Download or read book Oshun s Daughters written by Vanessa K. Valdés and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the ways in which the inclusion of African diasporic religious practices serves as a transgressive tool in narrative discourses in the Americas. Oshuns Daughters examines representations of African diasporic religions from novels and poems written by women in the United States, the Spanish Caribbean, and Brazil. In spite of differences in age, language, and nationality, these women writers all turn to variations of traditional Yoruba religion (Santería/Regla de Ocha and Candomblé) as a source of inspiration for creating portraits of womanhood. Within these religious systems, binaries that dominate European thoughtman/woman, mind/body, light/dark, good/evildo not function in the same way, as the emphasis is not on extremes but on balancing or reconciling these radical differences. Involvement with these African diasporic religions thus provides alternative models of womanhood that differ substantially from those found in dominant Western patriarchal culture, namely, that of virgin, asexual wife/mother, and whore. Instead we find images of the sexual woman, who enjoys her body without any sense of shame; the mother, who nurtures her children without sacrificing herself; and the warrior woman, who actively resists demands that she conform to one-dimensional stereotypes of womanhood.
Download or read book Osun across the Waters written by Joseph M. Murphy and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2001-10-09 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ã’sun is a brilliant deity whose imagery and worldwide devotion demand broad and deep scholarly reflection. Contributors to the ground-breaking Africa's Ogun, edited by Sandra Barnes (Indiana University Press, 1997), explored the complex nature of Ogun, the orisa who transforms life through iron and technology. Ã’sun across the Waters continues this exploration of Yoruba religion by documenting Ã’sun religion. Ã’sun presents a dynamic example of the resilience and renewed importance of traditional Yoruba images in negotiating spiritual experience, social identity, and political power in contemporary Africa and the African diaspora. The 17 contributors to Ã’sun across the Waters delineate the special dimensions of Ã’sun religion as it appears through multiple disciplines in multiple cultural contexts. Tracing the extent of Ã’sun traditions takes us across the waters and back again. Ã’sun traditions continue to grow and change as they flow and return from their sources in Africa and the Americas.
Download or read book Women in the Yoruba Religious Sphere written by Oyeronke Olajubu and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a wide range of oral and written sources, this book shows that women occupy a central place in the religious worldview and life of the Yoruba people and shows how men and women engage in mutually beneficial roles in the Yoruba religious sphere. It explores how gender issues play out in two Yoruba religious traditions—indigenous religion and Christianity in Southwestern Nigeria. Rather than shy away from illuminating the tensions between the prominent roles of Yoruba women in religion and their perceived marginalization, author Oyeronke Olajubu underscores how Yoruba women have challenged marginalization in ways unprecedented in other world religions.
Download or read book Shango s Son written by Dr Winmilawe and published by Gazing in Publishing. This book was released on 2013-06-30 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shango's Son is a short story based on ancient African knowledge (Yoruba Ifa). Shango has a son who becomes his companion and protector. The son has amazing abilities that help Shango succeed. The story, the colorful imagery, and even some African Yoruba vocabulary will enrich young and older readers alike!
Download or read book Oshun s Book of Mirrors written by Asia Rainey and published by Broken Levee Books. This book was released on 2021-05 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a dark world where all hope seems lost, Oshun's book of mirrors reveals the true definition of beauty.
Download or read book Diasporic Blackness written by Vanessa K. Valdés and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2017-03-15 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the life of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg through the lens of both Blackness and latinidad. A Black Puerto Ricanborn scholar, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (18741938) was a well-known collector and archivist whose personal library was the basis of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library. He was an autodidact who matched wits with university-educated men and women, as well as a prominent Freemason, a writer, and an institution-builder. While he spent much of his life in New York City, Schomburg was intimately involved in the cause of Cuban and Puerto Rican independence. In the aftermath of the Spanish-Cuban-American War of 1898, he would go on to cofound the Negro Society for Historical Research and lead the American Negro Academy, all the while collecting and assembling books, prints, pamphlets, articles, and other ephemera produced by Black men and women from across the Americas and Europe. His curated library collection at the New York Public Library emphasized the presence of African peoples and their descendants throughout the Americas and would serve as an indispensable resource for the luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. By offering a sustained look at the life of one of the most important figures of early twentieth-century New York City, this first book-length examination of Schomburgs life suggests new ways of understanding the intersections of both Blackness and latinidad.
Download or read book Obatala s Daughter Discovers True Friends written by Dr Winmilawe and published by . This book was released on 2015-09-07 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the ancient stories of the West African Yoruba people comes the colorful children's picture book "Obatala's Daughter Discovers True Friends." Obatala encourages his daughter Kemi to look for friends with good character. She has an exciting journey in which she learns that being superficial can bring trouble. However, with clarity and courage Kemi finds joy at last. The plot, the images and even some Yoruba vocabulary will dazzle young and older readers alike! This is the second book in the internationally renowned 'Yoruba Orisa Children's Series'. The first book is "Shango's Son."
Download or read book Bruised Hibiscus written by Elizabeth Nunez and published by One World. This book was released on 2003-03-04 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year is 1954. A white woman’s body, stuffed in a coconut bag, has washed ashore in Otatiti, Trinidad, and the British colony is rife with rumors. In two homes, one in a distant shantytown, the other on the outskirts of a former sugar cane estate, two women hear the news and their blood runs cold. Rosa, the white daughter of a landowner, and Zuela, the adopted “daughter” of a Chinese shop owner used to play together as girls—and witnessed something terrible behind a hibiscus bush many years ago.
Download or read book African Goddess Initiation written by Abiola Abrams and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sacred feminine initiation of self-love and soul care rituals, tools, and exercises. Spiritual teacher, intuitive coach, and award-winning author, Abiola Abrams invites you to activate African goddess magic to transmute your fears and limiting beliefs, so that you can create more happiness, abundance, and self-acceptance. Africa is a continent of 54+ countries, and her children are global. There is no one African spiritual tradition. Our ancestors who were trafficked in "The New World" hid the secrets of our orishas, abosom, lwas, álúsí, and god/desses behind saints, angels, and legendary characters. From South Africa to Egypt, Brazil to Haiti, Guyana to Louisiana, goddess wisdom still empowers us. Writes Abiola, "Spirit told me, "We choose who shows up." And if you are holding this book, then this sacred medicine is meant for you. In this book, you will meet ancient goddesses and divine feminine energy ancestors, legendary queens, and mystical spirits. As you complete their powerful rituals, and ascend through their temples, you will: . Awaken generational healing in the Temple of Ancestors; . Manifest your miracles in the Temple of Conjurers; . Release the struggle in the Temple of Warriors; . Embrace your dark goddess self in the Temple of Shadows; . Heal your primal wounds in the Temple of Lovers; . Liberate your voice in the Temple of Griots; . Open your third eye intuition in the Temple of Queens; and . Surrender, meditate, and rise in the Temple of High Priestesses. Welcome to your goddess circle!
Download or read book Daughters of the Stone written by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist for the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers It is the mid-1800s. Fela, taken from Africa, is working at her second sugar plantation in colonial Puerto Rico, where her mistress is only too happy to benefit from her impressive embroidery skills. But Fela has a secret. Before she and her husband were separated and sold into slavery, they performed a tribal ceremony in which they poured the essence of their unborn child into a very special stone. Fela keeps the stone with her, waiting for the chance to finish what she started. When the plantation owner approaches her, Fela sees a better opportunity for her child, and allows the man to act out his desire. Such is the beginning of a line of daughters connected by their intense love for one another, and the stories of a lost land. Mati, a powerful healer and noted craftswoman, is grounded in a life that is disappearing in a quickly changing world. Concha, unsure of her place, doesn't realize the price she will pay for rejecting her past. Elena, modern and educated, tries to navigate between two cultures, moving to the United States, where she will struggle to keep her family together. Carisa turns to the past for wisdom and strength when her life in New York falls apart. The stone becomes meaningful to each of the women, pulling them through times of crisis and ultimately connecting them to one another. Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa shows great skill and warmth in the telling of this heartbreaking, inspirational story about mothers and daughters, and the ways in which they hurt and save one another.
Download or read book Seven African Powers written by Monique Joiner Siedlak and published by Oshun Publications, LLC. This book was released on 2023-05-28 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Updated 2023 The Seven African Powers, also known as the Orishas, are spirits from the Supreme Creator in African religion. These spirits are thought to give guidance for life issues and problems. Modern Santeria, Voodoo, and other Caribbean traditions still value this practice today. It can be found in different South American cultures as well. This book will guide you through learning about the Seven African Powers…who they are, what they represent, and how each has a different temperament. You’ll also know how the Orishas can be used in your home and daily routine. Once you discover the Orishas, you’ll be on your way to understanding which one will best help you work through difficulties and move forward in life.
Download or read book The Demise of the Inhuman written by Ana Monteiro-Ferreira and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2014-05-29 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Employs a critical Afrocentric reading of Western constructions of knowledge so as to overcome the dehumanizing tendencies of modernity. Afrocentricity is the most intellectually dominant idea in the African world, one that is having a growing impact on social science discourse. This paradigm, philosophically rooted in African cultures and values, fundamentally challenges major epistemological traditions in Western thought, such as modernism and postmodernism, Marxism, existentialism, feminism, and postcolonialism. In The Demise of the Inhuman, Ana Monteiro-Ferreira reviews what Molefi Kete Asante has called the infrastructures of dominance and privilege, arguing that Western concepts such as individualism, colonialism, race and ethnicity, universalism, and progress, are insufficient to overcome various forms of oppression. Afrocentricity, she argues, can help lead us beyond Western structures of thought that have held sway since the early
Download or read book Moominpappa s Memoirs written by Tove Jansson and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). This book was released on 2014-09-02 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enhanced with Tove Jansson's simple, sprightly drawings, this series of delightful stories about life in Moomin Valley has enchanted audiences around the world for more than 70 years. Before he had a family, Moominpappa led a life of adventure and intrigue. But he's never told his story until now. He has a bad cold, and it's the perfect time to remember his youthful endeavors and to ponder the experiences which have made him the remarkable Moomin he is.
Download or read book Jambalaya written by Luisah Teish and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A refreshed edition of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals—updated with a note from the author sharing the changes that have occurred in the 30 years since its original publication. "A book of startling remembrances, revelations, directives, and imperatives, filled with the mysticism, wisdom, and common sense of the African religion of the Mother. It should be read with the same open-minded love with which it was written."—Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple Since its original publication in 1985, Jambalaya has become a classic among Women’s Spirituality Educators, practitioners of traditional Africana religions, environmental activists, and cultural creatives. A mix of memoir, spiritual teachings, and practices from Afro-American traditions such as Ifa/Orisha, and New Orleans Voudou, it offers a fascinating introduction to the world of nature-based spirituality, Goddess worship, and rituals from the African diaspora. More relevant today than it was 36 years ago, the wisdom of Jambalaya reconnects us to the natural and spiritual world, and the centuries-old traditions of African ancestors, whose voices echo through time, guiding us and blending with our own.
Download or read book Children of the Quicksands written by Efua Traoré and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2022-07-26 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A richly imagined magical adventure set in West Africa by a prize-winning new voice in children's writing, Children of the Quicksands introduces readers to Yoruba myths and legends while showcasing the wealth of culture, traditions, adventure, joy, pride, and love found in Nigeria. In a remote Nigerian village, thirteen-year-old Simi is desperate to uncover a family secret. Ajao is nothing like Lagos -- no cells phones, no running water or electricity. Not a single human-made sound can be heard at night, just the noise of birds and animals rustling in the dark forest outside. Her witchlike grandmother dispenses advice and herbal medicine to the village, but she's tight lipped about their family history. Something must have happened, but what? Determined to find out, Simi disobeys her grandmother and goes exploring only to find herself sinking in the red quicksand of a forbidden lake and into the strange parallel world that lies beneath. It must have been a dream... right? Wrong. Something isn’t right. Children are disappearing and it’s up to Simi to discover the truth.
Download or read book Let Spirit Speak written by Vanessa K. Valdés and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interdisciplinary celebration of the cultural contributions of members of the African Diaspora in the Western hemisphere.
Download or read book The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts written by Baba Ifa Karade and published by Weiser Books. This book was released on 2020-04-01 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to the spiritual source of the beliefs and practices that have so profoundly shaped African American religious traditions. Most of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Americas were from the Yoruba nation of West Africa, an ancient and vast civilization. In the diaspora caused by the slave trade, the guiding concepts of the Yoruba spiritual tradition took root in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, and the United States. In this accessible introduction, Baba Ifa Karade provides an overview of the Yoruba tradition and its influence in the West. He describes the sixteen Orisha, or spirit gods, and shows us how to work with divination, use the energy centers of the body to internalize the teachings of Yoruba, and create a sacred place of worship. The book also includes prayers, dances, songs, offerings, and sacrifices to honor the Orisha.
