Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora

• Forward Jan Vansina; Introduction Linda Heywood; Part I. Central Africa: Society, Culture and the Slave Trade: 1. Central Africa during the era of the slave trade, c. 1490s–1850s Joseph C. Miller; 2. Religious and ceremonial life in the Congo and Mbundu areas, 1500–1700 John K. Thornton; 3. Portuguese into African: the eighteenth century Central African background to Atlantic Creole culture Linda Heywood; Part II. Central Africans in Brazil: 4. Central Africans in Central Brazil, 1780–1835 Mary Karasch; 5. Who is king of the Congo? A new look at African and Afro-Brazilian Kings in Brazil Elizabeth W. Kiddy; 6. The great porpoise-skull strike: Central-African water spirits and slave identity in early nineteenth-century Rio De Janeiro Robert W. Slenes; Part III. Central Africans in Haiti and Spanish America: 7. Twins, Simbi spirits and Lwas in Kongo and Haiti Wyatt MacGaffey; 8. The Central African presence in Spanish Maroon communities Jane Landers; 9. Central African popular Christianity and the making of Haitian Vodou religion Hein Vanhee; 10. Kongolese catholic influences on Haitian popular Catholicism: a socio-historical exploration Terry Rey; Part IV. Central Africans in North America and the Caribbean: 11. 'Walk in the Feenda': West-Central Africans and the forest in the South Carolina-Georgia low country Ras Michael B. Brown; 12. Liberated Central Africans in nineteenth century Guyana Monic Schuler; 13. Combat and the crossing of the Kalunga Thomas J. Desch-Obi.

"...an exemplary collection of essays, presenting new information and interpretations that fundamentally revise and deepen our understanding of the slave trade and the African diaspora." American Historical Review