See into the heart and soul of LGBT practitioners of Vodou and Yorùbá religions!

 

Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Participation in African-Inspired Traditions in the Americas

 

By Randy P. Conner, PhD, Educator, author of Blossom of Bone: Reclaiming the Connections Between Homoeroticism and the Sacred (Harper SF, 1993), essays in Queerly Phrased (Oxford U. Pr, 1997) and Sexuality and the World’s Religions (ABC-CLIO, 2003).

with David Hatfield Sparks, MM, MLIS, Writer, Ethnomusicologist, Musician, Educator, Librarian, author of “Gilberto Gil: Praise Singer of the Gods,” Afro-Hispanic Review (1992). 

Together, with their daughter Mariah Sparks, Sparks & Conner are the authors of the Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol, and Spirit (Cassell, 1996).  Their essay “And Revolution Is Possible” appears in Gloria Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating’s anthology This Bridge We Call Home  (Routledge, 2003).

Foreword by Joseph M. Murphy, PhD, Professor of Theology, Georgetown University;

Author, Santeria: An African Religion in America (Beacon, 1988), & Co-editor (with Mei-Mei Sanford) of Osun Across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas (Indiana U. Pr., 2001).

 

About The Book:

What roles do queer and transgender people play in the African diasporic religions? Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Participation in African-Inspired Traditions in the Americas is a groundbreaking scholarly exploration of this long-neglected subject. It offers clear insight into the complex dynamics of gender and sexual orientation, humans and deities, and race and ethnicity, within these richly nuanced spiritual practices.  Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions explores the ways in which gender complexity and same-sex intimacy are integral to the primary beliefs and practices of these faiths. It begins with a comprehensive overview of Vodou, Santeria, and other African-based religions. The second section includes extensive, revealing interviews with practitioners who offer insight into the intersection of their beliefs, their sexual orientation, and their gender identity. Finally, it provides a powerful analysis of the ways these traditions have inspired artists, musicians, and writers such as Audre Lorde, as well as informative interviews with the artists themselves.  This landmark book opens a fascinating new world of thought and belief. The authors provide rigorous documentation and faultless scholarly method as well as personal experience and the testimony of believers. Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions sheds new light on two widely different fields: LGBT studies and the theology of the African diaspora. A thorough bibliography points the way to further study, and an extensive photograph gallery provides a unique look at the believers and their practices.

 

Reviews:

 

 “AN INVALUABLE RESOURCE. . . . RICHLY INFORMATIVE AND A GENUINE PLEASURE TO READ. . . . A respectful, meticulously researched examination of the diversity and variation within African-diasporic religions, focusing on issues relating to same-sex intimacy. I found the entire book to be extremely interesting and useful.”

AnaLouise Keating, PhD, Associate Professor of Women's Studies, Texas Woman's University

 

 “Conner presents these traditions as they are understood and practiced by real people, wrestling with real issues of identity and meaning. The book will be A USEFUL RESOURCE for scholars in many disciplines—religious studies, gender and sexuality studies, anthropology, and history—and will be of interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people seeking to better understand the spiritual dimension of alternative sexual and gender identities.”

David W. Machacek, PhD, Director, Religious Pluralism in Southern California Project, Department of Religious Studies, University of California - Santa Barbara; Co-editor of Sexuality and the World's Religions

 

 “This immediately engaging and compelling work is DESTINED TO BECOME A CLASSIC, not only because of its significant contribution, through meticulous research, to several intersecting fields, but also because of its carefully and elegantly crafted prose...”

Sean M. Kelly, PhD, Associate Professor, California Institute of Integral Studies

 

This book, written over the course of two decades, includes numerous interviews with lgbt and other practitioners, as well as discussions of deities and of artists (including Ramón Alejandro, Basquiat, Nereida Garcia-Ferraz, Luis Marín), filmmakers (including Tânia Cypriano, Thomas Allen Harris, Anne Lescot), musicians (including Bola de Nieve, Gilberto Gil, Pablo Milanés, Amelia Pedroso), and writers (including José Lezama Lima, Audre Lorde, Severo Sarduy) inspired by Lucumí/ Santería, Candomblé, or Vodou.  A number of the interviews were conducted in Havana during 2001-2003.  The book is enriched with photos of interviewees.  Subjects also include same-sex unions, transvestism/ cross-dressing, and HIV/ AIDS education within these traditions. This book will, we believe, be appreciated by lgbt readers as well as heterosexual readers who are interested in studies of African-American (Africana, African-diasporic) cultural influences, anthropology, the arts and humanities, the Caribbean, folklore/ mythology, gender, Latin America, Latina/o cultural influences, linguistics, religion, and sexuality.          R. Conner & D. Sparks

 

THE HAWORTH PRESS, INC.

1-800-HAWORTH (429-6784) US/Canada                           607-722-5857 Outside US/Canada

hard cover                   ISBN: 1-56023-350-8              $59.95

soft cover                     ISBN: 1-56023-351-6            $29.95 

Available:  Spring 2004.

Number of Pages:  Approx. 393 pp. with Index. Includes photos.