Folkloric Horror and Conjure as Prophetic Religion: Storytelling, Resistance, and Liberation

One of the core elements of embodied religious beliefs and practices is the contrast between that which is at the theological level vs that which is actually happening within the people and practices. Dr. Yvonne Chireau does this brilliantly in her book Black Magic: Religion and the African Conjuring Tradition. This roundtable discussion aims to build off that work in conversation with emerging scholars at the intersections of Folk Practices, Prophetic narrative traditions, Folk Horror and Religion. Folk horror being that which haunts a community based on its own histories. (Nijhuis) American Folk horror is currently having a resurgence in popular imagination. Films like Nope, Nanny, Sinners, Lovecraft Country, His House, Octavia Butler’s works, and the surrealism of Atlanta show that there is a preoccupation with folk horror and its engagement with religion, its prophetic possibility, and its ability to offer navigational knowledge for the current political and cultural climate.