The Gut: A Black Atlantic Alimentary Tract by Elizabeth Pérez (review)

Reviewed by: The Gut: A Black Atlantic Alimentary Tractby Elizabeth Pérez Patricia Barker Lerch The Gut: A Black Atlantic Alimentary Tract. By Elizabeth Pérez. Cambridge University Press, 2022. 73pages. 22. 00 softcover; ebook available. The Gutis part of Cambridge University Press Elements in Magic series, which according to the series editor Marian Gibson, "seeks to restore the study of magic, broadly defined, to a central place within culture. " Elizabeth Pérez uses a pun in her book's title to communicate her intention of writing "a short pamphlet that makes a religious or political argument" (vimeo. com/772404109) that she hopes will encourage scholars to consider the gut in their religious studies. Pérez focuses on the Black Atlantic Traditions (BAT) —or Afro-diasporic traditions—because their devotees often pay attention to the gut, since deities and/or gods inhabit this part of the body and communicate through the gut or stomach. She goes so far as to postulate that the BAT affirm the "gut/brain axis" in their rituals and actions. In most traditional studies of religion, Pérez says that the head is prioritized as the locus of the brain, signifying the mind, intelligence and religion; in contrast, the gut is associated with magic, that is, traditions aligned with superstitious, uneducated, and even savage peoples. Pérez concludes that religion and magic are race-making categories. She hopes that in writing about the gut she may raise important questions about religion, magic, the gut/brain axis, and race. Indeed, the author asks many important questions providing "food for thought" for scholars of religion and magic. Is the head the only and/or most important place in the body where thought originates? Is there a "thinking gut? " What does that mean in Black Atlantic tradition? How did the gut become so important a body part in the religious traditions of the Afro-Diaspora? Pérez explores these and other questions. The gut literally refers to the stomach and intestines, but metaphorically can be home to gods or spirits, communicating through an emotion such as courage or fear, a feeling of pain, a sense of foreboding, or an instinct. Like the head, the gut is a source of thought, a spur to action. Pérez examines "gut feelings" and beings that live in the gut, drawing on many ethnographic examples from the Cuban religious traditions of Lucumí, Espiritismo, and Palo Monte. Initiatory religions such as Candomblé and Haitian Vodou offer many examples of the gut/brain axis since the gut has been considered lower than the head and associated with less elevated, down to earth, subversive deities. Pérez's ethno-graphic examples from storytelling and ceremonies embody the gut's ability to act decisively and produce knowledge. Since the gut is vulnerable to poisoning via magic, a whole set of rituals and cures known to diviners and healers form a core of knowledge passed from generation to generation. The gut produces sensations and feelings experienced by anyone, and these may be interpreted as messages from gods. Pérez uses the phrase the "unchosen-chosen, " to reflect the pre-initiation suffering common to those who begin the process of initiation in the role End Page 110of priest or priestess in BAT. It is this kind of "embodied knowledge" that Pérez and others have documented in studies of BAT. Pérez also writes about "kitchenspaces, " where ritual preparation of food for deities and initiates takes place. Here she uses the phrase "spilling one's guts" to depict the sharing of memories, folklore, and personal stories. From these intimate gatherings, traditions are maintained and kinship ties strengthened. Elizabeth Pérez's Element on the gut successfully puts the spotlight on important questions about embodied religion for future scholars. Using the text along with her short video may be useful in a classroom setting if the book is assigned to students in courses in anthropology, religion, and/or sociology of religion. Patricia Barker Lerch University of North Carolina–Wilmington Copyright © 2024 Association for the Academic Study of New Religions