African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Gerald Hausman

I'm excited about today's book of ghost stories from the north coast of Jamaica: Duppy Talk: West Indian Tales of Mystery and Magic by Gerald Hausman. 

This is a wonderful book, with a beautiful introduction that explains the deep connections between African practices and storytelling and the stories in this book, along with an afterword that discusses the importance of proverbs in both African and African Diaspora cultures. In addition, each story has its own notes at the end about the storyteller and the storytelling scene.

There are the stories you will find here: Angels of Darkness, Duke of Luck, Laughter of Mermaids, Chick Chick, Uncle Time, and Duppy Talk.

The lovely cut-paper illustrations are by Cheryl Taylor:

I was pleased to see that the Internet Archive has other books by Gerald Hausman (use this link to browse the books), including African-American Alphabet: A Celebration of African-American and West Indian Culture, Custom, Myth, and Symbol, by Gerald Hausman and Kelvin Rodriquez. 

In that alphabet, the three chapters for D are: Dog, Drum, and Duppy!

So, jump in and enjoy; both of these books are just a click away at the Internet Archive.

Duppy Talk:

West Indian Tales of Mystery and Magic

by Gerard Hausman

African-American Alphabet:

A Celebration of African-American and West Indian

Culture, Custom, Myth, and Symbol

by Gerald Hausman and Kelvin Rodriquez