Description: In Afroindigenization, Catherine A. John addresses the underbelly of spiritual resilience shaping a range of African diasporic institutions, traditions, and practices. John argues that repressed forms of indigenous African knowledge systems manifest in a myriad of culturally embodied ways in African diaspora spaces and places. From mermaid lore in rural Jamaica to hip-hop trance-induced dance in Los Angeles to the stories of two debaters-turned-social-media-influencers, John shows how the descendants of enslaved Africans express the signs and substance of their afroindigenous power through collective creativity. Drawing from scholars such as Vèvè Clark, Hortense Spillers, Dianne M. Stewart, and Sylvia Wynter, Afroindigenization exposes the cultural and spiritual ancestries that lie at the heart of modern Black identities and practices.
Review Quotes: "A welcome expansion of the terrain. Catherine John has offered an original, rich, and nuanced interpretation of Afroindigeneity in our time. In the words of John's mother, quoted in the book: 'the world needs this one.'"--LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant, Director of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center and Professor of African, African American and Diaspora Studies, UNC Chapel Hill
"Afroindigenzation is a transdisciplinary study by a senior scholar that demonstrates with originality, finesse, and power African spiritual modes of habitation, survival, and thriving among African descendants past and present across the Americas and the Caribbean. Catherine John's skill at elaborating a new theory of African diaspora religiosity, spirituality, and cultural production/performance is truly exceptional."--Dianne M. Stewart, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Religion and African American Studies, Emory University