including Caribbean, history, no one made this
negotiation easier and more natural than the con-
jurer man.
Molefi Kete AsanteSeealsoSeers
Further Readings
Boyd, V. (2003).Wrapped in Rainbows:The Life of
Zora Neale Hurston. New York: Scribner.
Edkins, D., & Marks, C. (1999).The Power of Pride:
Stylemakers and Rulebreakers of the Harlem
Renaissance. New York: Crown.
Hurston, Z. N. (1939).Dust Tracks on a Road.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott.
Hurston, Z. N. (1994).Tell My Horse. Voodoo and Life
in Haiti and Jamaica. New York: HarperPerennial.
CONVINCE
Convinceis a term used for a branch of African
religion found in the Americas, namely in Jamaica
and the southern United States. It denotes a
uniquely African diasporan form of African reli-
gion that takes the spiritual elements most closely
associated with transformation into the culture of
the African Americans. Where some of the
mythology that relates to the specific African con-
text may be changed or modified, most of the con-
cepts that may be called spiritual are used in the
new American context. This relationship to Africa
is a cosmological connection based on the mem-
ory of ancient African ideals.
Indeed, the diversity of African expressions in
the Americas attests to the strength of African cul-
tural forms in religion. One sees Convince in
Jamaica and the southern United States, but
related forms of African religion may be found
throughout the Americas. One of the reasons that
Convince has become so prominent in some com-
munities is because it responds to the existential
condition of Africans fighting against the legacies
of slavery. It provides the believer with the power
to overcome all adversity.
When one examines the persistence of African
religions in the Americas, it becomes clear that
they are all similar, have characteristics that might
be seen as the same as those of Convince, and are
deeply dependent on the spiritual activities of
invisible forces. This is true whether it is Santeria
in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto
Rico; Vodun in Haiti; Shango in Trinidad and
Grenada; Candomble and Umbanda in Brazil;
Convince and Cumina in Jamaica; Big Drum
Dance in Carriacou (Grenada); Kele in St. Lucia;
Maria Lionza in Venezuela; Espiritismo in Puerto
Rico; and Rastafarianism in Jamaica.
In Jamaica, Convince is a nontextual religion
that bases most of its worship and spiritual
access on the deities of Africa as they have been
transformed in the Americas. It highlights pos-
session, ritual dancing, and healing services.
Similar to most other forms of African religion,
Convince practitioners seek harmony and bal-
ance in life through appeals to the ancestors
and spirits.
Because Convince is experienced as an African
form with particular powers against established
religions of the West, it has been, along with other
African religious expressions, persecuted. In
Jamaica, there were legal regulations to control
Convince as early as l781, and later in l784, 1788,
1808, 1816, 1826, and 1827, there were restric-
tions placed on Obeah, another Jamaican version
of the African religion. Since the 20th century, the
Rastafari have come under similar attacks by the
authorities in several nations. Although Convince
has been subjected to persecution, it has remained
a strong influence in the rural area and in some
urban areas of Jamaica.Molefi Kete AsanteFurther Readings
Deren, M. (1953).Divine Horsemen:The Living Gods
of Haiti. London: Thames and Hudson.
Desmangles, L. G. (1993).The Faces of the Gods:Vodou
and Roman Catholicism in Haiti. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press.
Harding, R. E. (2000).A Refuge in Thunder:Candomblé
and Alternative Spaces of Blackness. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press.
Mason, M. A. (2002).Living Santeria:Rituals and
Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion. Washington,
DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.Convince 177