Thoughts on Anna Dressed in Blod Part 2
I have some rage over this particular issue/topic, so bear with me please as I try to be coherent and fair.
In the book Obeah is described as âWest Indian Voodoo Magic.â It is not like Voodoo, which follows the rules âas the magic we all practiceâ (i.e. European magic). Obeah, on the other hand âhas no rulesâ (i.e. dangerous because not European). As soon as I read this all sorts of alarums went off in my head. I do not practice Santeria or Voudon and I have no personal experience with them. HOWEVER, I have read a decent amount on the subject, have a profound respect for the Orishas, and sat in a talk by a Voudon priestess and realized I know a great deal more about Voudon than I probably should for a white girl. That happens when Baron Samedi comes into your life and asks for a conversation. ANYWAY. Immediately I poked around and found out some info.
- Obeah has been predominantly defined by White Dudes.
- One of the first written accounts that mention Obeah is in reference to Nanny of the Maroons (if you do not know about her Look Her Up). Nanny refused to be a slave of the British, escaped from them, settled her own land in Jamaica, started freeing slaves, was insanely good at military tactics. She was even rumoured to be able to stop bullets with her bare hands. ALSO rumoured to be practicing Obeah shit.
- Nanny of the Maroons represented a threat to British supremacy (aka White supremacy), the male ego, patriarchal norms, gender norms, and so forth.
- Obeah was a threat to the Christian male cis-gendered hetero males very identity and religious beliefs.
- Obeah was not just demonized by The Church, but also by a rival tradition, the Myal.
- Practicing Obeah could lead to up to 6 months in prison (I think this is still in place but would have to do more research) and if someone accuses you of having Obeah talismans you could be seized and searched without warrant and immediately imprisoned without trial (I also believe this is still a thing. Need more research!)
- Obeah doesnât have ârulesâ the way written religions do, the same way that any spiritual practice does not have ârulesâ if itâs not a Religion of the Book. This doesnât make it EVIL. It makes it non-monotheistic. *GASP!* I know. How terrible.
All of this to say: I am so damn tired of people using traditional African religious/spiritual traditions as EVIL in books. Itâs offensive, itâs rude, and it smacks of racism and white privilege. The abuse of Obeah also has the fun layer of sexism and misogyny. Yay!
GODS PEOPLE. Can you please stop 1) White-Washing Voodoo (why is this a thing? can I throw up that this is a thing?) and 2) declaring an African spiritual tradition as Evil. kthnxbye.