“In this groundbreaking, beautifully written, and deeply researched book, Matthew Francis Rarey reframes our understandings of the Black Atlantic and the complex social and cultural terrain of the Lusophone world. He not only sheds light on bodies and their vulnerabilities but also opens onto worlds of sorcery, jurisprudence, and human relations. Most importantly, he shows how enslaved people took advantage of any power they could find or construct. Insignificant Things is a stunning contribution to the larger study of Blackness and formations of modernism and a model for those who seek to do this kind of transcultural and diasporic work.” - Steven Nelson, author of From Cameroon to Paris: Mousgoum Architecture in and out of Africa
“Leading the reader through three different continents and multiple religions, Matthew Francis Rarey demonstrates that mandingas existed at the crossroads of Islam, Catholicism, Judaism, and African religions. Rarey is the first to make these connections and to fully take into account their early history in the African continent. This book will be welcomed by specialists in the history of art, slavery, and the African diaspora.” - Ana Lucia Araujo, author of Slavery in the Age of Memory: Engaging the Past
"In short, Rarey has produced an important contribution to the discussion of the religious life of Africans at home and in the Diaspora. It is a book full of insights into both the religious culture of the Inquisition as well as that of the makers and users of the bolsas. Rarey’s attention to detail and the force of his reasoning about it is sure to be a starting point for further investigations." - John K. Thornton, International Journal of African Historical Studies
"Rarey’s examination of his evidence is fascinating, his writing, eloquent and complex. . . . Altogether, Rarey’s book builds on remarkable archival work in Portugal, Brazil, and the United States, enhancing our understanding of the ways in which enslaved Africans attempted to attenuate the effects of slavery and gain renown for their control of forces and materials eagerly sought by wider segments of society." - Rosa de Jorio, Africa Today
"Rarey has written a study of amulet making that reads as a history of human flourishing and an archive of aspirations for emancipation under some of history’s most crushing circumstances. It will no doubt inspire scholars for years to come." - Joseph Hellweg, Africa Today
". . . historians will most certainly find one of the most lengthy, detailed, and insightful examinations on the topic written to date." - Matt D. Childs, Journal of Social History
". . . Insignificant Things is an important contribution to the history of the Black Atlantic world. Its refined take on mobile and ephemeral materiality will also be of great interest to non-Atlantic specialists. Those working on objects in transcultural settings will find the author’s deep reflexivity on the history and the politics of object labels to be particularly useful. More generally, one of the greatest qualities of the book is the multi-layered reflection on archives it offers." - Ana Struillou, Journal of Early Modern History
"Rarey’s book is a valuable addition to the historiography of apotropaic objects in the Black Atlantic world. . . . Rarey convincingly reads into the silences of the archives and finds ways to evoke the voices of the subaltern Atlantic world, resulting in an impeccably sourced volume that offers deep analysis of emic and etic interpretations of bolsas de mandinga." - Susan L. Kwosek, African Studies Review
"This book is a major contribution to not only African and African diaspora studies but also to the visual history of global subaltern and slave studies. . . . I really admire Rarey’s brilliant reading and interpretation of subaltern sources in the Portuguese colonial archives." - Hermann W. von Hesse, Journal of African History
"Commodification and methods of disrupting it are pivotal to the study of the Black Atlantic. Insignificant Things makes a significant contribution to understanding the unique place of vernacular art and African diasporic material culture. . . . Rarey has authored a materially grounded and discursively rich intellectual and art history that centres African responses to the slow apocalypse of Atlantic slavery." - Lila O’Leary Chambers, International Journal of Maritime History
