Experiments with Power: Obeah and the Remaking of Religion in Trinidad (Class 200: New Studies in Religion)

In 2011, Trinidad declared a state of emergency lasting 108 days, during which over 7,000 people were detained in areas designated as "crime hot spots." The government framed this intervention and resulting police violence as necessary to restore "the rule of law." During this period, six police officers were charged with murder for shooting three young people—an unusual outcome that prompted the host of Crime Watch, Trinidad's most popular television show, to suggest that obeah, a spiritual practice, must have been involved. From eighteenth-century slave rebellions to modern responses to police brutality, Caribbean spiritual practices labeled "obeah" have been criminalized. Obeah remains a crime in many anglophone Caribbean nations, despite its association with justice-making efforts. In Experiments with Power, J. Brent Crosson examines what obeah is and how Caribbean spiritual workers describe their practices as "science" and "experiments." This reframing challenges Western religious and racial categories. Drawing on over a decade of conversations with spiritual workers during and after the state of emergency, Crosson demonstrates how reconceptualizing religious practice as an experiment with power reshapes understandings of religion and law in modern nation-states.