Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics

African Spirituality in American Cinema

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, African, Nonfiction, Entertainment, Film, History & Criticism, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture
Cover of the book Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics by Kameelah L. Martin, Lexington Books
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kameelah L. Martin ISBN: 9781498523295
Publisher: Lexington Books Publication: September 30, 2016
Imprint: Lexington Books Language: English
Author: Kameelah L. Martin
ISBN: 9781498523295
Publisher: Lexington Books
Publication: September 30, 2016
Imprint: Lexington Books
Language: English

In the twenty-first century, American popular culture increasingly makes visible the performance of African spirituality by black women. Disney’s Princess and the Frog and Pirates of the Caribbean franchise are two notable examples. The reliance on the black priestess of African-derived religion as an archetype, however, has a much longer history steeped in the colonial othering of Haitian Vodou and American imperialist fantasies about so-called ‘black magic’.

Within this cinematic study, Martin unravels how religious autonomy impacts the identity, function, and perception of Africana women in the American popular imagination. Martin interrogates seventy-five years of American film representations of black women engaged in conjure, hoodoo, obeah, or Voodoo to discern what happens when race, gender, and African spirituality collide. She develops the framework of Voodoo aesthetics, or the inscription of African cosmologies on the black female body, as the theoretical lens through which to scrutinize black female religious performance in film. Martin places the genre of film in conversation with black feminist/womanist criticism, offering an interdisciplinary approach to film analysis.

Positioning the black priestess as another iteration of Patricia Hill Collins’ notion of controlling images, Martin theorizes whether film functions as a safe space for a racial and gendered embodiment in the performance of African diasporic religion. Approaching the close reading of eight signature films from a black female spectatorship, Martin works chronologically to express the trajectory of the black priestess as cinematic motif over the last century of filmmaking. Conceptually, Martin recalibrates the scholarship on black women and representation by distinctly centering black women as ritual specialists and Black Atlantic spirituality on the silver screen.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In the twenty-first century, American popular culture increasingly makes visible the performance of African spirituality by black women. Disney’s Princess and the Frog and Pirates of the Caribbean franchise are two notable examples. The reliance on the black priestess of African-derived religion as an archetype, however, has a much longer history steeped in the colonial othering of Haitian Vodou and American imperialist fantasies about so-called ‘black magic’.

Within this cinematic study, Martin unravels how religious autonomy impacts the identity, function, and perception of Africana women in the American popular imagination. Martin interrogates seventy-five years of American film representations of black women engaged in conjure, hoodoo, obeah, or Voodoo to discern what happens when race, gender, and African spirituality collide. She develops the framework of Voodoo aesthetics, or the inscription of African cosmologies on the black female body, as the theoretical lens through which to scrutinize black female religious performance in film. Martin places the genre of film in conversation with black feminist/womanist criticism, offering an interdisciplinary approach to film analysis.

Positioning the black priestess as another iteration of Patricia Hill Collins’ notion of controlling images, Martin theorizes whether film functions as a safe space for a racial and gendered embodiment in the performance of African diasporic religion. Approaching the close reading of eight signature films from a black female spectatorship, Martin works chronologically to express the trajectory of the black priestess as cinematic motif over the last century of filmmaking. Conceptually, Martin recalibrates the scholarship on black women and representation by distinctly centering black women as ritual specialists and Black Atlantic spirituality on the silver screen.

More books from Lexington Books

Cover of the book Space Is Power by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book Digital Inclusion by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book Lost and Othered Children in Contemporary Cinema by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book The Dialogue in Hell between Machiavelli and Montesquieu by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book The Bangladesh Liberation War, the Sheikh Mujib Regime, and Contemporary Controversies by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book Africana Critical Theory by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book Breaking with Athens by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book The Political Philosophy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book George Santayana at 150 by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book Melchior Wankowicz by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book Political Pioneer of the Press by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book Useful Complaints by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book Scope and Theory of Public Administration by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book The New Domestic Automakers in the United States and Canada by Kameelah L. Martin
Cover of the book Heritage Politics by Kameelah L. Martin
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy