NATCHITOCHES – Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, an assistant professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, will present a lecture about the development and practice of hoodoo in the African-American community of the Southern United States Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 4 p.m. in the Ora G. Williams Television Studio (Room 142) in Kyser Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. The lecture is sponsored by the Louisiana Folklife Center.

     Anderson first became interested in hoodoo while still an undergraduate student attending Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. According to Anderson, Hoodoo is widespread in the African-American population, “but largely invisible” to the white community. He continued his research into the history of hoodoo in the South while receiving his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Florida. He found that outside of the Mississippi River Valley, hoodoo is commonly referred to as “conjure.” Anderson has published two books on the topic, Conjure in African American Society (Louisiana State University Press, 2005) and Hoodoo, Voodoo, and Conjure: A Handbook (Greenwood Press, 2008).

     While he does not practice or promote “conjure” or “hoodoo,” Anderson views hoodoo as a fascinating element of Southern culture and will discuss how hoodoo functions in society. He will begin with the late Antebellum period and discuss the relationship between hoodoo and slavery. Anderson will then show how the practice of hoodoo has evolved to match the changing needs of African-American society. Anderson observes, “they don’t need a spell to protect escaped slaves anymore,” but in the current economic climate, spells to “help find a job” are a lot more useful.