Yemoja

Description

Finalist for the 2014 Albert J. Raboteau Prize for the Best Book in Africana Religions presented by the Journal of Africana Religions

This is the first collection of essays to analyze intersectional religious and cultural practices surrounding the deity Yemoja. In Afro-Atlantic traditions, Yemoja is associated with motherhood, women, the arts, and the family. This book reveals how Yemoja traditions are negotiating gender, sexuality, and cultural identities in bold ways that emphasize the shifting beliefs and cultural practices of contemporary times. Contributors come from a wide range of fields—religious studies, art history, literature, and anthropology—and focus on the central concern of how different religious communities explore issues of race, gender, and sexuality through religious practice and discourse. The volume adds the voices of religious practitioners and artists to those of scholars to engage in conversations about how Latino/a and African diaspora religions respond creatively to a history of colonization.
List of Illustrations and Other Media
Acknowledgments
Note on Terminology and Orthography

Introduction: Introducing Yemoja
Solimar Otero and Toyin Falola

Part 1. Yemoja, Gender, and Sexuality

Invocación / Invocation En busca de un amnte desempleado / Searching for an unemployed lover
Pedro R. Pérez-Sarduy

1. Nobody’s Mammy: Yemayá as Fierce Foremother in Afro-Cuban Religions
Elizabeth Pérez

2. Yemayá’s Duck: Irony, Ambivalence, and the Effeminate Male Subject in Cuban Santería
Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús

3. Yemayá y Ochún: Queering the Vernacular Logics of the Waters
Solimar Otero

4. A Different Kind of Sweetness: Yemayá in Afro-Cuban Religion
Martin Tsang

5. Yemoja: An Introduction to the Divine Mother and Water Goddess
Allison P. Sellers

Part 2. Yemoja’s Aesthetics: Creative Expression in Diaspora

6. “Yemaya Blew That Wire Fence Down”: Invoking African Spiritualties in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza and the Mural Art of Juana Alicia
Micaela Díaz-Sánchez

7. Dancing Aché with Yemaya in My Life and in My Art: An Artist Statement
Arturo Lindsay

8. What the Water Brings and Takes Away: The Work of Marìa Magdalena Campos Pons
Alan West-Durán

9. “The Sea Never Dies”: Yemoja: The Infinitely Flowing Mother Force of Africana Literature and Cinema
Teresa N. Washington

10. A Sonic Portrait with Photos of Salvador’s Iemanjá Festival
Jamie N. Davidson and Nelson Eubanks

11. Yemaya Offering a Pearl of Wisdom: An Artist Statement
Erin Dean Colcord

Notes on Contributors
Index

Sujets

• Latin American
• África
• History of art
• Ethnic studies
• Indigenous peoples
• Latin America
• History of Africa
• Caribbean
• Africa
• Cultures

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 novembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438448015
• Langue: English

Extrait

Yemoja
Yemoja
Gender, Sexuality, and Creativity in the Latina/o and Afro-Atlantic Diasporas
Edited by
SOLIMAR OTERO
and
TOYIN FALOLA
Cover image, Adenike of Lagos , Arturo Lindsay, 2003. Digital print, 24 x 21 , in the collection of the artist.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2013 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Eileen Nizer Marketing by Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yemoja : gender, sexuality, and creativity in the Latina/o and Afro-Atlantic
diasporas / edited by Solimar Otero and Toyin Falola.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4799-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Yemaja (Yoruba deity) 2. Mother goddesses. 3. Afro-Caribbean cults. 4. Cultural fusion and the arts. 5. African diaspora in art. 6. Goddesses in art. 7. Orishas in art. 8. Sex in art. I. Otero, Solimar. II. Falola, Toyin.
BL2480.Y6Y46 2013
299.61211—dc23
2012043678
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To our mothers, especially Maria Julia Melchor
Yemayá Asesu, Asesu Yemayá
Yemayá Asesu, Asesu Yemayá
Yemayá Olodo, Olodo Yemayá
Yemayá Olodo, Olodo Yemayá
—Traditional Afro-Cuban song for Yemayá
Contents
List of Illustrations and Other Media
Acknowledgments
Note on Terminology and Orthography
Introduction: Introducing Yemoja
Solimar Otero and Toyin Falola
P ART 1 Y EMOJA , G ENDER, AND S EXUALITY
Invocación / Invocation En busca de un amante desempleado / Searching for an unemployed lover
Pedro R. Pérez-Sarduy
Chapter 1 Nobody’s Mammy: Yemayá as Fierce Foremother in Afro-Cuban Religions
Elizabeth Pérez
Chapter 2 Yemayá’s Duck: Irony, Ambivalence, and the Effeminate Male Subject in Cuban Santería
Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús
Chapter 3 Yemayá y Ochún : Queering the Vernacular Logics of the Waters
Solimar Otero
Chapter 4 A Different Kind of Sweetness: Yemayá in Afro-Cuban Religion
Martin Tsang
Chapter 5 Yemoja: An Introduction to the Divine Mother and Water Goddess
Allison P. Sellers
P ART 2 Y EMOJA ’ S A ESTHETICS : C REATIVE E XPRESSION IN D IASPORA
Chapter 6 “Yemaya Blew That Wire Fence Down”: Invoking African Spiritualities in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza and the Mural Art of Juana Alicia
Micaela Díaz-Sánchez
Color image gallery follows page 186
Chapter 7 Dancing Aché with Yemaya in My Life and in My Art: An Artist Statement
Arturo Lindsay
Chapter 8 What the Water Brings and Takes Away: The Work of María Magdalena Campos Pons
Alan West-Durán
Chapter 9 “The Sea Never Dies”: Yemoja: The Infinitely Flowing Mother Force of Africana Literature and Cinema
Teresa N. Washington
Chapter 10 A Sonic Portrait with Photos of Salvador’s Iemanjá Festival
Jamie N. Davidson and Nelson Eubanks
Chapter 11 Yemayá Offering a Pearl of Wisdom: An Artist Statement
Erin Dean Colcord
Notes on Contributors
Index
Illustrations and Other Media
Cover image, Adenike of Lagos , Arturo Lindsay, 2003. Digital print, 24 x 21 , in the collection of the artist. Figure 6.1 Sanarte: Diversity’s Pathway , Juana Alicia ©2005. Suite of four murals and the double helix and cementatious tile walkway at UCSF Medical Center, 400 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco. Figure 6.2 OLLIN Mural, detail of Sanarte: Diversity’s Pathway , Juana Alicia ©2005. Suite of four murals and the double helix and cementatious tile walkway at UCSF Medical Center, 400 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco. Figure 6.3 MaestraPeace (1994 and 2000) by Juana Alicia, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, and Irene Perez. Photo Credit: Marvin Collins, Ruben Guzman, et al. All Rights Reserved. Figure 6.4 MaestraPeace (Detail) (1994 and 2000) by Juana Alicia, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, and Irene Perez. Photo Credit: Marvin Collins, Ruben Guzman, et al. All Rights Reserved. Figure 7.1 Sanctuary for the Children of Middle Passage , Arturo Lindsay, 2000. EXMA Centro Culturale D’Arte e Cultura, Sardinia, Italy. Mixed media installation, dimensions variable. Figure 10.1 Iemanjá Festival, Praia da Paciência, Rio Vermelho, Salvador, Brazil, 2 February 2012, photo by Jamie Davidson. Figure 10.2 Iemanjá Festival, On the Praia da Paciência, the great float of offerings grows. In the background, the Casa de Yemanjá, Salvador, Brazil, 2 February 2012, photo by Jamie Davidson. Figure 10.3 Iemanjá Festival. Flowers and gifts await departure. Praia da Paciência, Rio Vermelho, Salvador, Brazil, 2 February 2012, photo by Jamie Davidson. Figure 10.4 Iemanjá Festival. On a beach strewn with flowers, an ecstatic devotee receives support. Praia da Paciência, Rio Vermelho, Salvador, Brazil, 2 February 2012, photo by Jamie Davidson. Figure 10.5 Iemanjá Festival. Boats carry offerings to the sea. Praia da Paciência, Rio Vermelho, Salvador, Brazil, 2 February 2012, photo by Jamie Davidson. Figure 10.6 Iemanjá Festival. “A muvuca .” Revelers make music on the Praia da Paciência, Rio Vermelho, Salvador. 2 February 2012, photo by Jamie Davidson. Figure 10.7 Iemanjá Festival. Song of praise with bead seller. Praia da Paciência, Rio Vermelho, Salvador, Brazil, 2 February 2011, photo by Jamie Davidson. Figure 10.8 Iemanjá Festival. Drummers take the streets. Rua João Gomes, Rio Vermelho, Salvador, Brazil, 2 February 2012, photo by Jamie Davidson. Figure 11.1 Yemaya Offering a Pearl of Wisdom , Erin Dean Colcord, 2004. Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 28 , courtesy of the artist. Figure 11.2 Mermaid Playing with Merbaby , Erin Dean Colcord, 2009. Jar Candle Sticker, color, 3 x 5 , courtesy of the artist.
Color Gallery follows page 186 Plate 1 La Llorona’s Sacred Waters , Juana Alicia ©2004. Acrylic mural on stucco, 30 x 60 . 24 th and York Streets, San Francisco Mission District. Plate 2 Yemaya Detail from MaestraPeace (1994 and 2000) by Juana Alicia, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, and Irene Perez. Photo Credit: Marvin Collins, Ruben Guzman, et al. All Rights Reserved. Plate 3 Bay of Portobelo at Sunset , Arturo Lindsay, 2002. Digital photography, 11 x 14 , in the collection of the artist. Plate 4 Requiem in Portobelo , Bay of Portobelo, Panama, Arturo Lindsay, 2005. Bamboo, cayuco (hand-hewn wooden canoe), dried leaves, fire and water, 20 x 10 x 4 . Plate 5 The Voyage of the Delfina, a performance art ritual, Arturo Lindsay with poet Opal Moore, 2002. The Atrium of the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Academic Center, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia, Multimedia performance/installation, dimensions variable. Plate 6 Adenike of Lagos , Arturo Lindsay, 2003. Digital print, 24 x 21 , in the collection of the artist. Plate 7 Retorno de las ánimas Africanas / The Return of African Spirits , Arturo Lindsay, installed by Amy Sherald, photo by Gustavo Araujo, 2000. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Panama. Mixed media installation, dimensions variable. Plate 8 Boli Catching the Skies #1, 2010 (The Sardine Fishing in Portobelo Series), Arturo Lindsay, 2012. Digital photography, 11 x 14 , in the collection of the artist.
Acknowledgments
Many people and organizations helped to make this project a reality. Many thanks for the support and feedback received from the Harvard Divinity School’s Women’s Studies in Religion program, especially Ann Braude, who sponsored some of the research in Cuba presented in this book. We are grateful as well for the support received from the University of Texas at Austin. We also would like to acknowledge the support received from Dean Gaines Foster, from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Louisiana State University. Thank you also to the chair of the Department of English at LSU, Rick Moreland, who enthusiastically believed in this project. We give much thanks to all at the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) program at LSU. WGS provided necessary support for completing this project, in addition to offering an important intellectual venue for working through the main components of this work. LSU’s programs in Louisiana and Caribbean Studies and Atlantic Studies were both extremely helpful and supportive of the collaborative endeavors presented in this book.
There are also many colleagues whose feedback was crucial to developing our vision in the anthology. We are grateful to Aisha Beliso-De Jesús for her thoughtful comments in formulating the early stages of this project. Lucinda Romberg also read early versions of the work and provided much insight. We also thank Norma Cantú and Katey Borland for their useful readings and responses. LSU colleagues Bill Boelhower, Benjamin Kahn, Lara Glenum, Pallavi Rastogi, Carolyn Ware, Rosan Jordan, and Frank De Caro graciously commented on the project in ways that greatly improved our scope and focus. We are grateful to Arturo Lindsay, Juana Alicia, Jamie Davidson, Nelson Eubanks, and Erin C