Scholars@Duke
J. Lorand Matory

J. Lorand Matory CV

Lawrence Richardson Distinguished Professor of Cultural Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
jm217@duke.edu
Box 90091, Durham, NC 27708-0091
201C Friedl Bldg, Durham, NC 27708
Office hours Thursdays: 1PM-3PM (20-minute intervals)  
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Selected Publications

基于白-黑肤色差异的族裔间不平等及其生成逻辑 (The Light-Dark Hierarchy of Human Worth)

Journal Article Journal of Chinese National Community Studies (中华民族共同体研究） · January 1, 2023 Open Access Cite

"Was Marx a Fetishist?"

Journal Article Extrablatt · February 9, 2022 Excerpt from Matory's book The Fetish Revisited ... Open Access Link to item Cite

The Fetish Revisited: Marx, Freud, and the Gods Black People Make

Book · October 26, 2018 Marx, Freud, and the Gods Black People Make J. Lorand Matory. Eshu (Èṣù, Yorùbá god), 1–2, 3f, 285–32, plate 1. See also Elegguá; Exu; Legba Èṣù (also Eshu or Elégbára; Yorùbá god), 1,3f, plate 1. See Elegguá; Exu; Legba ethnographic ... ... Link to item Cite

Oduduwa’s Chain: Locations of Culture in the Yoruba-Atlantic

Other African and Black Diaspora: An International Journa · August 6, 2018 Open Access Link to item Cite

Collecting and Exhibiting at the Crossroads: In Honor of Eshu

Journal Article Material Religion · September 2016 Open Access Cite

Collecting and Exhibiting at the Crossroads: In Honor of Eshu

Journal Article Material Religion: the journal of objects, art and belief · September 2016 Cite

Watering the Flowers While Black

Journal Article News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) · July 14, 2016 Open Access Link to item Cite

In-Depth Review--The Formation of Candomble: Vodun History and Ritual in Brazil, by Luis Nicolau Pares

Journal Article The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History · October 2015 Critical review of Pares's The Formation of Candomble. The ongoing interaction between African and African-diaspora populations explains much that is neglected in models of cultural "memory" and "forgetting." ... Open Access Cite

In-Depth Review: The Formation of Candomblé: Vodun History and Ritual in Brazil, by Luis Nicolau Parés

Journal Article The Americas · October 2015 The Atlantic slave trade extracted kidnapped populations from the entirety of the western African coast between what are now Senegal and Angola, as well as parts of the east African coast in what is now Mozambique. Western slave traders and buyers ... Full text Open Access Cite

Hurt People Hurt People

Internet Publication · June 3, 2015 Why I signed the petition for the American Anthropological Association to boycott Israeli academic institutions. ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Stigma and Culture: Last-Place Anxiety in Black America

Book · 2015 Featured Publication The dialectical construction of "cultural" identities among Caribbean immigrants, African immigrants, Louisiana Creoles of color,Native Americans of African descent, Gullah-Geechees, and soi-disant "middle-class" African Americans in and around Howard Univ ... Link to item Cite

Stureplan People: Racial Fantasy and Human Reality in Today's Sweden

Other Transition · 2015 Immigrants and refugees, and especially those identified by their dark skin, are now the chief symbols of Swedes' disappointment with northern Europeans' gradual loss of economic security amid globalization. But the Stureplan people are a further hated ant ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Religión Afro-Atlántica: Tradición, Trasnacionalismo y Matriarcado en el Candomblé Brasileño

Book · 2014 Featured Publication Spanish-language translation of Black Atlantic Religion. The classical African-inspired religions of the Americas result not from the inert "survival " of African identities and practices predating the slave trade but from a circum-Atlantic "dialogue" amon ... Link to item Cite

Witchcraft Intimacy & Trust: Africa in Comparison

Other JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA · 2014 Review of a book by eminent Africanist anthropologist Peter Geschiere ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Affirmative Scapegoating

Other The Harvard Crimson · 2014 Open Access Cite

基于白-黑肤色差异的族裔间不平等及其生成逻辑 (The Light-Dark Hierarchy of Human Worth)

Journal Article Journal of Chinese National Community Studies (中华民族共同体研究） · January 1, 2023 Open Access Cite

"Was Marx a Fetishist?"

Journal Article Extrablatt · February 9, 2022 Excerpt from Matory's book The Fetish Revisited ... Open Access Link to item Cite

The Fetish Revisited: Marx, Freud, and the Gods Black People Make

Book · October 26, 2018 Marx, Freud, and the Gods Black People Make J. Lorand Matory. Eshu (Èṣù, Yorùbá god), 1–2, 3f, 285–32, plate 1. See also Elegguá; Exu; Legba Èṣù (also Eshu or Elégbára; Yorùbá god), 1,3f, plate 1. See Elegguá; Exu; Legba ethnographic ... ... Link to item Cite

Oduduwa’s Chain: Locations of Culture in the Yoruba-Atlantic

Other African and Black Diaspora: An International Journa · August 6, 2018 Open Access Link to item Cite

Collecting and Exhibiting at the Crossroads: In Honor of Eshu

Journal Article Material Religion · September 2016 Open Access Cite

Collecting and Exhibiting at the Crossroads: In Honor of Eshu

Journal Article Material Religion: the journal of objects, art and belief · September 2016 Cite

Watering the Flowers While Black

Journal Article News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) · July 14, 2016 Open Access Link to item Cite

In-Depth Review--The Formation of Candomble: Vodun History and Ritual in Brazil, by Luis Nicolau Pares

Journal Article The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History · October 2015 Critical review of Pares's The Formation of Candomble. The ongoing interaction between African and African-diaspora populations explains much that is neglected in models of cultural "memory" and "forgetting." ... Open Access Cite

In-Depth Review: The Formation of Candomblé: Vodun History and Ritual in Brazil, by Luis Nicolau Parés

Journal Article The Americas · October 2015 The Atlantic slave trade extracted kidnapped populations from the entirety of the western African coast between what are now Senegal and Angola, as well as parts of the east African coast in what is now Mozambique. Western slave traders and buyers ... Full text Open Access Cite

Hurt People Hurt People

Internet Publication · June 3, 2015 Why I signed the petition for the American Anthropological Association to boycott Israeli academic institutions. ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Stigma and Culture: Last-Place Anxiety in Black America

Book · 2015 Featured Publication The dialectical construction of "cultural" identities among Caribbean immigrants, African immigrants, Louisiana Creoles of color,Native Americans of African descent, Gullah-Geechees, and soi-disant "middle-class" African Americans in and around Howard Univ ... Link to item Cite

Stureplan People: Racial Fantasy and Human Reality in Today's Sweden

Other Transition · 2015 Immigrants and refugees, and especially those identified by their dark skin, are now the chief symbols of Swedes' disappointment with northern Europeans' gradual loss of economic security amid globalization. But the Stureplan people are a further hated ant ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Religión Afro-Atlántica: Tradición, Trasnacionalismo y Matriarcado en el Candomblé Brasileño

Book · 2014 Featured Publication Spanish-language translation of Black Atlantic Religion. The classical African-inspired religions of the Americas result not from the inert "survival " of African identities and practices predating the slave trade but from a circum-Atlantic "dialogue" amon ... Link to item Cite

Witchcraft Intimacy & Trust: Africa in Comparison

Other JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA · 2014 Review of a book by eminent Africanist anthropologist Peter Geschiere ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Affirmative Scapegoating

Other The Harvard Crimson · 2014 Open Access Cite

From ‘Survival’ to ‘Dialogue’: Analytic Tropes in the Study of African-Diaspora Cultural History

Chapter · 2014 About the changing analytic metaphors and other tropes that have informed research on African-diaspora cultural history. Each one highlights and hides dimensions of cultural change in the diaspora. ... Open Access Cite

One Duke Professor's Trayvon Martin Moment

Journal Article The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) · July 13, 2013 Open Access Cite

The Many Who Dance in Me: Afro-Atlantic Ontology and the Problem with 'Transnationalism

Chapter · March 31, 2009 This innovative collection examines the transnational movements, effects, and transformations of religion in the contemporary world, offering a fresh perspective on the interrelation between globalization and religion. Taken as a whole, Transnational Trans ... Open Access Cite

Black Atlantic Religion: Tradition, Transnationalism, and Matriarchy in the Afro-Brazilian Candomble

Book · February 9, 2009 Black Atlantic Religion illuminates the mutual transformation of African and African-American cultures, highlighting the example of the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé religion. This book contests both the recent conviction that transnationalism is new and the lo ... Link to item Cite

'Favorite Professors' Open Letter to the Class of 2009

Other Harvard Yearbook · 2009 A reflection on the historic events of the past 22 years and of the past four years, appealing to the justice-minded activism of the graduating seniors. Also my farewell to Harvard. ... Cite

"The Many Who Dance in Me: Afro-Atlantic Ontology and the Problem with ’Transnationalism’"

Chapter · 2009 The spirit possession religions of West Africa and its American diaspora, like many religions, are inherently transnationalist in their conceptions of the person. ... Cite

The illusion of isolation: The Gullah/Geechees and the political economy of African culture in the Americas

Journal Article Comparative Studies in Society and History · October 8, 2008 The Gullah/Geechee people are the locus classicus for the study of "African survivals" in North American culture. As such, they have been saddled with the duty to generate universal principles for the explanation of Africans' acculturation, adaptation, and ... Full text Open Access Cite

Islands Are Not Isolated: Reconsidering the Roots of Gullah Distinctiveness

Chapter · September 30, 2008 In this investigation of America's most enduring African-inspired art form, the Lowcountry basket becomes a prism through which to explore 300 years of American and African history. ... Open Access Cite

What do Critics of Israel Have to Fear?

Other The Harvard Crimson · June 5, 2008 Open Access Cite

David Maybury-Lewis--Anthropologist keen to protect the interests of the peoples of central Brazil

Journal Article The Guardian · February 5, 2008 Leading structuralist and Harvard anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis not only studied but also set the standard for culturally informed service and assistance to the indigenous peoples of lowland South America. ... Cite

Free to Be a Slave: Slavery as a Metaphor in the Afro-Atlantic Religions

Chapter · 2008 Whereas most African Americans and most university scholars regard enslavement as a demeaning condition, many African or African-inspired religions represent slaves as powerful and social hierarchy as a normal condition of life. Indeed, Christianity and Is ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Is There Gender in Yorùbá Culture?

Chapter · January 1, 2008 As the twenty-first century begins, tens of millions of people participate in devotions to the spirits called Òrìsà. This book explores the emergence of Òrìsà devotion as a world religion, one of the most remarkable and compelling developments in the histo ... Open Access Cite

Feminismo, nacionalismo, e a luta pelo significado do adé no Candomblé: ou, como Edison Carneiro e Ruth landes inverteram o curso da historia

Journal Article Revista de Antropologia: Revista de Antropologia da Universidade de São Paulo · 2008 US-based feminist anthropologist Ruth Landes introduced homophobic ideas into the Brazilian elite's understanding and treatment of male-loving priests of the Afro-Brazilian Candomble religion. This influence helps to explain the relatively recent numerical ... Open Access Cite

Orwellian Uses of Free Speech

Other · November 30, 2007 In recent debates at Harvard University, the discourse of "free speech" has been used to silence civil debate about Israel and its policies. ... Open Access Link to item Cite

The Progressives’ Prejudice

Other Harvard Crimson · June 7, 2007 Like other communities of progressive and highly educated people, Harvard is often in denial about the perseverance of racism. Precipitated by the famous "Quad Incident," in which a fellow student called to police on black students holding a field day on c ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Letter to the Harvard Class of 1982

Other In Harvard and Radcliffe Class of 1982: Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report · 2007 Cite

Why I Stood Up: The Case Against Summers

Internet Publication · June 7, 2006 Open Access Cite

Tradition, Transnationalism and Gender in the Afro-Brazilian Candomble

Chapter · 2006 The transnational influence of US feminist anthropologist Ruth Landes and Brazilian nationalist pride fueled homophobia in the treatment of male Candomble priests by the Brazilian state and bourgeoisie. The "cult matriarchy" identified by Ruth Landes in th ... Cite

The New World Surrounds an Ocean: On the Live Dialogue between African and African American Cultures

Chapter · 2006 For centuries, lifeways and political identities in Africa and in many parts of its American diaspora have been re-shaped by the back-and-forth exchange of people,books, musical recordings,and merchandise between Africa and the Americas, recommending that ... Open Access Cite

Tradition, Transnationalism and Gender in the Afro-Brazilian Candomble

Chapter · 2006 The transnational influence of US feminist anthropologist Ruth Landes and Brazilian nationalist pride fueled homophobia in the treatment of male Candomble priests by the Brazilian state and bourgeoisie. The "cult matriarchy" identified by Ruth Landes in th ... Open Access Cite

Sex and the Empire That Is No More: Gender and the Politics of Metaphor in Oyo-Yoruba Religion

Book · 2005 The form and role of orisa-worship among the West Africa Yoruba has changed during the past two centuries in ways correlated with the changing overall political system. The relationships between men and women have provided two majors sorts of metaphor for ... Link to item Cite

Gendered Agendas: The Secrets Scholars Keep about Yorùbá-Atlantic Religion

Journal Article Gender & History · November 1, 2003 Whereas scholars have often described the material interests served by any given social group's selective narration of history, this article catches scholars in the act of selectively narrating Yorùbá-Atlantic cultural history in the service of their own f ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Contradiction and Forgetting among the Yewésseys

Journal Article Transforming Anthropology · 2002 Cite

Contradiction and Forgetting in Yewéssey Culture

Journal Article Transforming Anthropology · July 2001 Anthropologists are now inescapably aware of conflict, contradiction, and negotiation in even the most seemingly "traditional" socio-cultural orders. The literature on "memory" is particularly rich in illustrations of how contradictory evocations of the pa ... Full text Open Access Cite

The Gullah and the Black Atlantic

Journal Article Footsteps: African American History and Heritage Magazine · March 2001 Open Access Cite

Africans in the United States

Journal Article Footsteps: African American History and Heritage Magazine · March 2001 Open Access Cite

The Other African Americans

Other Footsteps: African American History and Heritage Magazine · 2001 Open Access Cite

Cuba and African Diaspora Religion

Journal Article ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America · 2000 Open Access Link to item Cite

Afro-Atlantic Culture: On the Live Dialogue between Africa and the Americas, first edition

Chapter · 1999 Africa is not to the black Americas as the past is to the present. Ongoing historical developments in Africa have continually influenced American cultural history, and, more surprisingly, ongoing historical developments in the Americas have continually in ... Open Access Cite

The English professors of Brazil: On the diasporic roots of the Yorùbá nation

Journal Article Comparative Studies in Society and History · January 1, 1999 Full text Open Access Cite

Jeje: repensando nações e transnacionalismo

Journal Article Mana: estudos de antropologia social · January 1, 1999 Full text Open Access Cite

Yorubá: As Rotas e as Raízes da Nação Transatlântica, 1830-1950

Journal Article Horizontes Antropológicos · October 1998 Open Access Cite

Yoruba: A World Civilization

Journal Article Calliope: World History for Young People · February 1998 Open Access Cite

The king's male-order bride The modern making of a Yoruba priest

Journal Article Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · January 1, 1997 Full text Open Access Cite

Book Review Essays

Journal Article American Anthropologist · March 1996 Revisiting the African Diaspora: Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African Diaspora. Joseph M. MurphyRevisiting the African Diaspora: Santería from Africa to the New World: The Dead Sell ... Full text Open Access Cite

Book review of Africanisms in American Culture

Journal Article American Anthropologist · 1991 Cite

Vessels of Power: the Dialectical Symbolism of Power in Yoruba Religion and Polity - Part One

Book · 1986 Part One of Master's thesis in Anthropology at the University of Chicago, award the Roy D. Albert Prize for Excellence in the Study of Anthropology. Concerns the history of vessels and metaphors of containment and "mounting" in the delegation of sacred and ... Open Access Link to item Cite

Vessels of Power: the Dialectical Symbolism of Power in Yoruba Religion and Polity - Part Two

Book · 1986 Part Two of Master's thesis in Anthropology at the University of Chicago, award the Roy D. Albert Prize for Excellence in the Study of Anthropology. Concerns the history of vessels and metaphors of containment and "mounting" in the delegation of sacred and ... Open Access Link to item Cite

A Broken Calabash: Social Aspects of Worship among Brazilian and West African Yoruba--Part One

Book · 1982 Part One of Senior honors thesis as Harvard College, awarded High Honors and Magna Cum Laude. A comparison of the social organization of orisha worship in Nigeria and Brazil. ... Open Access Link to item Cite

A Broken Calabash: Social Aspects of Worship among Brazilian and West African Yoruba--Part Two

Book · 1982 Part Two of A Senior honors thesis at Harvard College, awarded High Honors/Magna Cum Laude. A comparison of the social organization of orisha worship in Nigeria and Brazil. ... Open Access Link to item Cite

"Favorite Professors" Open Letter to the Class of 2009

Chapter A reflection on the historic events of the past 22 years and of the past four years, appealing to the justice-minded activism of the graduating seniors. Also my farewell to Harvard. ... Open Access Cite