Solimar Otero - Archives of Conjure: Stories of the Dead in Afrolatinx Cultures

A RCHIVES OF C ONJURE

GENDER, THEORY, AND RELIGION

GENDER, THEORY, AND RELIGION

AMY HOLLYWOOD, EDITOR

The Gender, Theory, and Religion series provides a forum for interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of the study of gender, sexuality, and religion.

Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making, Elizabeth A. Castelli

When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David, Susan Ackerman

Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity, Jennifer Wright Knust

Bodily Citations: Religion and Judith Butler, Ellen T. Armour and Susan M. St. Ville, editors

Naming the Witch: Magic, Ideology, and Stereotype in the Ancient World, Kimberly B. Stratton

Dying to Be Men: Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts, L. Stephanie Cobb

Tracing the Sign of the Cross: Sexuality, Mourning, and the Future of American Catholicism, Marian Ronan

Between a Man and a Woman? Why Conservatives Oppose Same-Sex Marriage, Ludger H. Viefhues-Bailey

Promised Bodies: Time, Language, and Corporeality in Medieval Womens Mystical Texts, Patricia Dailey

Christ Without Adam: Subjectivity and Difference in the Philosophers Paul, Benjamin H. Dunning

Electric Santera: Racial and Sexual Assemblages of Transnational Religion, Aisha M. Beliso-De Jess

Acute Melancholia and Other Essays: Mysticism, History, and the Study of Religion, Amy Hollywood

A RCHIVES OF C ONJURE

S TORIES OF THE D EAD IN A FROLATINX C ULTURES

SOLIMAR OTERO

Columbia University Press / New York

Columbia University Press

Publishers Since 1893

New YorkChichester, West Sussex

cup.columbia.edu

Copyright 2020 Columbia University Press

All rights reserved

E-ISBN 978-0-231-55076-5

This book was made possible by financial assistance from the RUTH LANDES MEMORIAL RESEARCH FUND, a program of the Reed Foundation.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Otero, Solimar, author.

Title: Archives of conjure : stories of the dead in Afrolatinx cultures / Solimar Otero.

Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2020] | Series: Gender, theory, and religion | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019038651 (print) | LCCN 2019038652 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231194327 (cloth) | ISBN 9780231194334 (trade paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: SpiritualismCaribbean Area. | Afro-Caribbean cults. | BlacksCaribbean AreaReligious life. | BlacksCaribbean AreaRites and ceremonies. | Spirits. | Women and spiritualismCaribbean Area. | Material cultureReligious aspects. | WaterReligious aspects. | Caribbean AreaReligious life and customs.

Classification: LCC BF1242.C37 O84 2020 (print) | LCC BF1242.C37 (ebook) | DDC 133.909729dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038651

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038652

A Columbia University Press E-book.

CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at .

Cover image: Martin Tsang, Collares de Mazo for the Deities Erinle and Olokun.

Cover design: Lisa Hamm

Dedicated to the spirit of Jos Das Casada, dear friend and teacher, iba e.

Si la Luz redentora te llama

Y te llama con amor a la tierra

Yo quisiera ver a ese ser

Cantndole gloria al divino Manuel

Oye buen ser

Avanza y ven

Que el coro te llama

Y te dice, ven.

Traditional Afro-Cuban spirit mediums song

CONTENTS

T here are so many people and institutions to thank for their support of this book. The genesis of the project began ten years ago and has lead me on multiple paths where I met with and exchanged stories broadly with many communities. First, I must express my immense gratitude to my spiritual and biological family in Cuba, which consists of godmothers, godfathers, spirit guides, and divinities that have accompanied and continue to guide me along the way. Mo dupe, gracias to Tomasa, Tony, Soia, Susy, Jos (iba e), Tita, Riguito, Maxi, Meche, and Devit. You have made my world bigger, better, and more hopeful.

Wendy Lochner and Amy Hollywood at Columbia University Press were remarkable editors and advocates of the work the book seeks to do with gender and religion. I cannot say enough about the positive support the press and its team, especially Lowell Frye and Susan Pensak, provided me in preparing the book for the world. Another special recognition goes to Dave Prout, my long-time indexer and editor who always takes on a challenge with grace.

The Womens Studies in Religion Program at the Harvard Divinity School provided vital support for the initiation of this project. While at the WSRP, Ann Braude and Jacob Olupona were especially interested in my research. I am also deeply grateful that my experiences at HDS allowed me to connect with Aisha Beliso-De Jess, a dear hermana who believed in what the spirits and I had to say about Afrolatinx religions. Aishas brilliance has influenced my development as a person, spiritually and intellectually.

The Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund provided me with valuable resources for conducting research for this volume. Thank you to David Latham at the fund who provided institutional guidance for my archival studies and fieldwork. This support also allowed me to collaborate with the talented Cuban photographer Hctor Delgado, whose expertise in recording rituals in an ethically beautiful manner is unsurpassed.

The Smithsonian Institutions National Anthropological Archives were instrumental in getting me the vital information on Ruth Landes for the completion of this volume. A special thank you goes out to Katherine Crowe and Daisy Njoku for their generous help at the archive. Carrie Beauchamp also provided wonderful assistance in looking at Landess material culture collection at the Anthropology Department of the Smithsonians Museum of Natural History.

The staff at the Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami Libraries are familia that embraced me and this book since its inception. Their endless support of my investigation of the Lydia Cabrera Papers led to fruitful scholarly, artistic, and personal growth. Elizabeth Cerejido, Annie Sansone-Martinez, Amanda Moreno, and the amazing Gladys Gomes-Rossie generously offered their considerable knowledge and kindness to me during this project. I want to express my deep gratitude to Martin Tsang, the CHCs librarian and curator of Latin American Collections, who provided the beautiful image that dons the cover of this volume. His perpetual encouragement and wisdom gave me much strength to find new ideas while doing this work.

The process of laboring through such an interdisciplinary and transnational topic meant that I built this work on the shoulders of giants. Much appreciation to anthropologists of Afrolatinx religions, J. Lorand Matory and Kristina Wirtz, for reading, commenting, and improving my research with their thoughtful suggestions. My colleagues in the field of folklore studies also provided essential feedback that helped the project to blossom. Mintzi Martnez-Rivera, Rachel Gonzlez-Martin, Guillermo de los Reyes, Cory Thorne, Sabina Magliocco, Elaine Lawless, Kim Lau, Kay Turner, Norma Cant, Mabel Cuesta, and Katey Borland all have participated with me at the many American Folklore Society meetings where I vetted this project in one form or another. Each one gave me unique insights that helped me to see how my studies could do more for our field and for the communities I work with and am a part of. Likewise, Ana-Maurine Lara, Alex Fernndez, and Maria Hamilton Abegunde, all gifted practitioner-scholars-writers, kept me grounded and listening to what the