The African-American folk magic practice of hoodoo is a cultural salad bowl, in and that it has incorporated aspects from the numerous cultures it has come into contact with without destroying their identity. Passed on through families and social contracts until the recent electronic era, the just what entails hoodoo has remained largely unknown, and this obscurity has led to many of the cultural influences that make hoodoo unique being overlooked. Now that hoodoo is readily available for study, it appears as though Native American traditions were mixed into the metaphorical salad bowl that is hoodoo. Cultural exchanges between Native Americans and African Americans have immortalized aspects of Native American culture in the folk magic tradition of hoodoo, ensuring the continuation of Native American traditions through space and time in spite of the decimation of their race at large. (139)***
One of the beauties of cultural diffusion is that, like insects surrounded by amber, it can preserve aspects of cultures that otherwise would have been lost. Native Americans are all but a dead race at this point in time, and although there may be museums and preservations dedicated to their continuation, many of their traditions are isolated and won’t be practiced actively. Hoodoo, a folk magic practice also known as root-work and conjure that began with African slaves in the American southeast, is a prolific and flourishing tradition in its respective regions that, alongside its sister practice of voodoo (which is a structured religion as opposed hoodoo) is far from in danger of dying out.
Like many magical systems, hoodoo borrowed and appropriated practices from different cultures. Perhaps due to the close similarities between Native American magical practices, (the term rootwork in and of itself hints of ties to nature, and if one knows anything about Native Americans it was that they revered nature.) hoodoo drew heavily upon Native American culture. When one looks at the spells employed by the leading practitioners of hoodoo, known as root doctors and hoodoo doctors, they will find numerous instances in which hoodoo entails the use of Native American botanical folklore in herbal formulas and magical curios. Not only that, but African and Native Americans share a belief in animism. Finding definitive links between hoodoo and Native American practices will mean that, though the mother culture of which it was a part has been destroyed, some aspects of Native American tradition will live on. (261)***
Sources:
(Interview) “Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton: Hoodoo in New Orleans, Court Case
Spell, Madame Papaloose.” Interview by Alan Lomax.
Library of Congress Narrative. Web. 24 Oct. 2010.
.
(Newspaper) Blanchard, Kevin. "The Hoodoo Highway: Bottle Spells to Reverse Witchcraft in Lafayette, LA."
The Advocate. 3 Sept. 2004. Web. 26 Oct. 2010.
.
(Media/Song) Memphis Minnie. "Hoodoo Lady." Rec. 18 Feb. 1936. MP3.
(Book) Hurston, Zora Neale. Mules and Men. J. B. Lippincott, 1935. Reprinted,
Harper Collins, 1990.
(Autobiography) Cappick, Marie. "The Key West Story, 1818-1950" The Coral Tribune. May 1958.
(Book) Anderson, Jeffrey. Conjure in African American Society
2005; reprinted in paperback, 2007
(Book) Bird, Stephanie Rose. Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo & Conjuring with Herbs. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2004. Print.
(Website) Yronwode, Catherine. "Hoodoo in Theory and Practice." Lucky Mojo.
Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
http://www.luckymojo.com/hoodoo.html.
(Website) Yronwode, Catherine. “Ghostly Voices from Dixie Land.” Southern Spirits.
Web. 25 Oct. 2010
http://www.southern-spirits.com/
(Website) Amengansie, Hounon. "Hoodoo."
Web. 26 Oct. 2010.
http://www.mamiwata.com/hoodoo.html.
Interesting topic, but you didn't mention in which region of the U.S. these particular Native Americans were. This is definitely important because it might have been an influencing factor in their traditions.
ReplyDeleteDr. Eff:
ReplyDeleteTitle: Is that really what you are writing about? Seems you are on the fence between Native and African American co-mixture (salad).
Native American culture is very much alive and in very large numbers in the western and northern United States. The culture has been seriously eroded. I would like to see better links between native culture and practice of hoodoo. You like generalizations and will need to get more facts alongside more specific in examples and links to human activity and fusion—African American and native American.
Sources: Good bibliographic form. I take it you found no relevance of the readings and your subject? Do you have any references to Native Am. Practice? Your thesis requires it.
Dr. King:
ReplyDeleteI am surprised not to see Carolyn Morrow Long’s “Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and Commerce” (University of Tennessee Press, 2001) on your works cited. You should check it out. As an American Studies professor, I find salad bowl and melting pot allusions trite and tired in this day and age. There is a certain hybridity or bricolage going on with hoodoo and American Indian traditions. Hoodoo is primarily the blending of African religion and culture with Protestant traditions (as voodoo is with Catholic traditions—hence its location primarily in New Orleans). I think that you are on to something with your topic. My husband—who recently wrote an article on Grandma’s and Grandpa’s candle shops in downtown Baltimore—said that there are definitely American Indian influences present. Grandpa (who is dead, but his son runs the shop) had an American Indian grandmother, who he claims taught him how to pick the numbers (for the illegal street lottery). Both shops feature dream catchers and American Indian dolls along side roots and candles. I am sure I could set up a meeting with you and Bay (my husband and hoodoo expert in our house). Carolyn Long also lives in Washington, DC. I think this is a great topic, but you need to delve deeper into the research and better fine-tune your original contribution to the subject.
PS – Bo Diddley has the best hoodoo song ever “How do you love?” Listen to it.
I walked 47 miles of barbed wire,
Used a cobra snake for a neck tie.
Got a brand new house on the roadside,
Made out of rattlesnake hide.
I got a brand new chimney made on top,
Made out of human skulls.
Now come on darling let's take a little walk, tell me,
Who do you love, . . .
You present a very convincing argument for why the study of Hoodoo is important, and I like that you are looking at Native American traditions through Hoodoo traditions, because that is an interesting way to look at it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should put some location to Hoodoo though. Where is it practiced, for the most part, and where could one go to experience it?
I really enjoyed this, your projects are always so easy to read :) I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to hoodoo in general, and I know your working with a word count, but it might be cool if you spent some time looking at what hoodoo practitioners use it for (Smite their enemies? Bless their jobs? Both/Neither?) Maybe I'm totally off-base there, but its just a curiosity of mine.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, it seems like you are focusing on Native American culture, but you had a few allusions to African American culture too. Were you looking at their mix, or just the one aspect of it (Native Americans?) It was just a little confusing. Other than that, great work!
I like your idea. You speak about something that many people in the U.S probably aren't even aware of, and its wonderful that you want to bring light to this cultural practice.
ReplyDeleteI do think that you need to be more specific about what exactly you're going to write about. You seem to be mixing Native American and African American culture a bit, and it can get a bit confusing. Maybe find a way to better tie the two together.
Your topic is very interesting. You have good ideas, but you may need to be a little bit more specific about the history aspect and not make so many generalizations.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you tried to draw together the similarities between the Native American practices and how the two cultures blended within the US. Bu I don't know about the "Native Americans are all but a dead race at this point in time" statement. While I think I know what you meant but it's a little extreme and might be taken the the wrong way or out of context.
ReplyDeleteThis is all really interesting to me, considering I don't know anything about Hoodoo. It's fascinating how you are looking at Hoodoo as a way of preserving Native American culture. I think you could elaborate a little on what Hoodoo is exactly, and perhaps be a little more precise about your goal for this project.
ReplyDeleteYour idea is certainly interesting but it is highly arguable that Native American culture has decimated to the extent to which you write about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andrea's comment on the need to narrow down.
How exactly do you plan on supporting your argument?
First off, I just wanted to say your topic is really intriguing, it has a very eerie, mystic feel to it. I think you're on a great path for your project and have a clear idea of what you're doing. However, I would say you might want to make the distinction between Native American hoodoo and African American hoodoo a little clearer, or at least how they relate.
ReplyDeleteGeorge, you always know how to pick good topics. Just be careful that you know specifics of what you want to research so you have a tract to follow. I also agree with Gagan's comment about making a distinction between the types of hoodoo. I would go even further and look at how they are different but still manage to play off each other.
ReplyDeleteAs a person interested in different cultural traditions, I find this topic interesting. I look forward to reading your paper. just make sure to define each African American hoodoo, Native american hoodoo and voodoo strongly to give your audience a better idea of the differences between the three.
ReplyDeleteWait? What? We're not an all but dead race. :-/ Come on now. Scattered perhaps, some diffused by intermarriage, some no longer acknowledged by Uncle Sam due to some strange hunches assumed on our behalf by Vice President Charles Curtis, sent on the dreaded Trail of Tears by that liar Andrew Jackson, slaughtered and introduced to germs by conquistadors but... Hey, guess what? We're still alive and kicking. We have rights and feelings. Please show a little respect and curtesy.
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