"Bantu Beliefs and Magic" by C. W. Hobley. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

First published in 1922, the author of this book was for many years a Provincial Commissioner of what was then the Kenya Colony whose main objects were to place on record the results of investigations made among the native tribes in British East Africa, particularly among the Kikuyu and Kamba people, and to endeavour from a study of their ceremonial with regard to sacrifice and taboo, to obtain a better insight into the principles which underlie the outward forms and ceremonies of their ritual. Together with natural religion and magic, the author discusses a variety of social activities influenced by religious beliefs, such as the organisation of councils, ceremonial oaths, war and peace, dances, legends, and the position of women in tribal society. The functions of some of the practices are self-evident or can be explained within the limits of psychological or anthropological terms, whilst others remain unexplained and seem inexplicable, even futile. The author’s careful analysis of this last class provides interesting ethnological comment, for in seeking a better understanding of the psychology of one particular race, he draws attention also to analogous conditions of religious customs existing amongst other widely differing races. In the last chapter, ‘Quo Vadis’, added to the second edition of 1938, the author furthers his discussion of East Africa after the war. Together with the factual analysis of the first three parts, these additional observations, invaluable once to administrators and all concerned in colonial government, today prove their value not only for students of East Africa, but for all those endeavouring to arrive at an adjustment between the old native social structure and the extraneous forces now operating with ever increasing intensity.

Black Magic looks at the origins, meaning, and uses of Conjure—the African American tradition of healing and harming that evolved from African, European, and American elements—from the slavery period to well into the twentieth century. Illuminating a world that is dimly understood by both scholars and the general public, Yvonne P. Chireau describes Conjure and other related traditions, such as Hoodoo and Rootworking, in a beautifully written, richly detailed history that presents the voices and experiences of African Americans and shows how magic has informed their culture. Focusing on the relationship between Conjure and Christianity, Chireau shows how these seemingly contradictory traditions have worked together in a complex and complementary fashion to provide spiritual empowerment for African Americans, both slave and free, living in white America. As she explores the role of Conjure for African Americans and looks at the transformations of Conjure over time, Chireau also rewrites the dichotomy between magic and religion. With its groundbreaking analysis of an often misunderstood tradition, this book adds an important perspective to our understanding of the myriad dimensions of human spirituality.

Excerpt from Bantu Beliefs and Magic: With Particular Reference to the Kikuyu and Kamba Tribes of Kenya Colony; Together With Some Reflections on East Africa After the War IT is often said that the longer one knows the native the less one knows, and the less one understands him. This expression is doubtless comforting to persons who have not the patience to systematically study him and his views on life, but it could with convenience be replaced by a saying to the effect that the more one knows of the native the more one realises how much remains to be learnt. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

"Life is fundamentally a process of perpetual and mutual communication; and to communicate is to emit and to receive waves and radiations (minika ye minienie). This process of, receiving and releasing or passing them on (tambula ye tambikisa) is the key to human beings game of survival. A person is perpetually bathed by radiations' weight, (zitu kia minienie). The weight (zitu/demo) of radiations may have a negative as well as positive impact on any tiny being, for example a person who represents the most vibrating: "kolo" (knot) of relationships." "The following expressions are very common among the Bantu, in general, and among the Kongo in particular, which prove to us the antiquity of these concepts in the African continent; Our businesses are waved/shaken; our health is waved/shaken; what we possess is waved/shaken; the communities are waved/shaken: Where are these (negative) waves coming from (Salu bieto bieti nikunwa; mavimpi nikunwa; biltuvwidi nikunwa; makanda nikunwa: Kwe kutukanga minika miami)?" "For the Bantu, a person lives and moves within an ocean of waves/radiations. One is sensitive or immune to them. To be sensitive to waves is to be able to react negatively or positively to those waves/forces. But to be immune to surrounding waves/forces, is to be less reactive to them or not at all. These differences account for varying degrees in the process of knowing/learning among individuals" --BOOK Cover.