Three Eyes for the Journey : African Dimensions of the Jamaican Religious Experience

Studies of African-derived religious traditions have generally focused on their retention of African elements. This emphasis, says Dianne Stewart, slights the ways in which communities in the African diaspora have created and formed new religious meaning. In this fieldwork-based study Stewart shows that African people have been agents of their own religious, ritual, and theological formation. She examines the African-derived and African-centered traditions in historical and contemporary Jamaica: Myal, Obeah, Native Baptist, Revival/Zion, Kumina, and Rastafari, and draws on them to forge a new womanist liberation theology for the Caribbean. Contents......Page 24 Divination: Introduction......Page 32 1. Libation: Four Centuries of Encounter and Transition......Page 44 2. Incantation: European Attitudes toward Africanness in Jamaica......Page 98 3. Offering: Trajectories of African-Jamaican Religiosity......Page 120 4. Visitation: The Legacy of African-Derived Religions in Jamaica......Page 168 5. Communion: Toward a Caribbean Theology of Collective Memory......Page 218 Notes......Page 272 Bibliography......Page 324 A......Page 340 B......Page 342 C......Page 343 D......Page 345 E......Page 346 F......Page 347 H......Page 348 I......Page 349 K......Page 350 M......Page 351 O......Page 353 P......Page 354 R......Page 355 S......Page 357 U......Page 359 W......Page 360 Z......Page 361 Studies Of African-derived Religious Traditions Have Generally Focused On Their Retention Of African Elements. This Emphasis Says Dianne Stewart, Slights The Ways In Which Communities In The African Diaspora Have Created And Formed New Religious Meaning. Divination : Introduction -- 1. Libation : Four Centuries Of Encounter And Transition -- 2. Incantation : European Attitudes Toward Africanness In Jamaica -- 3. Offering : Trajectories Of African-jamaican Religiosity -- 4. Visitation : The Legacy Of African-derived Religions In Jamaica -- 5. Communion : Toward A Caribbean Theology Of Collective Memory. Dianne M. Stewart. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [243]-310) And Index. ## Abstract Studies of African-derived religious traditions have generally focused on their retention of African elements. This emphasis slights the ways in which communities in the African diaspora have created and formed new religious meaning. In this fieldwork-based study, this book shows that African people have been agents of their own religious, ritual, and theological formation. The book examines the African-derived and African-centered traditions in historical and contemporary Jamaica: Myal, Obeah, Native Baptist, Revival/Zion, Kumina, and Rastafari, drawing on them to forge a new womanist liberation theology for the Caribbean. In the chapters that follow, I seek to address multiple issues regarding the discipline of theology as it relates to the religions of Africans' in the Caribbean island of Jamaica. I was playing by the sea-coast, when a white man offered me sugarplums, and told me to go with him.