Elongated Muskrat

I was interested in the panel presentation on Womanism in Mumbo Jumbo because when I read the book I didn't connect any of the things discussed in the presentation with Womanism at all. I think it is fair to say that Reed did not write Mumbo Jumbo with Womanist ideas in mind. For most of the book, women are side characters at best and not even present in the majority of scenes. That being said, there are some scenes where the theme of Womanism and sexual freedom is adressed specificly, like when Earline is possessed by a Loa. I think that also Reed hides more refrences to Womanism and sexual liberation outside of those scenes. Reed's criticism of Atonism is very clear throught the book. Among the numerous things that the Atonists are against is the new style of dancing that is becoming popular in connection with Jes Grew. The Atonists say that the dances are scandalous. That men and women get too close to each other for their tastes. In Mr. Leffs history class we learned that...

In Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed, an epidemic by the name of Jes Grew sweeps across the country causing people to dance to exhaustion. Old people find the dance scandalous. The spread of Jes Grew seems to have a lot of parallels with the development of Jazz in the US during the same time period of the 1920s. Jazz has its roots in West African music. During slavery, African traditions and music were repressed in American, there were gatherings of slaves in Congo Square where they would preform traditional music and dances. Their music incorporated drums, which were not used classical European music. In Haiti an other Caribbean islands, musical traditions lived on and were later reincorporated into American music by musicians who traveled between the US and Cuba. Jazz music grew out of New Orleans. It was played in vaudeville shows, bars, and brothels, spreading it to the rest of the US. The parallels between Jes Grew and Jazz should now be clear. In Mumbo Jumbo , Jes Grew has its or...