The Gut: A Black Atlantic Alimentary Tract

Elizabeth Pérez

doi:10.1017/9781009031530

If the head is religion, the gut is magic. Taking up this provocation, this Element delves into the digestive system within transnational Afro-Diasporic religions such as Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candomblé, and Cuban Lucumí (also called Santería). It draws from the ethnographic and archival record to probe the abdomen as a vital zone of sensory perception, amplified in countless divination verses, myths, rituals, and recipes for ethnomedical remedies. Provincializing the brain as only one locus of reason, it seeks to expand the notion of 'mind' and expose the anti-Blackness that still prevents Black Atlantic knowledges from being accepted as such. The Element examines gut feelings, knowledge, and beings in the belly; African precedents for the Afro-Diasporic gut-brain axis; post-sacrificial offerings in racist fantasy and everyday reality; and the strong stomachs and intestinal fortitude of religious ancestors. It concludes with a reflection on kinship and the spilling of guts in kitchenspaces.

‘The Gut is a well-theorized and richly illustrated account of the place of the digestive tract in Black Atlantic religions, sure to be of interest to scholars of these traditions, particularly those with interests in embodiment and ways of knowing. A focus on interoceptive sensation and engagement with the ‘thinking gut’ concept from the sciences also makes this text a unique contribution to the wider religious studies discourse on emotion, knowledge, and the body that should not be overlooked by scholars outside of the subfield of Afro-diasporic religions.’

Alana Dickey Source: Reading Religion

‘Pérez’s monograph is a succinct study focused on the ‘gastrointestinal tract as a privileged experiential zone’ in Black Atlantic Religions. Pérez foregrounds the significance of human digestive anatomy across time, place, and Black Atlantic traditions through brief yet generative analyses of rituals, songs, proverbs, and African cosmological principles. The book’s seemingly narrow theme invites us into the depths of the important relationship between human and animal physiology within Black Atlantic traditions. Pérez persuasively conceptualizes the elongated path that connects the mouth, throat, stomach, and intestines as a track/tract as a site to theorize the imbrication of race, religion, and wellness (spiritual and physical).’

K. B. Dennis-Meade Source: Material Religion

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The Gut

A Black Atlantic Alimentary Tract

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