Osun is a brilliant deity whose imagery and world-wide devotion demand broad and deep scholarly reflection. The contributors to the ground-breaking Africa's Ogun edited by Sandra Barnes explored the complex nature of Ogun, the orisa who transforms life through iron and technology. Osun Across the Waters continues this exploration of Yoruba religion by documenting Osun religion. Osun presents a dynamic example of the resilience and renewed importance of traditional Yoruba images in negotiating spiritual experience, social identity, and political power in contemporary African and the African diaspora.
The seventeen contributors to Osun Across the Waters delineate the special dimensions of Osun religion as it appears through multiple disciplines in multiple cultural contexts. Tracing the extent of Osun traditions takes us across the waters and back again. Osun traditions continue to grow and change as they flow and return from their sources in Africa and the Americas.