Sweet's exploration into the relationship between African ideas and European structure are interesting. The subject of Domingo Alvarez is a particularly interesting subject - though the whole 'free man sold back into slavery' is a common trope in the slave narrative, to see a man that is a vodun healer gives it enough of a twist that keeps it fresh. Looking at his healing as a sort of weapon to undercut Europe's power is an especially interesting twist - a whole new meaning of that tired adage 'stay true to yourself.' Him holding onto his culture, his identity while being kidnapped and forced into slavery in a whole new country and culture is not only admirable, it is remarkable. Most people, when forced into a new situation, have to learn how to adapt, if only for survival. Alvarez holding onto his faith and identity (by keeping his old name, despite respecting his new one) despite being baptized in their faith is a small revolution.
Being a slave, he did have to play the game of obeying his masters and helping them when he could. However, his skills in the arts of healing were advantageous to him - and no doubt to other African slaves - in that he could make a patient better or worse simply based on the fact that he could conceal his knowledge of plants because they didn't have the information. We spoke about the power of slaves a few weeks ago, and I think that this really correlates with those ideas. Slaves may not have obvious powers, but they can mount these small revolutions.
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