Archival Eruptions
Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica
Book •
In Archival Eruptions, Katharine Gerbner uses Moravian missionary records from 1755–1760 to trace how the Afro-Caribbean practice Obeah was understood and then criminalized in Jamaica.
The book theorizes 'archival eruptions'—moments when Africana epistemologies intrude on European-authored documents—to recover Black religious practices obscured or censored in colonial records.
Gerbner connects debates over Obeah to broader transformations in notions of religion, authority, and law during the era of slavery.
The work is part microhistory, part archival-methods intervention, arguing for more optimistic, creative readings of colonial archives.
It also situates its findings within ongoing legal and cultural debates about Obeah in Jamaica and Maroon communities' historical stakes.
The book theorizes 'archival eruptions'—moments when Africana epistemologies intrude on European-authored documents—to recover Black religious practices obscured or censored in colonial records.
Gerbner connects debates over Obeah to broader transformations in notions of religion, authority, and law during the era of slavery.
The work is part microhistory, part archival-methods intervention, arguing for more optimistic, creative readings of colonial archives.
It also situates its findings within ongoing legal and cultural debates about Obeah in Jamaica and Maroon communities' historical stakes.
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Katharine Gerbner, "Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica" (Duke UP, 2025)
