"WADE IN THE WATER": WATER SYMBOLISM AS A SOURCE OF SPIRITUALITY AND

SYNCRETISM IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE

Panel Chairs:

Silvia Castro (Universidad de Málaga)
scb@uma.es

Inmaculada Pineda (Universidad de Málaga)
icpineda@uma.es

African Americans have historically used water symbolism and codification as a means of liberation from slavery, from racism, sexist oppression, and economic and professional restriction. Water in African American culture can have differing interpretations from that of American main culture, as in the spiritual "Wade in the Water", a song that secretly led slaves toward rivers and other flowing springs where they could follow certain marked paths north. In addition to this, water has been linked (following the religious patterns inherited from West Africa) to sources of spirituality in African American folklore and mythmaking. Within this context, the importance of the river cults was stressed, thus linking African American reality to the supernatural world inhabited by the river spirits.

Suggested topics:

- Water symbolisms in the Underground Railroad

- Water as a healing/harming element in African American life and literature

- The association of water with African American ritual

- Issues of syncretism relating to the Biblical concept of "crossing the river Jordan" in the religious and spiritual imagery of African Americans culture.