Amina Juma
One of the storytelling voices behind African Belief — every piece below carries their name because it was researched, framed, and checked in their voice.
Pieces by Amina
Netflix Releases and African Mythology: Who Gets Named
On a wet Saturday in August I did something unscientific with an evening's worth of Netflix releases.
Yoruba Indigenous Religion in Church and Mosque: The 1% Gap
Around four in the morning during Ramadan, in the older quarters of Ìbàdàn and Ilọrin, a small band walks the street playing people awake for the pre-dawn meal. The music is called wéré, or ajísáàrì.
Children of Blood and Bone: The Orisha Behind the Film Adaptation
In the behind-the-scenes footage there is a moment where a costume designer lifts a beaded panel and talks about weight — how it hangs, how it will move at a gallop.
Children of Blood and Bone: The Film Trailer and the Real Orïsha
The word lands early, cut over drums and a horizon of red dust: Orïsha. Three syllables, one diaeresis, the name of a kingdom that has never existed anywhere but on a page.
Vodou Spirituality and Practice vs. the Hollywood Zombie
In parts of rural Haiti, a family will sit with a fresh grave for a few nights before they leave it alone. The fear behind that vigil is not the one Hollywood sells.
Orïsha on Screen: The 401 Behind the Film Adaptation Announcement
There is a Yoruba way of counting the divinities that refuses to close. The figure most often given is ọ̀kànlénírinwọ́ irúnmọlẹ̀ — four hundred and one. Four hundred, and then one more.
Eshu: The Yoruba Orisha of the Crossroads, Explained
The first time I went looking for Eshu, I did it the lazy way — typed the name into a search box after hearing it in a song, the way most people arrive.
Who Is Oshun? The Yoruba Orisha of Rivers and Sweetness
The most famous thing about Oshun is the least useful thing about her. Say the name in a room and someone will hand you the short version: goddess of love, goddess of beauty, the one with the mirror…
Magical Realism, Abiku, and Ogbanje: African Folklore in Contemporary Storytelling
In most bookshops, Ben Okri's The Famished Road sits a shelf or two from One Hundred Years of Solitude, filed under the same two words: magical realism.