Book description
Exploring the Yoruba tradition in the United States, Hucks begins
with the story of Nana Oseijeman Adefunmi's personal search for
identity and meaning as a young man in Detroit in the 1930s and 1940s.
She traces his development as an artist, religious leader, and founder
of several African-influenced religio-cultural projects in Harlem and
later in the South. Adefunmi was part of a generation of young
migrants attracted to the bohemian lifestyle of New York City and the
black nationalist fervor of Harlem. Cofounding Shango Temple in 1959,
Yoruba Temple in 1960, and Oyotunji African Village in 1970, Adefunmi
and other African Americans in that period renamed themselves
“Yorubas” and engaged in the task of transforming Cuban Santer'a into
a new religious expression that satisfied their racial and nationalist
leanings and eventually helped to place African Americans on a global
religious schema alongside other Yoruba practitioners in Africa and
the diaspora.
Alongside the story of Adefunmi, Hucks weaves historical and
sociological analyses of the relationship between black cultural
nationalism and reinterpretations of the meaning of Africa from within
the African American community.
Tracey E. Hucks has a PhD from Harvard University and is chair of the
Department of Religion at Haverford College.
