Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System

By: Katrina Hazzard-Donald

Narrated by: Sharell Palmer

In this book, Katrina Hazzard-Donald explores African Americans' experience and practice of the herbal, healing folk belief tradition known as Hoodoo. Working against conventional scholarship, Hazzard-Donald argues that Hoodoo emerged first in three distinct regions she calls "regional Hoodoo clusters" and that after the turn of the 19th century, Hoodoo took on a national rather than regional profile. The first interdisciplinary examination to incorporate a full glossary of Hoodoo culture, Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System lays out the movement of Hoodoo against a series of watershed changes in the American cultural landscape.

Throughout, Hazzard-Donald distinguishes between "Old tradition Black Belt Hoodoo" and commercially marketed forms that have been controlled, modified, and often fabricated by outsiders; this study focuses on the hidden system operating almost exclusively among African Americans in the Black spiritual underground.

The book is published by University of Illinois Press.

©2013 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (P)2018 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Mojo Workin' is a key contribution to the study of Hoodoo in America, with some energizing new ideas about its origins, early expression, and broader religious aspects." (Journal of American Folklore)

"A valuable contribution to the growing number of volumes concerned with African-based traditional spiritual beliefs in the New World." (American Studies)

"A significant contribution to the literature of African-based traditions in the United States." (Religious Studies Review)

Loved everything about it!

I loved listening to this audio book! So many stories about the culture and history !

Wow!!

Im nearly speechless. i will definitely be ordering a hard copy of this book. It will be my old tradition black belt Hoodoo BIBLE!! My favorite moment was High John responding to the "Becky." I'll leave it at that lol. I so enjoyed this.

Excellent!

I have a calling but learned the hard way about how much of a business this is rather than a desire to help others. I also learned who has the upper hand. i'm still searching for an honest, sincere teacher. I love this book. Straight to the point and honest!

Great Storyline

I really enjoyed this book. The storyline, the narration, all of it. The narrator's voice kept my attention which is difficult at times, she did a great job.

This!

This is the book that should be included in the beginner practitioner’s arsenal. When you understand your history, you’ll understand your journey.

Liked: Authenticity of the research and personal experiences

Examples of healing modalities. As I read, I also reminisced on healing my mother and aunties shared. The similarities and communal support were the same before the slave plantation and stealing of economic, prisoners, and brutal Europeans.

Great research, no rites or spells though❗️😣

This was a great scholarly research on the origins of the Hoodoo discipline. I must say I was hoping that it had actual rites or something specific for use. Since I started out learning from Lucky Mojo I was surprised by the this author being at odds against them. It was definitely a great read for insight on the history and how things became the way they are.

Dr. Katrina Hazzard-Donald brought up some good points of reference and I really appreciate the research that has gone in to this work. I would have like led to have had more insights in the craft itself. I did grow up in the black belt area of the south east and so a lot of this resonated.

Highly Recommend

This was very well done, insightful, and true! The author is an initiate of ATR, which adds to the credit and benefit of the story and reflective nature of thw practices explained.

So much good information.

Love love love this book. There is so much good information and historical references. I really could relate to some examples. Other things were completely new to me. The one thing that distracted me was the readers mispronunciation of the African Orishas and tribes. Otherwise this was a great book.

A great read

I learned so much from this book! Extremely interesting and fact filled book of Black Hoodoo history.