Publishers Weekly
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Historian Wells-Oghoghomeh debuts with an astute unpacking of the experiences of enslaved African American women, proposing a framework of dismemberment (the psychic and physical traumas of slavery) and “re/membrance” (activities that drew on and built communal history to cope). “Dismembering” experiences include gender imbalances and the shuffling of roles both in West Africa and the United States, geographic dislocation, and the complicated feelings around pregnancy when the children of enslaved women would only serve to benefit white slave owners. Women took back a measure of reproductive control through abortion and infanticide, which Wells-Oghoghomeh explains as shocking but understandable reactions to their painful lives. Discussions of rituals—such as chants at childbirth, use of magical objects to ease pain, or a baptism repurposed as a way to wash away the pain of sexual assault—and mournful hymns show how women have harnessed a variety of “re/membrances.” Wells-Oghoghomeh’s exploration of prayer meetings and religious practices shows how African Americans focused on aspects of the Christian faith’s power—especially the promise of an avenging God. Throughout, the insightful excavation of historical records and bold theorizing create a convincing image of enslaved women’s lives and concerns. This important work will expand academics’ understanding of race and religion in the South. (Sept.)

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Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

Wells-Oghoghomeh (religious studies, Stanford Univ.) examines the survival tactics of West and Central African women transported to Georgia between 1750 and 1861, but she does not start there. Importantly, she opens the narrative in 16th-century Upper Guinea, contextualizing the little-discussed African supply side of female enslavement. Once in the US, newly subjected to a racialized caste and gendered abuse, enslaved women salvaged what dignity they could from “dismemberment” in “re/membrance” of identity, despite ferocious beatings, seigneurial rape, and heavy labor in the fields and during forced pregnancy, all amid tremendous loss. In pursuit of daily rituals through which women might reconcile ethics with daily cruelty, Wells-Oghoghomeh walks readers through the female-specific burdens of concubinage, motherhood, live births, still births, infanticide, and the struggle of raising daughters marked to be “'fancy' women.” Working under constant surveillance, elder women orchestrated brush arbors, using Christian forms as cover for African content. Although claiming throughout that religiosity formed women’s coping strategies, only in the final two chapters does Wells-Oghoghomeh concentrate on spirits wafting subtly across dimensions and philosophies of conjuring and charms, echoing identified African outlooks. Nevertheless, this is an excellent debut work. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. --Barbara Alice Mann, University of Toledo