Divining Slavery and Freedom

Since its original publication in Portuguese in 2008, this first English translation of Divining Slavery has been extensively revised and updated, complete with new primary sources and a new bibliography. It tells the story of Domingos Sodré, an African-born priest who was enslaved in Bahia, Brazil in the nineteenth century. After obtaining his freedom, Sodré became a slave owner himself, and in 1862 was arrested on suspicion for receiving stolen goods from slaves in exchange for supposed 'witchcraft.' Using this incident as a catalyst, the book discusses African religion and its place in a slave society, analyzing its double role as a refuge to blacks as well as a bridge between classes and ethnic groups (such as whites who attended African rituals and sought help from African diviners and medicine men). Ultimately, Divining Slavery explores the fluidity and relativity of conditions such as slavery and freedom, African and local religions, personal and collective experience and identities in the lives of Africans in the Brazilian diaspora.

Author: João José Reis,H. Sabrina Gledhill
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 04/20/2015
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.90w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781107079779

Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2015

About the Author
Reis, João José: - João José Reis is Professor of History at the Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil. An award-winning historian and lifetime Honorary Foreign Member of the American Historical Association, he has published extensively on the history of slavery in nineteenth-century Brazil.