The Anthropology of Afro-Atlantic Cultures

optional courses

This course focuses on the anthropology Afro-Atlantic cultures, the main regions of analysis, the West African influence in the Americas, and the most relevant topics.

The course gives students a general introduction to the anthropology of AfroAtlantic cultures. It centers on the historical impact of the slave trade from West Africa to the Americas and the importance of religion, music, and art in establishing a general cultural area of study. It also provides students with ethnographic knowledge of the anthropology developed in West Africa and the African influence in the Caribbean, Mexico, Brazil, and the United States.

Assunção, Matthias. 2005. Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martian Art. London: Routledge.

Crosson, Brent. 2020. Experiments with Power: Obeah and the Remaking of Religion in Trinidad. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

Cunin, Elizabeth, and Hoffman, Odile (eds.). 2013. Blackness and Mestizaje in Mexico and Central America. London: Africa World Press.

Eyerman, Ron. 2003. Cultural Trauma: Slavery and the Formation of African American Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fardon, Richard. 2014. Tiger in an African Palace, and Other Thoughts About Identification and Transformation. Mankon: Langaa Research and Publishing CIG.

Fryer, Peter. 2000. Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil. London: Pluto Press.

Fu-Kiau, Kimbwandende K. B. 2001. African Cosmology of The Bântu-Kôngo: Principles of Life and Living. Canada: Athelia Henrietta Press.

Herskovits, Melville. 1941. The Myth of the Negro Past. New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publishers.

Jackson, Michael. 2004. In Sierra Leone. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Kachur, Matthew. 2006. The Slave Trade. New York: Chelsea House Publishers.

Lovell, Nadia. 2002. Cord of Blood: Possession and the Making of Voodoo. London: Pluto Press.

Oyéwúmí, Oyèrónké. 1997. The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Palmié, Stephan. 1995. “Against Syncretism: ‘Africanizing’ and ‘Cubanizing’ discourses in North American ‘orisa’ worship”, pp. 73-104. in Richard Fardon (ed.), Counterworks: Managing the Diversity of knowledge. London: Routledge.

Palmié, Stephan. 2008. Africas of the Americas: Beyond the Search for Origins in the Study of Afro-Atlantic Religions. Leiden and Boston: Brill.

Palmié, Stephan. 2013. The Cooking of History: How Not to Study Afro-Cuban Religion. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

Parés, Luis Nicolau, and Sansi, Roger (eds.). 2011. Sorcery in the Black Atlantic. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

Paton, Diana, and Forde, Maarit (eds.). 2012. Obeah and Other Powers: The Politics of Caribbean Religion and Healing. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Price, Richard, and Price, Sally. 2003. The Root of Roots: Or, How Afro-American Anthropology Got Its Start. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.

Rouch, Jean.2003. Ciné-Ethnography. Edited and translated by Steven Feld. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Turner, Victor. 1985. “Conflict in Social Anthropological and Psychoanalytical Theory: Umbanda in Rio de Janeiro”, pp.119-150. In Victor Turner, On the Edge of the Bush: Anthropology as Experience. Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press.

Wafer, Jim. 1991. The Taste of Blood: Spirit Possession in Brazilian Candomblé. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

At the end of the course, students will learn about the importance of AfroAtlantic cultures in the world, and the anthropology developed in this broad area. They will identify the extent of West African influences in the religions, music, arts, and politics of the Americas.

A final take-home exam about the course topics, with a value of 60%. Participation in class and exposition of a relevant theme: 40%

Attendance is mandatory.