Sorcery in the Black Atlantic

Most scholarship on sorcery and witchcraft has narrowly focused on specific times and places, particularly early modern Europe and twentieth-century Africa. And much of that research interprets sorcery as merely a local, traditional response to modernity and globalization. Boldly challenging these views, Sorcery in the Black Atlantic takes a longer historical and broader geographical perspective, describing the formation and persistence of sorcery discourses at the roots of Atlantic modernity.

A distinguished group of contributors here examines sorcery in Brazil, Cuba, South Africa, Cameroon, and Angola. Their insightful essays reveal the way practices and accusations of witchcraft spread throughout the Atlantic world from the age of discovery up to the present, creating an indelible link between sorcery and colonialism. Shedding new light on a topic of perennial interest, Sorcery in the Black Atlantic will be provocative, compelling reading for historians and anthropologists working in this growing field.

Luis Nicolau ParTs is professor of anthropology at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil.

Roger Sansi is lecturer in anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Luis Nicolau Pares is professor of anthropology at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. Roger Sansi is lecturer in anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London.