Recommended ATR Books

Vodou, Palo Mayombe, Kimbanda, Umbanda, Candomble, Catimbo, 21 Divisions, Santeria, etc.

Topic author
anonda
Adeptus Minor
Posts: 955

Recommended ATR Books

Post#1 » Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:42 am

as we know, books are not everything in african traditional religions and afro-diasporic religions.
these are oral traditions.
however, reading and doing research does help, especially for those who have made scrambled eggs out of things.
the purpose (imo) in reading books on atrs is not to use the info to "evoke" zarabanda or anything like that,
but to at least get a good grasp of what is what and who is who.

do know that the following is a poor list compared to the number of african religions and afro-diasporic religions out there.
aside the fact that africa is a big continent and home to hundreds of different african traditional religions, there are also other traditions in latin america such as shango baptist, abakua, obeah and so on.

here are the recommendations..
(new recs will be added to the op so everything is more organized and concise.)

Africa

ifa/yoruba religion

fundamentals of the yoruba religion by chief fama
anything by chief fama
anything by wande abimbola
anything by bascom
Return of the Gods – Ulli Beir
Yoruba beliefs and sacrificial rites – J omosade Awolalu
Faith Fancies & Fetish or Yoruba Paganism by Stephen S. Farrow
Religious encounter and the making of the Yoruba - J D Y Peel
Our mothers, Our Powers, Our texts By Teresa N. Washington
The Religion of th Yorubas By J Olomide Lucas
gelede by drewal
The Sons of the Gods and the Daughters of Men An afro-Asiatic Interpretation of Genesis 1-11 By Modupe Oduyoye

benin vodun

voodoo by jean-dominique burton

bantu-congo religion

african cosmology of the bantu-congo by bunseki

Brazil

candomble

manipulating the sacred by omari tunkara
divine inspiration by galembo
black atlantic religion by matory
searching for africa in brazil by capone
the city of women by landes
Drum and Candle – David Sinclair
sacred leaves of candomble by voeks

batuque
Seth and Ruth Leacock's - Spirits of the Deep

umbanda

hearing the mermaid’s song by hale

quimbanda

kingdom of kimbanda by baba osvaldo (high astral portion is wishy washy)
kiumbanda by frisvold
Pomba gira by frisvold
Pomba gira as Alabê in Quimbanda: Ritual Change, Musical Innovation, and Challenging Social Hierarchies in Southern Brazil - Gidal

Alves:
- O livro dos Exus
- Como Desmanchar Trabalhos de Quimbanda
- Impressionantes Casos de Magia Negra
Molina:
- Sarava Exu
- Sarava Pomba Gira
- Sarava Maria Padilha
- Sarava Exu Rei das 7 Encruzilhadas
- Sarava Exu Marabo
- Sarava Exu Tiriri
- Trabalhos De Quimbanda Na Força De Um Preto Velho
- 3777 Pontos Cantados E Riscados Na Umbanda E Quimbanda
Ferreira:
- Quimbanda
Silva:
- Segredos Da Magia De Umbanda E Quimbanda
- Umbanda E Quimbanda Na Palavra de um Preto-Velho

Caribbean

21 divisiones

this link:http://www.studioarcanis.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=5679
as to books: there is one called 21 divisions by carlos antonio montenegro,
prolly the only one in the market. it is an ok book (some info can be found online,
however, the book also contains information that you dont find online, there are misconceptions in the book.
one example is the idea that the indian division is the most neglected one, this is not true.)

haitian vodou

maya deren: divine horsemen
milo rigaud: secrets of voodoo
alfred metraux: voodoo in haiti
tell my horse by hurston
the serpent and the rainbow by davis
mama lola by brown
the drum and the hoe by courlander (includes sheet music!)
Life in a Haitian Valley by Melville J. Herskovits
Voodoo and Politics in Haiti by Michel S. Laguerre
Haitian Vodou Flags by Patrick Polk

lukumi

santeria enthroned by brown
the altar of my soul by moreno vega
finding soul on the path of orisa by correal
the osha by cortez
Santeria From Africa to the new world: The dead sell memories - George Brandon
anything by john mason, but avoid the cd in the book olokun
Wizards and Scientists: Explorations in Afro-Cuban Modernity & Tradition by Stephan Palmie

palo monte

society of the dead by ochoa
book on palo - canizares
palo mayombe by frisvold

USA

new orlenas voodoo

vodou visions by glassman

hoodoo

hoodoo herb and root magic by cat yronwode
voodoo and hoodoo by haskins
hoodoo, vodou and conjure by anderson
Black Magic by Yvonne Chireau
Conjure In African American Society by Jeffery Anderson
A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore by courlander

folk magic with a touch of hoodoo

all of the books by draja mickaharic
especially:

* Spiritual Cleansing: Handbook of Psychic Protection
* Century of Spells
* A Spiritual Worker's Spell Book


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Melange (books that include different atrs altogether)

working the spirit by murphy
dancing wisdom by daniel (yes, it has a poor review in amazon, but, it is worth reading)
conjure codex (a little bit of hoodoo, vodou, also has some articles on western magical traditions)
Drumming for the Gods: The life and times of Felipe Garcia Villamil (Santero, Palero & Abakua) by Maria Teresa Velez
Sincretismo religioso - Igor Zabaleta

Orixas

Africa’s Ogun old world and new Sandra T Barnes
Oya in Praise of the Goddess - Judith Gleason
Osun the manly woman – Fakayode Fayemi Fatunde
Yemonja Tranquil sea – Lloyd weaver et al

LGBTQ

queering creole by conner

(warning # 1, courtesy of conjureman ali: it is heavily misinformed on some parts. For example it mentions how the history of Kimbanda is traced to "passive sodomites" in Africa and that is why Pomba Gira likes gay men. This really is a complete fabrication. The citation of sources is also very weak. If you try to trace the claims you'll find the sources used are actually quite weak. It seems that rather than doing research the author went in with an agenda, fingerpainted a bit, and then picked and chosed sources that would support his agenda.)

(warning #2, courtesy of sylvanus: They appropriate indigenous and otherwise traditions having vaguely to do with a possible (modern and under-construction) queer identity and use it as a badge of honor for the purposes of a modern culture war.)

Folklore

"The Hero with an African face" (Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa) by Clyde W Ford

PDFs

Lukueña Pdf's/eBooks.
They can be viewed here: http://www.box.com/shared/axtg37l4cp

(courtersy of lukueña: I particularly recommend "Imaginary Dialogues" 1-3. Very good stuff. Yoruba Heathenism (extracts from the book) is very good too.)

Authors That You Are Highly Recommended To Avoid:

mambo racine
migene wippler
mario dos ventos or mario menz/sean belachta/oya bale and who knows what other nicknames this con has
michael bertiaux et al
Min Ra ifagbemi
Baba Ifa Karade
Montenegro
Oba ocun
vodou shaman by ross heaven and prolly anything by him that relates to an ATR

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Arts and Aesthetics

Africa

african masks by hahner-herzog
royal arts of africa by blier
anything by pemberton

Melange (arts of africa and of african-descent)

Face of the Gods - Robert Farris Thompson
flash of the spirit by thompson

DVDs-documentaries

Brazil

the city of women/cidade das mulheres by lazaro faria (based on landes' work)
may i enter by kostana banovic
ile aiye by byrne
danca das cabacas by dinucci
na rota dos orixas by barbieri

Cuba

when the spirits dance mambo by moreno vega et al
this is the web site i was able to find it: http://www.klavelatina.com/catalog/i843.html

Dominican Republic

misterios by earthcds

by the way, check out earthcds for documentaries on many different african traditional
and afro-diasporic religions, and also, other world cultures.
http://www.earthcds.com/miscpages/recordings.shtml
Last edited by anonda on Tue May 08, 2012 6:59 pm, edited 30 times in total.

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