KRIK: Afroindigenization and Marasa Consciousness

The chapter introduces the concepts of "afroindigenization" and "marasa consciousness" to support two main claims: that descendants of enslaved Africans collectively embody displaced pan-indigenous African cultural identities, and that these identities hold repressed knowledge that fuels cultural expression as a strategy for spiritual recovery. The authors argue that indigeneity functions differently for afroindigenous people in Oklahoma compared to the Garifuna in the Caribbean and South America. Central to the argument is the idea that indigeneity is implicitly linked to submerged modes of spiritual consciousness.

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Abstract

This chapter introduces and explains the terms afroindigenization and marasa consciousness in detail by linking them to the book’s two main claims. The first claim is that the descendants of enslaved Africans are a collective embodiment of displaced pan-indigenous African cultural identities. Second, these cultural identities are the repositories for repressed bodies of knowledge that function as the fuel for cultural expression, which itself is a strategy for spiritual rejuvenation and recovery. This chapter also explains how the term indigeneity functions differently for afroindigenous people in Oklahoma or the Garifuna in the Caribbean and South America. The idea that “indigeneity” is implicitly linked to submerged modes of spiritual consciousness is at the core of this chapter’s argument.