BLST 31974: Witches, Brujas, Voudou Queens at City College

About this course

In 2016, Puerto Rican rapper and Santer�a priestess Princess Nokia (Destiny Frasqueri) released the song ?Brujas? capturing the spirit of a generation looking to exalt and reclaim the historically maligned spiritual legacies of African and indigenous women. Drawing on anthropology of religion texts as well as historical case--ranging from Tituba, the enslaved Native American women targeted in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692; the little known ?Vodou Trials? of 1850?s New Orleans where Voudou priestesses publicly protested and fought the NOLA Police Department; the witch-hunts and yellow press in early 1900?s post-independence Cuba; to the 1993 U.S. Supreme Court Case Church of the Lukumi Babaluaye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, Florida; M�e Stella de Oxossi?s induction into the Bahian Academy of Letters; and Beyonc�'s Lemonade?this course will look at the ways African-based spiritual systems have been preserved, recreated, criminalized and re-legitimized within the context of enslavement, postcolonial nation building, contemporary race relations, and pop culture movements. We will explore how these processes have particularly impacted notions of feminine agency and gender roles within marginalized religious communities. Students will gain an introduction to various African-based religious systems including but not limited to Santeria (Lukumi), Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candombl�, and Jamaican Obeah, and to the extent time allows, allied indigenous religions such as Curanderismo. (BLST 10200: African Heritage in the Caribbean & Brazil not required for enrollment, but is a suggested prerequisite to this course.)