African Spirituality by Isaiah Eiland

  African Spirituality

            The Black Gothic genre is a genre that seems to take the horrors that black people have been faced with, and combine them with supernatural elements. Because of this interesting combination, African spirituality becomes the forefront of the Black Gothic genre. Various novels and shows that feature the Black Gothic also seem to have African spirituality weaved into the story as well. This means that African spirituality seems to make the Black Gothic what it is now.

            One novel that is considered to be in the Black Gothic genre is Sing, Unburied, Sing. Mam is Jojo’s grandmother, and she is shown to have a deeper understanding of supernatural abilities compared to everyone else within her family. This is shown in the past when Mam explains to Leonie about the gift that some women possess. Mam has also been shown preparing gris-gris bags, which supposedly prevents bad luck from happening and provides good fortune to the ones that possess it. The gris-gris bag is also a voodoo tradition, and shows Mam’s connection to her African spirituality.

            Another novel that is considered to be a part of the Black Gothic genre is Beloved. Baby Suggs managed the rituals in the clearing, which got many black people around and let them feel good in their skin. The clearing scenes seem to take strong inspiration from African rituals, with the shouting, dancing and various other emotions evoked throughout Baby Suggs’ rituals. Another thing to note is that when the ghost appeared within the house, Baby Suggs was not shown to be afraid of it. As time goes on, we see that everyone starts to become accustomed to the ghost being a part of the home. Denver is even shown to care for the ghost, due to Baby Suggs’ influence on her.

            In both of these novels, their use of African spirituality is actually something that is shown to be good. In recent times, African spirituality such as voodoo is conveyed as a bad thing. One example of this is Shadow Man from The Princess and the Frog. The Shadow Man is shown to possess knowledge in both voodoo and hoodoo, and uses this to exploit others and further his own goals. Another example is voodoo dolls and their connotation of harming other people. When most people think of voodoo dolls, they think of using that doll to harm another person.

            In Sing, Unburied, Sing and Beloved, African spirituality is used in a positive light. In the former, most people within the family use it to talk to people who have passed away, notably to both Richie and Driven. In the former, Baby Suggs uses it to connect and bond with the people that have been through the same things that she has. She also makes them embrace their skin color, and tells them that they should feel good that they were born with this skin.

            African spirituality is very prominent in the Black Gothic genre. It is key to making that Black Gothic, tying the “Black” and the “Gothic” together. Wherever the Black Gothic shows up, African spirituality seems to always be right beside it.

 

References

“Gris-Gris (Talisman).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Nov. 2021,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gris-gris_(talisman).

“How Do Voodoo Dolls Actually Work?” Original Botanica,

https://www.originalbotanica.com/blog/voodoo-dolls-rituals-spells/.

Gris-Gris Bag


Voodoo Doll




                                                    

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