Obeah and Other Powers

“Obeah and Other Powers is an excellent and welcome contribution to scholarship on Caribbean religions. Too few works explicitly address the three themes taken up in this collection, the significance of state power in shaping the environment in which Caribbean religions were practiced, the role of practitioners in shaping their religious traditions, and the role of mobility and the permeability of borders in shaping the definition and interpretation of obeah, Vodou, Santería, and Candomblé. This last premise enables the contributors to analyze these religions in conjunction with one another and as overlapping, rather than separate, phenomena.” - Aisha Khan, author of Callaloo Nation: Metaphors of Race and Religious Identity among South Asians in Trinidad

"The contributors to this outstanding collection share the refreshing ambition to historicize local knowledge and to embrace the opacity and persisting mystique of Caribbean spiritual realities—from the colonial occult to enchanted modernities." - Richard Price, author of Travels with Tooy and Rainforest Warriors

“Each and every chapter of Obeah and Other Powers is a gem in its own right, and yet this splendid collection is also much more than simply the sum of its parts. Indeed, the volume achieves an impressive level of sophistication in Caribbeanist historical anthropology and Black Atlantic religious studies, and its release — along with the publication of Jerome Handler and Kenneth Bilby’s Enacting Power — makes 2012 something of a watershed moment in the study of the dynamic and rather unruly set of spiritual beliefs and ritual practices so often glossed as obeah in Afro- Atlantic studies.” - Keith E. McNeal, Hispanic American Historical Review

“A clear introduction and the well-developed, carefully composed chapters redeem the book…. [T]he book offers a great deal. Smith’s chapter would be a welcome addition to a gender and women’s studies classroom. Likewise, Savage’s contribution would work well in a history of medicine course. Putnam’s essay is required reading for students interested in Atlantic history. Finally, Richman’s chapter would fit well in a religious studies course.” - Karol K. Weaver, Bulletin of the History of Medicine

“In bringing together such a strong group of scholars to consider the production and reproduction of Caribbean ritual, spiritual practices, Paton and Forde have made a significant contribution to advancing scholarly understanding of this important subject and indeed to Caribbean history and studies more generally." - Juanita De Barros, Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History

“Obeah and Other Powers… is likely to stimulate much interest and debate as scholars continue the difficult task of sifting through hostile representations of Caribbean religious beliefs and practices to better understand those beliefs and practices on their own terms.” - Randy M. Browne, History: Reviews of New Books

“[This] book ... should give anthropologists and other scholars of religion considerable pause and motivation.” - Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database

"Obeah and Other Powers brims with useful insights." - Terry Rugeley, Ethnohistory

"The book achieves what it promises in the introduction. The combination of historical and contemporary, ethnographic discussions of the complex relationship between religion and power makes this book a useful source for scholars, not only of Caribbean tradition." - Bettina E. Schmidt, Journal of Religious History

"For these researchers, the focus on religious values and beliefs existing on the periphery of Caribbean societies is a strong affirmation that all religions are worthy of study. What they have done is to provide readers with an understanding of the experience of people who practice these religious rituals and an acknowledgement of some of the historical and geographical processes that have brought change in those beliefs. Indeed, they are convincing in their assertion that religion is adaptive and that these African-derived religious beliefs and values are still very much alive and are still shaping and being shaped by the cultures of the Caribbean."
  - Annette Palmer, Journal of African American History