Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions

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.

In Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions, you will discover:

• how the presence of androgynous divinities affects both faith and practice in Vodou, Candomble, Santeria, and other Creole religions
• how the phenomenon of possession or embodiment by a god or goddess may validate queer identity and nurture gender complexity
• who practices the African-derived spiritual traditions, what they believe, and who their deities are
• how these faiths have influenced the art and aesthetic traditions of the West