Katharine Gerbner's presentation will examine the relationship between "Obeah" and "Science" as they emerged historically within the context of Atlantic slavery and imperialism. "Obeah", an Afro-Caribbean term, is notoriously difficult to define, and it has been described alternately as "medicine," "witchcraft," and "religion." In 1760, Obeah was criminalised following Tacky's revolt, the largest slave uprising in the British Atlantic world, and it remains a crime in Jamaica. Today, Obeah and Science are widely recognised as connected terms throughout the anglophone Caribbean, a fascinating correlation that is only beginning to gain attention in academic writing.
In her presentation, Gerbner will examine the evolving relationship between Obeah and Science before and after Obeah was criminalised. First, using previously unexamined documents from the Moravian missionary archives, she offers new insight into Obeah before the practice was deemed a crime. Second, she uses colonial archival sources to show how the criminalisation of Obeah was part of a broader effort to criminalise Africana epistemologies in the British Atlantic World. Finally, Gerbner examines the adoption of the term "Science" by Obeah practitioners in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Throughout, she asks questions about authority and the archive; historical methods; and the politics of knowledge in the context of slavery and imperialism.
Please register in order to get a seat or the ZOOM link. N.B.: the Lecture will be held in sala degli Stemmi.