Black Gods of Cuba, Brazil, and Beyond: The Orishas

Catalog description

This reading-intensive course delves into the stories and histories of the gods called orishas, orichas, or orixas in the Americas, from their emergence as orisa among West African Yoruba groups to their veneration in Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad, the U.S., and elsewhere. The course pays special attention to their "mythobiographies" as communicated through divination verses and expressed in altars, dances, drum rhythms, food, and other material offerings (which ironically complicate any description of orishas as "gods"). Readings address the impact of transatlantic slave trade and racialization on the orishas worship; analyze gender/sexuality in rituals of initiation and possession; and emphasize the voices of Black and AfroLatinx practitioners.