More Indigenous Created Spaces Online And In Person To Archive Our Truths And Stories As They Were Lived

In the 1970s, excavations at the Newton Slave Burial Ground uncovered the grave of a man believed to be a healer or spiritual figure. He was buried with powerful objects: metal jewelry, an iron knife, and a short-stemmed clay pipe likely made in Ghana.

Among his burial items was a necklace made from a mix of beads, some with fascinating origins.

One glass bead, made with European powder glass, was probably crafted in Ghana.

Another, a cylindrical carnelian bead, came from Cambay, India ; a region known for carnelian bead production since the first millennium. These beads were traded through East Africa, across the Sahara, and into West Africa.

Other elements of the necklace could have been acquired in Barbados, but together they reflect a deep continuity of African cultural traditions in the Caribbean.

Scholar Jerome Handler used ethnographic sources from West Africa to interpret the necklace, and strongly argued that the man was likely seen as an obeah or healer by the enslaved community at Newton.

This burial is one of the most powerful archaeological cases for the survival of African spiritual identity through the horrors of the Middle Passage and slavery.

Omo Valley, Ethiopie

Susan Matthews

Art for Sale at Local Art Fair, Joshua Forrest, 1984. Madison Libraries

Working on The Sacradness of the Mother and her Child give me joy !

Tomorrow I'm going to become a teacher, I'm going to do my first class. I can't wait! I have prepared everything. 

It's a big step for me. Once my thesis is finished, I want to become an anthropologist and historian of Caribbean societies. My dream is to do research, write on many subjects, transmit knowledge, make cultural films and many other projects!! 

I have so much gratitude to all those who have accompanied me and who are still with me.  Future.

Dans le vodoun ayitien, on dit que chaque humain marche avec son kò kadav = le corps matériel, son nanm = l'âme, son tibonanj, son gwobanang, ses lwa têt, ses mystères et ses anges. Le kò kadav est, entre autres, l'expression physique et actuelle de tout les ancêtres qui nous habitent. Quand je travaille sur les objets je me sens connectée à un tissage ancestral. Les objets sont plus que de simples ustensiles ou décorations. Ce sont des productions culturelles qui expriment des perceptions philosophiques, scientifiques, esthétiques et qui surtout témoignent de vie humaine !

Presentation: the name of my blog comes from the term Tibonanj( Ti-Bon-Ange) which refers in the culture of Haitian vodoun to one of the two parts of the soul. Tibonanj, Ti bon ange = Good Little Angel is the part of the soul that guides us to the most just and personal way of life. It is a personalization of the higher self as an awakened part of the soul. It can also travel outside the body during sleep or trances. the Gwobonanj (Gros-Bon-Ange) = Big Good Angel, is the part of the soul that represents the vital force. It is embodied from birth. It is similar to the Àṣẹ, the divine breath, in the Yoruba civilization. It leaves the body only at the moment of death when it returns to the Gran Met, place where resides the vital force, which is perceived as a basin. Of Haitian origin, I travel and explore the world. My favorite region is the Caribbean and I dream of visiting all these islands. I am a PhD student in Cultural History and an artist/designer. My vision is that of a future Caribbean where African knowledge ( whether languages, stories, tangible and intangible production, ancient or recent )are disseminated, easily accessible and used by all. For me, All these resources allow an opening to social, human, scientific and economic inventiveness through the central point that is culture. I look forward to sharing more, all in passion and love. My aesthetic is that of Caribbean luxury, Academics vibe, Artefacts, Painting, Sculpture, Old comics and Island jazz, Funk, Reggae philosophy, Ancestral spirituality, and Green nature.

Roy Sieber - African furniture and household objects - Indiana University Press 1980