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AFRICAN ORIGINS, CONTINUITY, AND CHANGE: PLANTS AS A SYMBOL OF RESISTANCE IN AYITI
Castel, Michelle Annaya
Castel, Michelle Annaya
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2023-08
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Africology and African American Studies
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http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/8923
Abstract
The people of Ayiti have a long history of resistance, from the indigenous Arawak inhabitants of the land to the Africans who were later brought there against their will. Both groups have historically relied on the land in ways that promote resistance in a way that is not a direct response to slavery and oppression. The inherited African cultural values explored in this paper preceded European cultural domination. The relationship between Ayitians and plants is rooted within African cosmological understandings of an interwoven web that includes all beings on the earthly and spiritual plane. Using an Afrocentric theoretical framework, I examine how interspecies collaboration through Ayitian plant practices demonstrates African cultural preservation. In this paper, I draw parallels between the concepts of ubuntu and Ma’at to demonstrate ancient and contemporary African ontology and how they manifest in the Ayitian holistic medical system as illuminated by Vodou priest Max-G. Beauvoir. This paper's findings indicate that one way Ayitian people have preserved their African cultural roots is through plant practices. Through this form of cultural preservation, they have resisted European cultural domination.
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