ASHÉ

'ASHÉ: Ritual Poetics in African Diasporic Expressivity' is a collection of interdisciplinary essays contributed by international scholars and practitioners. Having distinguished themselves across such disciplines as Anthropology, Art, Music, Literature, Dance, Philosophy, Religion, and Theology and conjoined to construct a defining approach to the study of Aesthetics throughout the African Diaspora with the Humanities at the core, this collection of essays will break new ground in the study of Black Aesthetics. This book will be of great interest to scholars, practitioners, and students interested in tracing African heritage identities throughout the African Diaspora through close examination of a variety of discourses directly connected to expressive elements of cultural production and religious rituals.

Paul Carter Harrison is an award-winning playwright, director, and theatre theorist who has had a long artistic association with the Negro Ensemble Company. Pellom McDaniels III was the curator of African American collections in the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University, USA. Michael D. Harris is an arts scholar and artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally, is represented in public and private collections including those of David Driskell, Hampton University Museum, Howard University, The Paul Jones Collection at the University of Delaware and the University of Alabama, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and many others.

EDITORIAL NOTES Paul Carter Harrison INTRODUCTION Theophus "Thee" Smith...THE GLOBALIZATION OF AFRICANA AESTHETICS PART I: ASHE' CONCEPTUAL FRAME FRONTSIEPIECE: Wangechi Mutu, Riding Death in my Sleep Ch 1. Pellom McDaniels....LIKE ECHOS ACROSS THE CONTINUUM: WANGECHI MUTU'S NEW HORIZONS IN AFRO-COSMOLOGY Ch 2. Clyde Taylor...SALT PEANUTS: SOUND AND SENSE IN AFRICAN/AMERCAN ORAL/MUSICAL CREATIVY Ch 3. Rowland Abiodun.........ASHE': THE EMPOWERED WORD MUST COME TO PASS Ch 4. Maria E. Hamilton Abegunde...SEEING AS A RITUAL FOR A GOOD DEATH: THE SPIRITUAL CONSTRUCTION OF ALAIN GOMIS' FILM, TEY PART II: ASHE' CULTURAL FRAME FRONTSIEPIECE: Eric Waters, Medicine Man Ch 5. Michael D. Harris...........ERIC WATERS: CAPTURING THE CULTURE IN PHOTOS Ch 6. Michael McMillan...............DUB IN THE FRONT ROOM: MIGRANT AESTHETICS OF THE SACRED AND SECULAR Ch 7. Oliver Lee Jackson......SENSIBILITY AND THE AFRICAN CONTINUUM Ch 8. Marta Moreno Vega..........I WILL NOT BE ERASED PART III: ASHE' AND ARTS DISCIPLINES FRONTIESPIECE: Oliver Lee Jackson, UNTITLED (5.21.95) Ch 9. Paul Carter Harrison.....AESTHETICS OF BEAUTY: IN AN AFRICANA MODE Ch 10. Michael D. Harris..........UNDONE: BOTTLES, TREES, CHARMS, & FLASHING SPIRITS Ch 11. Gregory Tate...........BEBOP, HIP HOP AND CONDUCTIVITY GLOSSARY Arturo Lindsay........ASHE AT THE CROSSROADS: Aesthetic Criteria, Glossary of Terms, and Bibliography BIOGRAPHIES