Osun Across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas

Òsun is a brilliant deity whose imagery and worldwide devotion demand broad and deep scholarly reflection. Contributors to the ground-breaking Africa’s Ogun, edited by Sandra Barnes (Indiana University Press, 1997), explored the complex nature of Ogun, the orisa who transforms life through iron and technology. Òsun across the Waters continues this exploration of Yoruba religion by documenting Òsun religion. Òsun presents a dynamic example of the resilience and renewed importance of traditional Yoruba images in negotiating spiritual experience, social identity, and political power in contemporary Africa and the African diaspora.

The 17 contributors to Òsun across the Waters delineate the special dimensions of Òsun religion as it appears through multiple disciplines in multiple cultural contexts. Tracing the extent of Òsun traditions takes us across the waters and back again. Òsun traditions continue to grow and change as they flow and return from their sources in Africa and the Americas.

Joseph Murphy is associate professor in the Theology Department at Georgetown University. He is the author of Santeria: An African Religion in North America and Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African Diaspora.
Mei-Mei Sanford received her doctorate in Religion and Society from Drew University. She was a Fulbright Fellow in Nigeria. She currently does research in Nigeria and in African-American and Yoruba expatriate religious communities in the United States.