Book by Dona Cici in English & Port

I traveled to Salvador da Bahia, Brazil in 2017 to work with Afro-Brazilian women who preserve African spiritual traditions. There, I recorded approximately 23 hours of audio with Candomblé priestess Nancy de Souza e Silva AKA Dona Cici, an internationally renowned wise elder (ebomi) who studied intensively with the famed French photographer/ethnologist Pierre Verger during the last few decades of his life. Researchers have flown her to France, Benin and the United States to share her knowledge. In addition to working with academics, she intentionally devotes her time to teaching under-resourced, predominantly Black children in a low-income neighborhood of Salvador da Bahia because she wants to transmit her knowledge to the younger generations of Afro-Brazilians.

I have transcribed and translated my interviews with her to create a text in both English and Portuguese that she can sell to generate an additional income stream for her and the children she teaches.  This is important because she does not speak English and many devotees of Afro-diasporic religions in the US want to learn from her. The Association for the Protection of Devalued People, an organization founded by Black men in 1832 to provide care for enslaved people and purchase their freedom, has offered to host the book launch because Dona Cici is so respected. When I brought her there, they inducted her into the Association immediately. 


I will be publishing the book within this year, 2020, and am now organizing funds to support this elder in this pandemic.

Thank you so much for considering my request.