices.

Catherine A. John is Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Rhode Island and author of Clear Word and Third Sight: Folk Groundings and Diasporic Consciousness in African Caribbean Writing, published by Duke University Press.

Acknowledgments  ix
Introduction. KRIK: Afroindigenization and Marasa Consciousness  1
1. Mermaids in Woodside, Jamaica: Submerged Consciousness  37
2. Mountings in Rize: Becoming the Horse and the Turn Loose in Hip-Hop  64
3. Ìyá but Not Western Woman: A Grassroots Formulation of the Afrospora Feminine  106
4. Enter the Dragons of Debate: Rashid Campbell and George Lee’s 2014 Run  149
Afterword. KRAK: “Jack Mandora Mi Nuh Choose None”  184
Notes  189
Bibliography  213
Index