Episodes of slave rebellions such as Nat Turner's are central to speculations on the trajectory of black history and the goal of black spiritual struggles. Using fiction, history, and oral poetry drawn from the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa, this book analyzes how writers reinterpret episodes of historical slave rebellion to conceptualize their understanding of an ideal "master-less" future. The texts range from Frederick Douglass's The Heroic Slave and Alejo Carpentier's The Kingdom of this World to Yoruba praise poetry and novels by Nigerian writers Adebayo Faleti and Akinwumi...

There is a culturally significant way of being Yoruba that is expressed through dress, greetings, and celebrations--no matter where in the world they take place. Adeleke Adek documents Yoruba patterns of behavior and articulates a philosophy of how to be Yoruba in this innovative study. As he focuses on historical writings, Ifa divination practices, the use of proverbs in contemporary speech, photography, gendered ideas of dressing well, and the formalities of ceremony and speech at celebratory occasions, Adeeko contends that being Yoruba is indeed an art and Yoruba-ness is a dynamic...

There is a culturally significant way of being Yoruba that is expressed through dress, greetings, and celebrations--no matter where in the world they take place. Adeleke Adek documents Yoruba patterns of behavior and articulates a philosophy of how to be Yoruba in this innovative study. As he focuses on historical writings, Ifa divination practices, the use of proverbs in contemporary speech, photography, gendered ideas of dressing well, and the formalities of ceremony and speech at celebratory occasions, Adeeko contends that being Yoruba is indeed an art and Yoruba-ness is a dynamic...