Category Archives: Magic
Voodoo Brothers: Africana Religions and the Comics, pt. 2
As some of you know, my current project is a book-length study of Africana religions and comics, where I consider how graphic formats are utilized for representing the spiritual traditions of black people. I keep getting sidetracked, though, because the sources are … Continue reading
Circus Freaks, White Voodoo Women, and the Amazing Afro
In between working on serious stuff that takes up my time, I look at images. Some of these images may seem as though they are not related – but they actually are – like these African circus “freak” posters from the early … Continue reading
Apotheosis of Marie Laveau, Hoodoo-Voodoo-Vodou Icon
I knew that it was time to write this post after everyone in my classroom had seen the third season of the FX series American Horror Story, starring Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau, except me. Most of my students had never heard … Continue reading
The Buddha in the Botanica
Many years ago I came upon an interesting presence while visiting El Cobre, a village in southeastern Cuba. Translated simply as “Copper,” El Cobre is well known for its 19th century mining concerns, but even more famously, it is the site … Continue reading
A Story of Conjuring, Magic, and a White guy named Chung
This is one of those strange-but-true stories that I find really interesting. As I was browsing for historical information on Hoodoo, I found multiple sources dating back to the 1800s on the practice of magic as a kind of theatrical … Continue reading
