Case file · Witch trials
Fernando Ortiz's 'Los negros brujos'
In 1906 the young Cuban lawyer Fernando Ortiz published 'Los negros brujos', a study of Afro-Cuban 'witchcraft' written as criminology, in the wake of a 1904 child murder blamed on brujos.
1906 CE · 23.14, -82.36 · status: official
The account
The book reflects the racism of its time, but Ortiz went on to become Cuba's great scholar of Afro-Cuban culture and coined the term 'transculturation'. His work on Santería, music and the Abakuá is still a foundation of the field.