By Teresa N. Washington
"Washington writes supple and considerate prose and creatively integrates African and African-derived terminology, which by no means distract the reader. I reflect on Our moms, Our Powers, Our Texts not just a super examine, but additionally a version to be emulated." -- Ousseynou B. Traore, William Patterson University?j? is a Yoruba observe that indicates a religious persistent of large strength, in addition to the humans who workout that strength. even though either women and men may have ?j?, its proprietors and controllers are girls, the literal and cosmic moms who're respected because the gods of society. as a result of its organization with woman strength, its invisibility and profundity, ?j? is usually misconstrued as witchcraft. even though, as Teresa N. Washington issues out in Our moms, Our Powers, Our Texts, ?j? is principal to the Yoruba ethos and cosmology. not just does it underpin the innovations of construction and creativity, yet as a strength of justice and retribution, ?j? is vital to social concord and stability. As Africans have been compelled into exile and enslavement, they took ?j? with them and endured its paintings of constructing, destroying, harming, and therapeutic within the New World.Washington seeks out ?j?'s subversive energy of construction and new edition in a various diversity of Africana texts, from either males and girls, from either oral and modern literature, and throughout house and time. She courses readers to an realizing of the symbolic, methodological, and non secular matters which are relevant to big works by way of Africana writers yet are not often elucidated by means of Western feedback. She starts off with an exam of the traditional varieties of ?j? in Yoruba tradition, which creates a framework for leading edge readings of very important works by means of Africana writers, together with Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Ben Okri, Wole Soyinka, Jamaica Kincaid, and Ntozake Shange. This wealthy research will entice readers of Africana literature, African faith and philosophy, feminist reviews, and comparative literature.
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Additional info for Our Mothers, Our Powers, Our Texts: Manifestations of Aje in Africana Literature (Blacks in the Diaspora)
Sample text
Yàmi, o! ” [Af¤rmative response] “Hòóò! Hòóò! ” How do they answer? Àjf respond three times. Osó speak three times. Àwon Ìyàmi respond three times. They will knock They will enter They will greet the owner of the house When they want to eat intestines, When they want to eat liver, When they want to eat arms, When they want to eat legs, They knock three times They enter to meet the victim They eat and eat Then they leave Afterward, they feel pity for the person and engage in lamentations: 34 l àjf in africana orature “O Ìyàmi o, please don’t feed on me!
I am father, mother, king and queen. I am wise and serene. I am the mistress of destiny. And I am also nothing. . this white hair of mine re®ects all mysteries. 49 As lyrical and accurate as Carril’s description is, an ancient oríkì of Obàtálá shared by C. L. 50 This verse associates Obàtálá with the three colors of creation: The red blood of àse covers Eye Qrq’s beak and is Obàtálá’s body lotion; Odù’s earthen pot holds healing waters; and, symbolizing great wealth, Obàtálá is covered in her-his signature white beads.
The Deity’s white cloth has led to minimizing comparisons with the Christian God, and her-his Àjf and “equally expressive femininity,” to borrow Ogundipe’s phrase, is often overlooked. However, the conscientious ones remind those seeking false equivalents of Obàtálá’s multitudinousness. In Pepe Carril’s drama Shango de Ima, Obàtálá’s self-description is faithful to spiritual reality and contains copious references to Àjf: I was always sancti¤ed and old. I was never able to be a child, to live the life of an ordinary woman.
