Makeda's Soul

Makeda's Soul

Author: N. Makeda Lucas

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2000-09

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 059512979X

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A sensuous collection of poetry filled with consciousness and spirit. The baring of a soul that has lived, loved, lost and rediscovered it’s passion.


Pilgrimage to Iona

Pilgrimage to Iona

Author: Claire Nahmad

Publisher: Watkins Media Limited

Published: 2014-09-23

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1780287852

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A celebration of the beauty and mystery of Iona—a hallowed place of pilgrimage and spiritual self-discovery. With a history swathed in spirituality and mystery, the Scottish isle of Iona has always been revered as a holy place, the center of Scottish Christianity. Legends abound of Jesus and Mary Magdalene alighting and living here before the Crucifixion, and Christ is believed to have visited the island with his mother. Celebrating sacred Iona as a place of pilgrimage, Claire Nahmad explores the fascinating ancient link between Iona and Rosslyn Chapel, the extraordinary unfinished building near Edinburgh, another prominent destination for those interested in biblical, masonic and pagan history. Nahmad takes you on a journey of revelation, unlocking the golden secret of the island and unveiling the undisclosed legacy of the Knights Templar.


Juju Fission

Juju Fission

Author: Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi

Publisher: Peter Lang

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9781433100895

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Women, especially leaders, holding tête-à-têtes with men to address political impasses have been recognized as shrewd, double headed, or witchlike distinctions that link them with juju or extraordinary, survivalist powers. Juju Fission: Women's Alternative Fictions from the Sahara, the Kalahari, and the Oases In-Between is a theoretical and analytical book on African women writers that focuses on seven representative novels from different parts of Africa: Bessie Head's Maru (South Africa/Botswana); Nawal El Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero (Egypt); Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy; or Reflections from a Black-Eyed Squint and Changes (Ghana); Assia Djebar's A Sister to Scheherazade (Algeria); Calixthe Beyala's The Sun Hath Looked Upon Me (Cameroon); and Yvonne Vera's Nehanda (Zimbabwe). In her analysis, Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi demonstrates how women are viewed and how they operate in critical times. Ogunyemi explains how the heritage is passed on, in spite of dire situations emanating from colonialism, postcolonialism, ethnicism, sexism, and grinding poverty. An important contribution to many fields, Juju Fission is excellent background material for courses on African studies, women's studies, African Diaspora studies, black studies, global studies, and general literature studies.


Searching for Sycorax

Searching for Sycorax

Author: Kinitra D. Brooks

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2017-12-07

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 0813584639

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Searching for Sycorax highlights the unique position of Black women in horror as both characters and creators. Kinitra D. Brooks creates a racially gendered critical analysis of African diasporic women, challenging the horror genre’s historic themes and interrogating forms of literature that have often been ignored by Black feminist theory. Brooks examines the works of women across the African diaspora, from Haiti, Trinidad, and Jamaica, to England and the United States, looking at new and canonized horror texts by Nalo Hopkinson, NK Jemisin, Gloria Naylor, and Chesya Burke. These Black women fiction writers take advantage of horror’s ability to highlight U.S. white dominant cultural anxieties by using Africana folklore to revise horror’s semiotics within their own imaginary. Ultimately, Brooks compares the legacy of Shakespeare’s Sycorax (of The Tempest) to Black women writers themselves, who, deprived of mainstream access to self-articulation, nevertheless influence the trajectory of horror criticism by forcing the genre to de-centralize whiteness and maleness.


Makeda

Makeda

Author: Randall Robinson

Publisher: Akashic Books

Published: 2011-08-30

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1617750697

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A “hypnotic” novel about the bond between a remarkable African-American matriarch and her grandson in the 1950s South (Essence). Makeda Gee Florida Harris March is a proud matriarch, the anchor and emotional bellwether who holds together a hard-working African American family living in 1950s Richmond, Virginia. Lost in shadow is Makeda’s grandson Gray, who begins escaping into the magical world of her tiny parlor. Makeda, a woman blind since birth but who has always dreamed in color, begins to confide in Gray the things she “sees” and remembers from her dream state, and a story emerges that is layered with historical accuracy beyond the scope of Makeda's limited education. Her connection with Gray will shape his life for years to come. Part coming-of-age story, part spiritual journey, and part love story, Makeda is a universal tale of family, heritage, and the ties that bind. Randall Robinson plumbs the hearts of Makeda and Gray and summons our collective blood memories, taking us on an unforgettable journey of the soul. “Luminous and magical.”—Bernice L. McFadden, author of Praise Song for the Butterflies “Eloquent and erudite, Robinson's oft-times mystical coming-of-age saga teems with rich and evocative historical insights.”—Booklist “Robinson is not only exploring what it means to be black. His theme of knowing the past before planning the future applies to all cultures, all people. Pick up this odyssey of family drama, history and love, and be prepared to consider your own beginnings.”—Shelf Awareness


Makeda’s Ring – Part 1

Makeda’s Ring – Part 1

Author: Alfred Wallner

Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers

Published: 2022-07-29

Total Pages: 899

ISBN-13: 1398413402

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For Markus the choice was stark: - Leave Austria, the homeland he both loved and hated. - Flee from Lizzy, never more than a pale substitute for Laura, the love of his life, shattered to pieces by a bomb. - Flee a country still overshadowed by the aftermath of Nazism. - Make for Ethiopia, that land of all mysteries, magical and captivating, sombre and dangerous, luminous and healing. There, as he sets out to fulfil Laura’s dream of finding her uncle’s grave, Markus is forced to face his deepest fears and experience the highs and lows of every emotion, through the fascinating power of a single object. A ring. A simple ring, on the finger of an Ethiopian princess, which will lead him on his quest, bring him the answers. And the words which already haunt his memories. Makeda, Makeda’s Ring.


The Poet Prince

The Poet Prince

Author: Kathleen McGowan

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-07-08

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 085720016X

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The third book in the Magdalene Line Trilogy takes Maureen to Florence, where she begins training in the secret teachings of The Order of the Holy Sepulcher. Under the guidance of her new teacher, Destino, she discovers the fascinating story of Lorenzo de Medici - the godfather of the Renaissance and the greatest patron of the arts in history. But Lorenzo's obsession was not with culture alone. Instead, he worked carefully to create a body of work which would preserve a series of ancient secrets - secrets too powerful and dangerous to be committed to writing. But Maureen's most explosive discovery affects the person closest to her, as she realizes that her lover, Berenger, shares an extraordinary legacy with Lorenzo de Medici. Both men were born under the auspices of a prophecy found in the early writing of the Bloodline - the prophecy of the Poet Prince. But as Berenger and Maureen explore the daunting task of filling Lorenzo's place in the 21st Century, they find themselves the subject of an ancient vendetta hell-bent on destroying the heresy and ending Maureen's life in the process.


Makeda

Makeda

Author: Prue Sobers

Publisher: Old Trees Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0987210416

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A novel that gives life to two biblical figures, Solomon and Makeda, the Queen of Sheba and all of Ethiopia.


The Roving Tree

The Roving Tree

Author: Elsie Augustave

Publisher: Akashic Books

Published: 2013-05-14

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1617751731

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“A fresh new voice who adds her own charming, beguiling brand of lyricism to the growing body of Haitian American stories . . . a unique and fascinating book.” —Lorna Goodison, author of From Harvey River One of the South Florida Times’s Best Bets For Your Weekend An Essence Magazine Summer Reading Pick Iris Odys, is the offspring of Hagathe, a Haitian maid, and Brahami, a French-educated mixed-race father who cares little about his child. Hagathe, who’d always dreamt of a better life for her daughter, is presented with the perfect opportunity when Iris is five years old. Adopted by a white American couple, an anthropologist and an art gallery owner, Iris is transported from her tiny remote Haitian village, Monn Neg, to an American suburb. The Roving Tree illuminates how imperfectly assimilated adoptees struggle to remember their original voices and recapture their personal histories. Set between two worlds, suburban America and Haiti under the oppressive regime of Papa Doc’s Tonton Macoutes, the novel offers a unique literary glimpse into the deeply entrenched class discrimination and political repression of Haiti during the Duvalier era, along with the subtle but dangerous effects of American racism. Told from beyond the grave and underscored by the spiritual wisdom of Haitian griots, The Roving Tree explores separation and loss, rootlessness, the impact of class privilege and color consciousness, and the search for cultural identity. “A well-balanced story about a young woman, caught between two worlds, who struggles to connect with her heritage . . . a polished narrative.” —Kirkus Reviews “With her skillful incorporation of literary realism, Augustave brilliantly synthesizes the cultural richness of Haitian Vodou and the impoverished socio-political affairs of Haiti, along with the acidic polluted gush of racism that is deeply drenched in American society.” —Haitian Times “A stunning tale with beautiful language that dwells in the realm of magical realism . . . The characters are rich, complicated and full of color and nuance.” —Mosaic Magazine “A gorgeous new novel about a Haitian adoptee finding her way in many different corners of the world.” —Edwidge Danticat, in the New York Times’ By the Book feature


Race and Popular Fantasy Literature

Race and Popular Fantasy Literature

Author: Helen Young

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-08-11

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1317532163

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This book illuminates the racialized nature of twenty-first century Western popular culture by exploring how discourses of race circulate in the Fantasy genre. It examines not only major texts in the genre, but also the impact of franchises, industry, editorial and authorial practices, and fan engagements on race and representation. Approaching Fantasy as a significant element of popular culture, it visits the struggles over race, racism, and white privilege that are enacted within creative works across media and the communities which revolve around them. While scholars of Science Fiction have explored the genre’s racialized constructs of possible futures, this book is the first examination of Fantasy to take up the topic of race in depth. The book’s interdisciplinary approach, drawing on Literary, Cultural, Fan, and Whiteness Studies, offers a cultural history of the anxieties which haunt Western popular culture in a century eager to declare itself post-race. The beginnings of the Fantasy genre’s habits of whiteness in the twentieth century are examined, with an exploration of the continuing impact of older problematic works through franchising, adaptation, and imitation. Young also discusses the major twenty-first century sub-genres which both re-use and subvert Fantasy conventions. The final chapter explores debates and anti-racist praxis in authorial and fan communities. With its multi-pronged approach and innovative methodology, this book is an important and original contribution to studies of race, Fantasy, and twenty-first century popular culture.