Fragments of Bone: Neo-African Religions in a New World

Record summary

Patrick Bellegarde-Smith and Claudine Michel’s edited volume examines African-derived religious traditions in the Americas, with Haiti central to discussions of death, ancestors, possession and the circulation of persons across spiritual boundaries. It offers a lead for comparing underworld concepts that are relational and genealogical rather than simply subterranean. The collection includes multiple contributors and perspectives, so its arguments are not uniform. Researchers should identify which chapter is being used, check Haitian terms in context and distinguish historical reconstruction from practitioners’ theological claims.