Silencing the Drum: Religious Racism and Afro-Brazilian Sacred Music

Danielle N. Boaz is associate professor of Africana studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte focusing on human rights, social justice, and the law. She is the author of Banning Black Gods: Law and Religions of the African Diaspora and Voodoo: The History of a Racial Slur. She runs www.religiousracism.org, which provides information about discrimination and violence against African diaspora religions in Brazil.

Umi Vaughan is an independent scholar and musician, formerly professor of Africana studies at California State University Monterey Bay. He is the author of Carlos Aldama’s Life in Batá: Cuba, Diaspora, and the Drum (Indiana University Press) and Rebel Dance, Renegade Stance: Timba Music and Black Identity in Cuba (University of Michigan Press). To learn more visit UMIART.ART