African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry
African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry
African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry examines perceptions of the natural world revealed by the religious ideas and practices of African-descended communities in South Carolina from the colonial period into the twentieth century. Focusing on Kongo nature spirits known as the simbi, Ras Michael Brown describes the essential role religion played in key historical processes, such as establishing new communities and incorporating American forms of Christianity into an African-based spirituality. This book illuminates how people of African descent engaged the spiritual landscape of the Lowcountry through their subsistence practices, religious experiences, and political discourse.
- The first book-length study that examines the intersection of nature and religion in an African diaspora culture in North America
- Provides a detailed study of Kongo nature spirits, called simbi, in both Kongo and a part of the African diaspora
- Addresses the African-based culture of the South-Carolina Lowcountry in fresh ways by covering an overlooked topic, employing neglected sources and relying on innovative methodology
Reviews & endorsements
"Recommended."
Choice
"African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry contextualizes U.S. African American religious cultures in the transnational, transoceanic psychic and cultural space of the African-Atlantic, and offers the promise of future forays into yet unexplored scholarly terrains."
Alexis S. Wells, Southern Spaces
"This important book will be immediately useful to anyone interested in African American cultural and religious history."
Jason R. Young, Journal of American History
Product details
March 2014Paperback
9781107668829
322 pages
229 × 152 × 18 mm
0.48kg
8 b/w illus. 3 maps 11 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Place, culture, and power
- 2. Land of the living
- 3. African spirits of the land and water
- 4. African landscapes of the Lowcountry
- 5. Spiritual guardians in the wilderness
- 6. Mermaid histories and power.
