<p>Using storytelling and performance to explore shared religious expression across continents\nThrough a revolutionary ethnographic approach that foregrounds storytelling and performance as alternative means of knowledge, Situated Narratives and Sacred Dance explores shared ritual traditions between the Anlo-Ewe people of West Africa and their descendants, the Arará of Cuba, who were brought to the island in the transatlantic slave trade.\nThe volume draws on two decades of research in four communities: Dzodze, Ghana; Adjodogou, Togo; and Perico and Agramonte, Cuba. In the ceremonies, oral narratives, and daily lives of individuals at each fieldsite, the authors not only identify shared attributes in religious expression across continents, but also reveal lasting emotional, spiritual, and personal impacts in the communities whose ancestors were ripped from their homeland and enslaved. The authors layer historiographic data, interviews, and fieldnotes with artistic modes such as true fiction, memoir, and choreographed narrative, challenging the conventional nature of scholarship with insights gained from sensorial experience.\nIncluding reflections on the making of an art installation based on this research project, the volume challenges readers to imagine the potential of approaching fieldwork as artists. The authors argue that creative methods can convey truths deeper than facts, pointing to new possibilities for collaboration between scientists and artists with relevance to any discipline.\nPublication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.</p>

Situated Narratives and Sacred Dance: Performing the Entangled Histories of Cuba and West Africa

Arts & Photography

Crosby, Jill Flanders

Torres, JT

History & Criticism

University of Florida Press

<p><div>When Tito is a child, his grandmother teaches him how to weave magic around the ones you love in order to keep them close. She is the master and he is the pupil, exasperating Tito's put-upon mother who, although exhausted from working long hours, is usually the focus of their mischief. As Tito grows older and his grandmother's mind becomes less sound, their games take a dangerous turn. They both struggle with a particular spell, one that creates an illusion of illness to draw in love. But as the lines between magic and childish tales blur, so too do those between fantasy and reality. In this beautifully told drama of the bond between grandson and grandmother, J. T. Torres delicately explores the complexities of family bonds - in which love is need, and need becomes manipulation, along with the pain and difficulties of dementia and mental ill health.</div></p>

Taking Flight (Fairlight Moderns)

Literature & Fiction

Literary

Fairlight Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Torres, JT. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Torres, JT