The Gingerbread Houses Of Haïti : Between Heritage And Community After The Haitian Revolution, A New

Shepherd ,and his herd of black iron chameleons.

Lobi People, Burkina Faso

I was so happy when I found this review at an antique store in Batlimore. It was like the connection has to be made.

Presentation: the name of my blog comes from the term Tibonanj( Ti-Bon-Ange) which refers in the culture of Haitian vodoun to one of the two parts of the soul. Tibonanj, Ti bon ange = Good Little Angel is the part of the soul that guides us to the most just and personal way of life. It is a personalization of the higher self as an awakened part of the soul. It can also travel outside the body during sleep or trances. the Gwobonanj (Gros-Bon-Ange) = Big Good Angel, is the part of the soul that represents the vital force. It is embodied from birth. It is similar to the Àṣẹ, the divine breath, in the Yoruba civilization. It leaves the body only at the moment of death when it returns to the Gran Met, place where resides the vital force, which is perceived as a basin. Of Haitian origin, I travel and explore the world. My favorite region is the Caribbean and I dream of visiting all these islands. I am a PhD student in Cultural History and an artist/designer. My vision is that of a future Caribbean where African knowledge ( whether languages, stories, tangible and intangible production, ancient or recent )are disseminated, easily accessible and used by all. For me, All these resources allow an opening to social, human, scientific and economic inventiveness through the central point that is culture. I look forward to sharing more, all in passion and love. My aesthetic is that of Caribbean luxury, Academics vibe, Artefacts, Painting, Sculpture, Old comics and Island jazz, Funk, Reggae philosophy, Ancestral spirituality, and Green nature.

In the 1970s, excavations at the Newton Slave Burial Ground uncovered the grave of a man believed to be a healer or spiritual figure. He was buried with powerful objects: metal jewelry, an iron knife, and a short-stemmed clay pipe likely made in Ghana.

Among his burial items was a necklace made from a mix of beads, some with fascinating origins.

One glass bead, made with European powder glass, was probably crafted in Ghana.

Another, a cylindrical carnelian bead, came from Cambay, India ; a region known for carnelian bead production since the first millennium. These beads were traded through East Africa, across the Sahara, and into West Africa.

Other elements of the necklace could have been acquired in Barbados, but together they reflect a deep continuity of African cultural traditions in the Caribbean.

Scholar Jerome Handler used ethnographic sources from West Africa to interpret the necklace, and strongly argued that the man was likely seen as an obeah or healer by the enslaved community at Newton.

This burial is one of the most powerful archaeological cases for the survival of African spiritual identity through the horrors of the Middle Passage and slavery.

Happy memory captured with my camera : friend who contemplates the city and walks in the streets of Santo Domingo passing by the Colmado corner.

Terno dos Reis, Henry John Drewal, January 5 1998. Madison Libraries Terno dos Reis (Day of the Kings) festivals are celebrated annually during the christmas season. The January 6th feast commemorates the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem bearing gifts for the Christ child. Brazilian celebrations include processions in which community members dress in costumes, dance, play music, and carry banners. This Terno festival took place on January 5, 1998 in Liberdade, Salvador.

i think it's important to archive our own images by integrateing the images of us made by the Others. Because their interpretation was/is made in relation to their perception. And we need to analyze it, we need to see the difference. Now the internet and visual ressources are a tool to disseminate our perception beyond their representation.

Arme d'apparat. Elle a été réalisée à La Rochelle pour Andris Poucouta, macaye (premier ministre) et mafouque (ministre des relations commerciales) à Cabinda.

Oduduwa Hall of Obafemi Awolowo University, ile -ife, Nigeria.