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Insignificant Things: Amulets and the Art of Survival in the Early Black Atlantic (The Visual Arts of Africa and its Diasporas) Hardcover – May 12, 2023

by Matthew Francis Rarey (Author)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 2 ratings
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In Insignificant Things Matthew Francis Rarey traces the history of the African-associated amulets that enslaved and other marginalized people carried as tools of survival in the Black Atlantic world from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Often considered visually benign by white Europeans, these amulet pouches, commonly known as “mandingas,” were used across Africa, Brazil, and Portugal and contained myriad objects, from herbs and Islamic prayers to shells and coins. Drawing on Arabic-language narratives from the West African Sahel, the archives of the Portuguese Inquisition, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European travel and merchant accounts of the West African Coast, and early nineteenth-century Brazilian police records, Rarey shows how mandingas functioned as portable archives of their makers’ experiences of enslavement, displacement, and diaspora. He presents them as examples of the visual culture of enslavement and critical to conceptualizing Black Atlantic art history. Ultimately, Rarey looks to the archives of transatlantic slavery, which were meant to erase Black life, for objects like the mandingas that were created to protect it.
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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Duke University Press Books
  4. Publication date
    May 12, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    6.2 x 1 x 9.2 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1478017155
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1478017158
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Leading the reader through three different continents and multiple religions, Matthew Francis Rarey demonstrates that mandingas existed at the crossroads of Islam, Catholicism, Judaism, and African religions. Rarey is the first to make these connections and to fully take into account their early history in the African continent. This book will be welcomed by specialists in the history of art, slavery, and the African diaspora.” -- Ana Lucia Araujo, author of ― Slavery in the Age of Memory: Engaging the Past

About the Author

Matthew Francis Rarey is Associate Professor of Art History at Oberlin College.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Duke University Press Books (May 12, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1478017155
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1478017158
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.2 x 1 x 9.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 2 ratings

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