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OBEAH, VAGRANCY, AND THE BOUNDARIES OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: ANALYZING THE PROSCRIPTION OF “PRETENDING TO POSSESS SUPERNATURAL POWERS” IN THE ANGLOPHONE CARIBBEAN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2018

Danielle N. Boaz
Danielle N. Boaz*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
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Abstract

The practice of obeah, a term used to refer to a variety of African derived spiritual practices, remains proscribed in at least fourteen countries or territories in the Anglophone Caribbean today. This article examines the historical development of these laws and the significance of the continued prohibition of obeah. Although obeah laws were initially modeled on British statutes banning vagrancy and witchcraft, and were passed during a period when it was common for nations in the Western Hemisphere to prohibit the practice of African diaspora faiths, these statutes stand in stark contrast to the religious freedoms guaranteed in other parts of the Atlantic world in the twenty-first century. Obeah laws proscribe the mere performance of certain spiritual rituals, while other countries modified their policies in the mid-twentieth century to require evidence of intentional fraud and financial gain to convict occult practitioners. This article links the continued proscription of obeah to nineteenth century assertions that African peoples were animists and fetishists, as well as to long-standing hierarchies in the Western world placing theistic religions above those centered on spirit conjuring, divination, and the manipulation of supernatural forces.

Keywords

obeahwitchcraftvagrancyAfricaCaribbean
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , November 2017 , pp. 423 - 448
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2018 

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References

1 These countries are Belize, the Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Turks and Caicos, as well as the Cayman Islands. See Handler, Jerome S. and Bilby, Kenneth, Enacting Power: The Criminalization of Obeah in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1760–2011 (Kingston: University of West Indies Press, 2012), 45–101Google Scholar (detailing the historical and current status of obeah legislation in every country in the Anglophone Caribbean). In addition to these former British colonies, the laws of the U.S. Virgin Islands also prohibit “pretend[ing] or profess[ing] to tell fortunes by palmistry, ‘obeah’ or any such like superstitious means, or us[ing] or pretend[ing] to use any subtle craft or device, in order to deceive and impose upon other persons.” Miscellaneous Acts of Vagrancy, V.I. Code Ann. tit. 14, § 2221 (1921).

2 Although scholars have long discussed the African origins of obeah, and obeah statutes initially focused on the proscription of the practices of enslaved persons, recent research has underscored how, particularly in the case of colonial Trinidad, the legal proscription of obeah often encompassed the religious or spiritual practices of other ethnic groups, especially Indians. See Rocklin, Alexander, “Obeah and the Politics of Religion's Making and Unmaking in Colonial Trinidad,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 83, no. 3 (2015): 697–721CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief very succinctly explained this concept as follows: “Theism is the belief in the existence of one supernatural being (monotheism) or several divinities (polytheism), whereas a nontheist is someone who does not accept a theistic understand of deity.” Asma Jahangir, Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance, ¶ 67, U.N. Doc. A/62/280 (Aug. 20, 2007).

4 Paton, Diana, “Obeah Acts: Producing and Policing the Boundaries of Religion in the Caribbean,” Small Axe 13, no. 1 (2009): 1–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 1.

5 Handler and Bilby, Enacting Power.

6 Paton, and Forde, , Obeah and Other Powers: The Politics of Caribbean Religion and Healing (Durham: Duke University Press, 2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Paton, , The Cultural Politics of Obeah: Religion, Colonialism and Modernity in the Caribbean World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Crosson, J. Brent, “What Obeah Does Do,” Journal of Africana Religions 3, no. 2 (2015): 151–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 169.

9 Paton, “Obeah Acts,” 2.

10 Ibid.

11 Olmos, Margarite Fernández and Paravisini-Gebert, Lizabeth, Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and Santería to Obeah and Espiritismo (New York: New York University Press, 2003), 131Google Scholar.

12 Ibid.

13 Handler, Jerome and Bilby, Kenneth, “On the Early Use and Origin of the Term ‘Obeah’ in Barbados and the Anglophone Caribbean,” Slavery and Abolition 22, no. 2 (2001): 87–100CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed, at 90–91. Bilby and Handler argue for the Igbo/Ibibio origins of the term and contend that it more likely meant “herbalist” or “doctor” than “wizard.”

14 Ibid., 87.

15 Paton, “Obeah Acts,” 1–2; Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah, 1–2. Murrell, Nathaniel, Afro-Caribbean Religions: An Introduction to Their Historical, Cultural, and Sacred Traditions (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2010), 225–26Google Scholar.

16 Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert, Creole Religions, 131.

17 Ibid., 133.

18 Murrell, Afro-Caribbean Religions, 229.

19 Ibid., 235; Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert, Creole Religions, 131, 133.

20 Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert, Creole Religions, 136–37; Murrell, Afro-Caribbean Religions, 239.

21 Murrell, Afro-Caribbean Religions, 238–39 (discussing how the practice of obeah has incorporated aspects of Christianity, indigenous Caribbean, and Indian religions, including the worship of deities of these faiths).

22 Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert, Creole Religions, 141. This is not to suggest that obeah practitioners do not believe in god or that persons belonging to theistic belief systems have not been charged with practicing obeah. In some cases, colonial authorities applied the term “obeah practitioner” to Afro-Christian and Orisha adherents. Furthermore, Alex Rocklin has recently examined how Indo-Trinidadian Hindus were also charged with practicing obeah. Rocklin, “Obeah and the Politics of Religion's Making and Unmaking in Colonial Trinidad,” 706–16. However, followers of theistic religions who are charged with practicing obeah are typically engaged in aspects of those faiths that would appear nontheistic to outsiders (that is, fortunetelling, palm reading, the sale and use of charms, and working with spirits of deceased persons or animals), although adherents may be subtly invoking a deity to assist them in their practices.

23 Summary Jurisdiction (Offenses) Law of Guyana, ch. 8:02, § 145(5) (1893) (codified as amended 2012), http://www.legalaffairs.gov.gy/information/laws-of-guyana/ (prescribing a punishment of up to twelve months imprisonment and a twenty-thousand-dollar fine for this offense); Obeah Act of Dominica, ch. 10:38, § 6 (1904), http://www.dominica.gov.dm/laws-of-dominica/ (subjecting a person practicing obeah to a term of twelve months imprisonment and a three thousand dollar fine); The Obeah Act of Jamaica, ch. 266, § 2–3 (1898), http://moj.gov.jm/sites/default/files/laws/The%20Obeah%20Act.pdf (prescribing a punishment of twelve months imprisonment for this offense).

24 The Obeah Act of Jamaica, ch. 266, § 2–10 (1898) (prohibiting practicing obeah, possessing instruments of obeah, consulting an obeah practitioner, and possessing or distributing any printed matter related to obeah); The Obeah Act of Antigua and Barbuda, ch. 298, § 2–11 (1904), http://laws.gov.ag/acts/chapters/cap-298.pdf (prohibiting practicing obeah, using instruments of obeah, possessing obeah literature, and consulting an obeah practitioner); Penal Code of the Bahamas, ch. 84, § 232 (1927), http://laws.bahamas.gov.bs/cms/en/ (prohibiting practicing obeah); Summary Jurisdiction (Offenses) Law of Guyana, ch. 8:02, § 145(1) (prohibiting practicing obeah, and the assumption of any occult means or supernatural power, as well as pretending to use any love philter).

25 In Caribbean nations that have enacted both obeah laws and separate statutes related to fraud and “witchcraft,” the latter usually contain this specific language. For example, see Penal Code of the Bahamas, 84 Statute Law of the Bahamas § 145(2) (1927). The Bahamas prohibit these acts subject to four months imprisonment in a section entitled “false pretenses and frauds.” The criminal code of Grenada has analogous laws under the section entitled “Misappropriations and Frauds: Stealing.” Criminal Code, ch. 72A, § 98(b) (1958), http://laws.gov.gd/. The laws of Belize prescribe up to six months imprisonment for any person who “pretends or professes to tell fortunes, or uses any subtle craft or device by palmistry, obeah or any such like superstitious means to deceive and impose upon any person.” Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, 98 Substantive Laws of Belize § 2(3)(1)(viii) (2000), http://www.belizelaw.org/web/lawadmin/.

26 The Obeah Act of Jamaica, as well as the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act of Guyana use this language. See The Obeah Act of Jamaica, ch. 266 § 2 (1898); Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act of Guyana, ch. 8:02 § 145(1)–(2) (1893) (using “intimidating” instead of “frightening”).

27 Penal Code of the Bahamas, 84 Statute Law of the Bahamas § 232 (1927); Criminal Code, ch. 72A § 143 (1958) (Grenada); Summary Jurisdiction (Offenses) Act of Guyana, ch. 8:02 § 145(2) (1893).

28 For instance, Jamaica's Obeah statute was passed in 1898; Antigua and Barbuda's Obeah Act was passed in 1904.

29 Several scholars have discussed the complex relationship between obeah legislation and English laws regarding witchcraft and vagrancy. See Paton, “Obeah Acts,” 4–7; Bilby and Handler, Enacting Power, 18–19.

30 These laws have been reprinted in Marion Gibson, ed., Witchcraft and Society in England and America, 1550–1750 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003), 1–8.

31 Sharpe, James, Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997), 125Google Scholar (indicating that although it is difficult to estimate the numbers of individuals prosecuted for witchcraft because of the limited surviving records, it is likely that less than 500 people were executed for the crime in England).

32 Ibid., 64–66.

33 Ibid., 85.

34 For example, see “An Act against Conjuration, Enchantments and Witchcrafts,” in Gibson, Witchcraft and Society in England and America, 3–5; Sharpe, Instruments of Darkness, 66–68 (noting that cunning men and women practiced counter-magic, provided treatment for a variety of illnesses, conducted divination, and discovered lost or stolen goods, as well as the individuals who stole them); Macfarlane, Alan, Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England: A Regional and Comparative Study (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), 126CrossRefGoogle Scholar (explaining that there is little surviving evidence about cunning folks' beliefs about the source of their power, however clergy believed that cunning folk acquired their powers from the devil).

35 Sharpe, Instruments of Darkness, 229–30.

36 This law actually went into effect in 1736 but, according to the law's own short title, was called “The Witchcraft Act of 1735.”

37 “The Witchcraft Act of 1735,” in Statutes of Practical Utility Passed in 1904, Arranged in Alphabetical Order in Continuation of “Chitty's Statues,” with Notes and Selected Statutory Rules, ed. J. M. Lely (London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1904), 549–50. Specifically, this law said “no prosecution, suit, or proceeding, shall be commenced or carried on against any person or persons for witchcraft, inchantment [sic], or conjuration, or for charging another with any such offence in any Court in Great Britain.” Subject to one year imprisonment, it prohibited any person from “pretend[ing] to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, inchantment [sic], or conjuration, or undertak[ing] to tell fortunes, or pretend[ing] from his or her skill or knowledge in any occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner any goods or chattels, supposed to have been stolen or lost, may be found.”

38 Davies, Owen, Witchcraft, Magic and Culture, 1736–1951 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999), 50Google Scholar.

39 “Act 24 of 1760,” in Acts of Assembly Passed in the Island of Jamaica; From the Year 1681 to the Year 1769 (Saint Jago de la Vega: Lowry and Sherlock, 1791), 2:55Google Scholar.

40 Diana Paton's book, The Cultural Politics of Obeah, contains an entire chapter discussing the initial proscription of obeah in the mid-eighteenth century, following Tacky's rebellion. Paton, “The Emergence of Caribbean Spiritual Politics,” in The Cultural Politics of Obeah, 17–42.

41 Rucker, Walter C., The River Flows On: Black Resistance, Culture, and Identity Formation in Early America (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006), 44–45Google Scholar; Brown, Vincent, The Reaper's Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 147–50Google Scholar.

42 For example, see Long, Edward, The History of Jamaica; Or General Survey of the Antient And Modern State of That Island, [ …] (London: T. Lowndes, 1774), 2:451Google Scholar (describing obeah practitioners as “chief in counseling and instigating the credulous herd” [referring to the insurgents in Tacky's rebellion]).

43 “Act 24 of 1760,” 2:55.

44 “An Act for the Encouragement, Protection, and Better Government of Slaves of 1788,” in Copies of Several Acts for the Regulation of Slaves, Passed in the West India Islands (n.p., 1789), 24 (Dominica); “An Act for the Better Prevention of the Practice of Obeah of 1818,” file CO 28/87, National Archives (UK), reprinted in State Papers, Session: 21 November 1826–2 July 1827 (London: H. G. Clarke, 1827)Google Scholar, 25:269 (Barbados).

45 Paton, Diana, “Witchcraft, Poison, Law and Atlantic Slavery,” William and Mary Quarterly 69, no. 2 (2012): 235–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 254–55.

46 Johnson, Paul Christopher, “Law, Religion and ‘Public Health’ in the Republic of Brazil,” Law and Social Inquiry 26, no. 9 (2001): 9–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 13.

47 “More of the Voudous,” Times Picayune (New Orleans), July 30, 1850, 5; “The Voudous Again,” Times Picayune (New Orleans), July 25, 1851, 2.

48 “Unlawful Assemblies,” Times Picayune (New Orleans), July 31, 1850, 2.

49 “Act 24 of 1760,” 2:55.

50 Ibid.; “An Act for the Better Prevention of the Practice of Obeah of 1818,” 25:269.

51 See Thornton, S. Leslie, “‘Obeah’ in Jamaica,” Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation 2, no. 5 (1904): 262–70Google Scholar, at 263. Despite colonial suggestions that obeah practitioners derived their powers from the devil, enslaved persons did not typically conceive of the world as a dichotomy of good and evil; they viewed supernatural forces as neutral power that could be manipulated for any desired end.

52 Paton, “Obeah Acts,” 5–7.

53 “An Act for punishment of Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdie Beggars,” in Certaine Statutes especially selected, and commanded by his Maiestie to be carefully put in execution by all Justices, and other Officers of the Peace throughout the Realme; [ …] (London: Robert Barker & John Bill, 1630), 45Google Scholar.

54 Vagrancy Act, 1824, 5 George 4, c. 83.

55 Davies, Witchcraft, Magic, and Culture, 56–57, 63.

56 Penny v. Hanson (1887), 18 QBD 478; Davis v. Curry (1918), 1 KB 109.

57 In Davis v. Curry, the court found that if there was no intent to deceive, no crime had been committed under the Vagrancy Act. Davis v. Curry (1918), 1 KB 109. In Stonehouse v. Masson, however, the court reversed its opinion in Davis and found that intent to deceive was irrelevant to the charge. Stonehouse v. Masson (1921), 2 KB 818.

58 The language about reasonable beliefs “in these days of advanced knowledge” comes from Penny v. Hanson (1887), 18 QBD 478. However, Justice Lawrence expressed similar sentiments in Stonehouse v. Masson, explaining that he could not imagine that any person who professed to communicate with spirits did not commit intentional fraud. Stonehouse v. Masson (1921), 2 KB 818.

59 House of Commons, “Sixth Report from the Select Committee on Sugar and Coffee Planting,” in Reports from Committees: Sugar and Coffee Planting (n.p. 1848): 13:135–69.

60 Diana Paton, Jerome Handler, and Kenneth Bilby have published detailed works that explain the text of post-emancipation obeah laws and provide more detailed comparisons of these texts. Paton, “Obeah Acts,” 5; Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah, 120–22; Bilby and Handler, Enacting Power, 18–19.

61 For example, British Guiana's Obeah Act of 1855 stated in the preamble “Whereas the practice of Obeah has increased to a great extent in this Colony, and whereas the punishment provided by law is wholly inadequate to repress the commission of the said practice, or of the various frauds connected therewith.” “An Ordinance to Repress the Commission of Obeah Practices, Ord. 1 of 1855,” in The Laws of British Guiana (Demerara: L. McDermott, 1873), 2:370Google Scholar (emphasis added). Similarly, Jamaica's Obeah Act of 1857 defined the practice of obeah, in part, as “any person who shall for false, crafty, or unlawful purposes pretend to the possession of supernatural power.” “An Act to Explain the Fourth Victoria, Chapter Forty-Two, and the Nineteenth Victoria, Chapter Thirty, and for the More Effectual Punishment of Obeah and Myalism, 1857,” in The Statutes and Laws of the Island of Jamaica, ed. Ribton, C. Curran (Kingston: Government Printing Establishment, 1890), 4:45Google Scholar.

62 For instance, the Obeah Act of Antigua and Barbuda copied some of the language of English vagrancy laws nearly word for word. They said “Any person who pretends or professes to tell fortunes, or uses any subtle craft, means or device, by palmistry or otherwise, or pretends to cure injuries or diseases or to intimidate or effect any purpose by means of any charm, incantation or other pretended supernatural practice, shall be liable to be imprisoned for any period not exceeding six months.” The Obeah Act of Antigua and Barbuda, ch. 298, § 5 (1904), http://laws.gov.ag/acts/chapters/cap-298.pdf.

63 This is based on the author's own research, which consists of hundreds of prosecutions of witchcraft, vagrancy, and obeah from England and the British Caribbean.

64 Johnson, “Law, Religion and ‘Public Health’ in the Republic of Brazil,” 19–20.

65 Ibid.

66 Paton, “Obeah Acts,” 13–17 (discussing these comparisons in greater detail).

67 Henry, Frances, Reclaiming African Religions in Trinidad: The Socio-Political Legitimation of the Orisha and Spiritual Baptist Faiths (Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2003), 32Google Scholar.

68 Ibid., 34, 36 (internal quotation marks omitted). Diana Paton also describes discriminatory media descriptions of Spiritual Baptists, where authors referred to them as “pseudo-religion,” blasphemous, and devilish. Paton, “Obeah Acts,” 13.

69 United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1944).

70 For example, Guy Ballard asserted that in one past life he was George Washington and in another he was the son of an Incan ruler. Failinger, Marie, “United States v. Ballard: Government Prohibited from Declaring Religious Truth,” in Law and Religion: Cases in Context, ed. Griffin, Leslie (Austin: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2010), 32–49Google Scholar, at 35.

71 Ibid., 36–37.

72 Ibid., 38–39.

73 Ibid., 34–38 (discussing the Ballard's purported beliefs and practices); Ballard, 322 U.S. at 82 (quoting the jury instructions).

74 Ballard, 322 U.S. at 82.

75 Ibid., 87.

76 Rex v. Duncan and Others [1944] KB 713.

77 Specifically, the justices explained “What was aimed at, as shown by the language of the statute itself, was that ignorant persons should not be deluded or defrauded by the pretence to exercise or use any kind of conjuration. . . . The prosecution did not seek to prove that spirits of deceased persons could not be called forth or materialized or embodied in a particular form. Their task was much more limited and prosaic. It was to prove, if they could, that the appellants had been guilty of conspiring to pretend that they could do these things, and, therefore, of conspiring to pretend that they could exercise a kind of conjuration to do these things.” Ibid.

78 For instance, see B. Abdy Collins's strong criticism of this prosecution published the year after the court's decision. Collins, B. Abdy, “Spiritualism and the Law,” Modern Law Review 8, no. 3 (1945): 158–62Google Scholar.

79 Fraudulent Mediums Act, 1951, 14 & 15 George 6 c. 33, § 1.

80 Ibid.

81 “Regina v. Molly Brodie,” Caribbean Law Journal 1, no. 2 (1953): 22–24Google Scholar.

82 Ibid., 22.

83 Ibid.

84 Ibid., 23.

85 Ibid., 22–23.

86 Ibid., 23.

87 Ibid.

88 It is important to note that this decision by the Jamaican Supreme Court, which interprets the Vagrancy Act's provision banning “pretending to deal in obeah” to be contravened by the mere performance of a supernatural ritual, is quite distinct from most obeah cases in Jamaica, which, as scholars have well documented, often relied on proof of financial gain. Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah, 195–96.

89 Henry, Reclaiming African Religions in Trinidad, 36.

90 Public Holidays and Festivals Act, 19:05 Laws of Trinidad and Tobago, 8 (2015), http://rgd.legalaffairs.gov.tt/Laws2/Alphabetical_List/lawspdfs/19.05.pdf.

91 Johan Wedel, Santeria Healing: A Journey into the Afro-Cuban World of Divinities, Spirits and Sorcery (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004), 31–33.

92 Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993).

93 Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah, 278–79.

94 “Burnham to Legalize Obeah,” Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica), November 2, 1973.

95 It is also important to note that Burnham's proposed plan to legalize obeah was part of a political struggle between Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese populations at this time. His proposal would have been controversial because it placed state support behind the former by legitimizing a belief system that was regarded as Afro-Guyanese. Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah, 283–87.

96 Ibid., 287.

97 Ibid.

98 “Burnham to Legalize Obeah.”

99 “Insult to Catholics,” Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica), December 13, 1973.

100 Ibid.

101 Summary Jurisdiction (Offenses) Act, ch. 8:02 § 145 (2012), http://www.legalaffairs.gov.gy/information/laws-of-guyana/. Many current obeah laws contain very antiquated language that identifies obeah as synonymous with witchcraft. The current laws of Antigua and Barbuda even specify in the definition of obeah that it “includes witchcraft and working or pretending to work by spells or by professed occult or supernatural power.” The Obeah Act of Antigua and Barbuda, ch. 298, § 2 (1904), http://laws.gov.ag/acts/chapters/cap-298.pdf; The Obeah Act of Dominica, passed at the same time as the statutes of Antigua and Barbuda, use identical language. The long title of this law is “An Act for preventing and punishing persons who pretend to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery or other supernatural practices,” Obeah Act of Dominica, ch. 10:38, § 6 (1904) http://www.dominica.gov.dm/laws-of-dominica.

102 Summary Jurisdiction (Offenses) Act, ch. 8:02 § 145(4) (2012), http://www.legalaffairs.gov.gy/information/laws-of-guyana/.

103 Hansard Proceedings and Debates HR (2000) (Trin & Tobago), 59–60, www.ttparliament.org/hansards/hh20001011.pdf.

104 Ibid., 60.

105 Ibid., 62.

106 Ibid., 70.

107 Ibid.

108 Ibid.

109 Ibid., 71.

110 One has only to look at modern-day crime dramas or 85 years of horror films to see a plethora of examples of plots about African diaspora faiths. “Curse of the Coffin,” CSI Miami (CBS television broadcast, October 2006); “The Man in the Morgue,” Bones (Fox television broadcast, April 19, 2006); Princess and the Frog (Disney, 2009); Tales of Voodoo (Videoasia 2007) (5 DVD series, aired 2005–present); Zombie Nation (Working Poor Productions, 2006); Santeria: the Soul Possessed (Lions Gate Films, 2006); The Skeleton Key (Universal Pictures, 2005); London Voodoo (Zen Films 2004); Voodoo Dawn (Bridge Pictures, 2000); Voodoo Academy (2000); Tales from the Hood (40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, 1995); Voodoo (Planet Productions, 1995); Serpent and the Rainbow (Serpent & the Rainbow, 1988); Angel Heart (Carolco Int'l NV, 1987); Curse of the Voodoo (Futurama Entertainment Corp., 1965); I Walked with a Zombie (RKO Radio Pictures, 1943); White Zombie (Edward Halperin Productions, 1932).

111 Paton, “Obeah Acts,” 15–16.

112 Ibid.

113 Ibid.

114 Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert, Creole Religions, 133.

115 Ibid. Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert also argue that “there are no group rituals, dancing, drum playing or singing connected to Obeah practices, except in the case of Myalism in Jamaica. The systematic repression of African cultural expressions on the part of the British had forced these practices underground, and they had ultimately been lost, except in some pockets of religious activity like Myalism and the Trinidadian Orisha tradition.” Ibid., 136.

116 For example, see “The Obeah Law of 1898,” in The Laws of Jamaica: Passed in a Session Which Began on the 15th Day of March, and Adjourned Sine Die on the 29th Day of August (Kingston: Government Printing Office, 1898), 2.

117 Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah, 276.

118 Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert, Creole Religions, 133.

119 Though none of these religions are completely nontheistic, scholars have argued that Regla de Palo is “focused less on a pantheon of deities, the Reglas Congos (referring to Palo) emphasize control of the spirits of the dead and healing with the use of charms.” Ibid., 79. Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert explain that Palo is “less familiar to many inside and outside Cuba.” Ibid., 78. Nathaniel Murrell notes the same, explaining that some have attributed this discrepancy to the scholarly focus on Yoruba religion in Cuba. Murrell, Afro-Caribbean Religions, 135–36. Murrell further explains about Palo that “for a long time it remained less popular, less known, more suspect, and more greatly suppressed as brujeria than Lucumi was” though he argues that the faith has become more popular in recent years. Ibid., 154. Murrell has stronger words for Macumba, which, like obeah and Palo Monte/Mayombe, is characterized by divination, communication with spirits of the dead, and “magical rites.” Ibid., 184. Murrell describes Macumba as “one of the earliest but most suppressed and least respected religion[s] in the world's most African diaspora,” and “the religion most Brazilians despise.” Ibid., 184–85.

120 Miscellaneous Laws Act, 2000, 85, 39 Trin. & Tobago Gazette 1117, 1118–120 (2000), http://www.ttparliament.org/legislations/a2000-85.pdf.

121 Ibid., 1117.

122 “An Ordinance for Rendering Certain Offences Punishable on Summary Conviction of 1902,” in Laws of Trinidad and Tobago (Port-of-Spain: Government Printing Office, 1902), 1:122, 130–31Google Scholar. I have been unable to locate an earlier version of this law from 1868 to confirm that the language is identical. However, this law is described in another work in sufficient detail to suggest that the language was at least very similar, if not the same. Handler and Bilby, Enacting Power, 59.

123 Handler and Bilby, Enacting Power, 59.

124 Miscellaneous Laws Act, 2000, 1118.

125 23 Hansard Proceedings and Debates HR (2000) (Trin. & Tobago), 24, www.ttparliament.org/hansards/hh20001011.pdf.

126 Maharaj asserted that “the laws which we are trying to reform today, are laws which impact tremendously on the right of worship of certain of the religions and, in particular, the Baptists and Orisas.” Ibid., 22.

127 Ibid., 35. However, this is very likely an erroneous statement. Scholars have attributed the origins of the word obeah to the Ashanti words for spiritual beings, obayifo or obeye; not orisha worshippers whose practices are primarily derived from the Yoruba people. Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert, Creole Religions, 131.

128 22 Hansard Proceedings and Debates Senate (2000) (Trin. & Tobago), 94–95, www.ttparliament.org/hansards/hs20001019.pdf.

129 Ibid., 93.

130 Ibid., 98–100.

131 Miscellaneous Laws Act, 2000, 1120, http://www.ttparliament.org/legislations/a2000-85.pdf.

132 23 Hansard Proceedings and Debates HR (2000) (Trin. & Tobago), 38–39, www.ttparliament.org/hansards/hh20001011.pdf.

133 Ibid., 39.

134 Ibid.

135 Ibid.

136 Miscellaneous Law Bill, 5 Hansard Proceedings and Debates 105 (2000) (Trin. & Tobago), www.ttparliament.org/hansards/hs20001019.pdf.

137 Ibid.

138 Spiritualism, as described above, involves communication with spirits of departed persons. Similarly, the I Am Movement centers on communications with a being known as Saint Germaine who the Ballards regarded as a sort of venerated human spirit, known as an Ascended Master. The Ballards claimed that they themselves would also become Ascended Masters before the end of their lives. Additionally, both Spiritualism and the I Am Movement focus on individualized relationships between the “medium” (the spiritualist or the Ballards) and the client. For additional information about the historical development of Spiritualism as well as its central beliefs and practices, see McGarry, Molly, Ghost of Futures Past: Spiritualism and the Cultural Politics of Nineteenth Century America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008)Google Scholar. For more information about the I Am Movement, see Failinger, “United States v. Ballard: Government Prohibited from Declaring Religious Truth,” 33–49.

139 Ray, Benjamin, African Religions: Symbol, Ritual and Community (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1976), 5–6Google Scholar. For example, in 1877, C. P. Tiele wrote,

It is on various grounds probable that the earliest religion, which has left but faint traces behind it, was followed by a period in which Animism generally prevailed. This stage, which is still represented by the so-called Nature-religions, or rather by the polydaemonistic magic tribal religions, early developed among civilized nations into polytheistic national religions resting upon a traditional doctrine. Not until a later period did polytheism give place here and there to nomistic religions, or religious communities founded on a law or holy scripture, and subduing polytheism more or less completely beneath pantheism or monotheism. These last, again, contain the roots of the universal or world religions, which start from principles and maxims. Were we to confine ourselves to a sketch of the abstract development of the religious idea in humanity, we should have to follow this order.

Outlines of the History of Religion to the Spread of the Universal Religions, trans. Carpenter, J. Estlin (Boston: James R. Osgood, 1877), 3Google Scholar.

Similarly, in his study of “primitive religions,” G. T. Bettany categorized two different African ethnic groups based on their spiritual beliefs. The “Bushmen,” he argued, were “perhaps the lowest African race,” who “had little or no idea of a god; but they had a great belief in magic.” He asserted that the “Hottentots have considerably more developed ideas. They seem to have a notion of a supreme deity.” Bettany, G. T., Primitive Religions (London: Ward, Lock, Bowden, 1891), 63Google Scholar.

140 Tiele, Outlines of the History of Religion to the Spread of the Universal Religions, 9.

141 Ibid., 10. One continues to see strong reflections of this kind of hierarchy in modern descriptions of obeah. In particular, in Margarite Fernandez Olmos and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert's book Creole Religions of the Caribbean, they describe obeah as “a set of hybrid or creolized beliefs dependent on ritual invocation, fetishes, and charms,” which “is not a religion so much as a system of beliefs rooted in Creole notions of spirituality, which acknowledges and incorporates into its practices witchcraft, sorcery, magic, spells, and healing.” Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert, Creole Religions, 131.

142 Ray, African Religions, 5. Fetish worship means “endowing natural things (trees, mountains, waters, pieces of wood) with sacred and divine power.” Ibid.

143 John Mbiti explained, “Since every African society has magic and religion, it was inevitable to conclude that Africans had not evolved beyond the state of detaching religion from magic. Some writers even tell us that Africans have no religion at all and no magic.” Mbiti, John S., African Religions and Philosophy (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), 9Google Scholar. He also discounts the use of the labels dynamism, totemism, fetishism, and naturism to describe African religions stating that these “terms show clearly how little the outside world has understood African religions.” Ibid., 10. Okot P'Bitek said Christian “missionaries came to preach the gospel as well as to ‘civilize’, and in their role of ‘civilizers' they were at one with the colonizing forces; indeed they were an important vehicle of Western imperialism.” P'Bitek, , African Religions in Western Scholarship (Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, 1970), 54Google Scholar. See also Ray, African Religions, 2–5.

144 Corry, Joseph, Observation upon the Windward Coast of Africa (London: G. and W. Nicol, 1807)Google Scholar.

145 Ibid., 60, 97.

146 Ibid., 60.

147 Ibid.

148 Ibid., 69.

149 Ibid., 86. At this time, the region was governed by the Sierra Leone Company and was not formally a British Colony. Ibid.

150 Darwin, Charles, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, vol. 1 (New York: D. Appleton, 1872), 62–63Google Scholar.

151 Ibid., 63.

152 Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah, 128–42.

153 Froude, James Anthony, The English in the West Indies, or The Bow of Ulysses (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1888), 111Google Scholar.

154 Ibid., 86.

155 Prichard, Hesketh, Where Black Rules White: A Journey across and about Hayti (Westminster: Archibald Constable, 1900)Google Scholar.

156 Ibid., 74–75.

157 Ibid., 81.

158 Ibid., 284.

159 Ibid., 96.

160 Price-Mars, Jean, So Spoke the Uncle /Ainsi Parla l'Oncle, trans. Shannon, Magdaline (Washington, DC: Three Continents Press, 1983), 39Google Scholar (first published in 1928, in French, by Imprimerie de Compiègne).

161 Ibid. Today, scholars would likely write this as “Vodou” to distinguish it from the negative stereotypes embodied by the term “Voodoo,” but this 1983 English translation of Price Mars's work uses the earlier spelling.

162 Ibid., 39–41.

163 Ibid., 43.

164 Ibid.

165 Ibid., 43–44.

166 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 7–8.

167 Ray, African Religions, 14–15.

168 Danquah, J. B., The Akan Doctrine of God: A Fragment of Gold Coast Ethics and Religion, ed. Dickson, Kwesi, 2nd ed. (1968; repr., Abingdon: Routledge, 2006), 39Google Scholar (first published in 1944 by Lutterworth Press).

169 Ibid.

170 Ibid.

171 Ibid.

172 Parrinder, Geoffrey, African Traditional Religion, 3rd ed. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1976)Google Scholar.

173 Ibid., 24.

174 Ibid.

175 Ibid. On page 32, Parrinder reiterates that “The fact is that most African peoples have clear beliefs in a Supreme God.” Ibid., 32.

176 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 7.

177 Ibid., 7–8.

178 Ibid., 29. He emphasized, however, that these concepts of God cannot be traced to Christianity, Judaism, or Islam because “African soil is rich enough to have germinated its own original religious perception.” Ibid., 30.

179 Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 130 (“In some parts of Africa witches confess freely to witchcraft, as many witches did in ancient Europe. This phenomenon is puzzling to the European observer, who cannot see any clear proof that the accused did really engage in bewitching. Then one remembers the confessions extorted from prisoners in Nazi and Communist trials, in twentieth century Europe.”). As early as 1970, Zahan explained that “it nonetheless remains that through a lack of knowledge of the true nature of a multitude of African practices and a misunderstanding of the role attributed to numerous objects and ingredients used in these rites, we group all of these elements into the categories of ‘magic’ and ‘sorcerer.’ These terms thus become a catchall for our ignorance.” Zahan, Dominique, The Religion, Spirituality, and Thought of Traditional Africa, trans. Ezra, Kate Martin and Lawrence Martin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 4Google Scholar.

180 Paton, The Cultural Politics of Obeah, 288. Ironically, Paton argues that obeah was discriminated against even by those who advocated in favor of African religions because, while it was unquestionably derived from Africa, it was not purely African. Obeah was viewed as a “creole” or “hybrid” faith, and thus was a degenerate or impure form of religion that should not be preserved.

181 Handler and Bilby, Enacting Power, xiii.