Fernando Ortiz’s Los negros brujos

Record summary

Fernando Ortiz’s Los negros brujos: Hampa afrocubana, published in 1906, interpreted Afro-Cuban religious practices through criminological and positivist categories. It is a key comparison point for how colonial and republican authorities transformed ritual traditions into objects of occult, criminal, or scientific discourse. The book is historically important but methodologically prejudiced; later anthropology challenged its assumptions and terminology. Researchers should examine the original text alongside criticism concerning racism, policing, and the construction of “witchcraft” as a social category.