Reparations for a Stolen Spiritual Inheritance

Displaced African people built the so-called “New World” on stolen indigenous land for European settlers’ profit. To perpetrate this crime against humanity, white settler societies systematically policed and sought to suppress the inter-generational transmission of African language and spirituality. While ultimately unsuccessful, this attempted cultural genocide is an unredressed violation with long-lasting effects. This book is an effort to connect generations through the voice of Afro-Brazilian lineage bearer Nancy “Cici” de Souza, an eighty-one-year-old priestess of the Yoruba-based religion Candomblé. The resident oral historian of the Pierre Verger Foundation’s community space in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, she has spent decades studying the culture of her ancestors. Her fifty years of initiation to the Yoruba divinities Osun and Obatala have earned her the title “ebomi,” which means “elder.” This book is the translation and compilation of interviews with Ebomi Cici regarding spirituality and history. All royalties go to the elder herself, and the Portuguese version is available for free at www.camelliadaoling.com.

Nancy de Souza (author) is an internationally-respected authority on Afro-Brazilian history and culture. Since her 1979 initiation by Babalorixá Obaràyí of Ilê Axé Opô Aganjú, she has dedicated her life to the study of her ancestors’ knowledge. She worked directly with Babalawo Pierre Fatumbi Verger to caption thousands of photos he took documenting Afro-diasporic sacred practices. At the Pierre Verger Foundation, she works with academics from around the world who seek her out for information they cannot find in books. Although she could leverage her depth of expertise for personal gain, she spends most of her time teaching and nurturing children from the predominantly Black neighborhood where she lives. Her profound commitment to service and her faith leave a lasting impression on everyone she meets. Camellia Dao-Ling McDermott Lee (translator) is a writer and future acupuncturist descended from Taiwanese and Irish immigrants.