Celebrating the memory of the author of Deep Obeah, Dr. Roi Kwabena.
He was acultural anthropologist, but not an academic. His work was done entirely outside of the walls of academia, a form of cultural activism that inspired others who—even without a degree in anthropology—began to call themselves anthropologists nonetheless. He was an artist, a musician, a poet, a teacher, an essayist, a researcher, a publisher, and for a while a politician as well. What distinguishes Roi Kwabena....was his combination of art and analysis, culture and politics, publication and public engagement, in the service of a committed critique of imperialism and neo-colonialism. A man from “the periphery,” he operated across the periphery and the centre. ---Professor Maximilian C. Forte from Zero Anthropology
My thanks to Professor Maximilian Forte for permission to share Dr. Kwabena's words and music, they are powerful.