AAAS 269 · also CULANTH 269, RELIGION 270
Black Gods and Kings: Priests and Practices of the Afro-Atlantic Religions
James Lorand Matory
Description from DukeHub
Surveys the spiritual, political and economic experience of those who worship African gods, West and Central Africans, Cubans, Brazilians, Haitians, and North Americans. The gods as sources of power, organization and healing amid local political dominance of Muslims and Christians and seismic expansion of international capitalism. West African Yoruba religion, West-Central African Kongo religion, Brazilian Candomblé and Umbanda, Cuban Santería and Palo Mayombe, Haitian Vodou, and African American Pentecostalism are examined as belief systems, and contextualized to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, long-distance commerce and pilgrimage by free people.
Skills
No skill passed the confidence bar. Weak matches go to review instead of this page: an AI pass that has to quote the description, then a person.
AI-resilient: 1 of 5
- No: Physical, lab or field work
- No: Live work with people
- Yes: Judgment someone is accountable for · "ethical"
- No: A craft you practice with your hands or body
- No: Small, in-person format
The checks lean on Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025), which found generative AI applies least to physical work and hands-on work with people. A signal, not a promise. How the score works
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