Mumbo Jumbo

Published in 1973, Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo is a novel that decenters the Westernized, Judeo-Christian historical perspective and compels the reader to see history through a more Afrocentric lens. The novel incorporates nontraditional storytelling techniques such as linear distortion, footnotes, photographs, and charts. It is often affiliated with postmodernism and Afrofuturism.

The story begins in 1920. There is an outbreak of Jes Grew, which is spreading toward Harlem, where the novel is primarily set. Those who catch Jes Grew show symptoms like dancing and lusting. Protagonist Papa LaBas, a voodoo priest (houngan), views Jes Grew as an “anti-plague” that advances Black culture.

The Wallflower Order of the Atonist Path hires Hinckle Von Vampton, a centuries-old member of the Knights Templar, to stop Jes Grew and promote Western civilization. LaBas, along with Black Herman and their associates at the Mumbo Jumbo Kathedral, fight against Atonism and hope to find Jes Grew’s sacred text.

Abdul Hamid, a Black Muslim magazine editor, receives Jes Grew’s text and works on translating it from hieroglyphics. Von Vampton and his assistant, Gould, enter Abdul’s office and kill him. However, they don’t find the sacred text.

Berbelang, a former Kathedral member, becomes the leader of the Mu’tafikah, an organization that breaks into art museums to return non-Western artworks to their countries of origin.

Meanwhile, Von Vampton seeks a “Talking Android.” This Android is a Black person who praises Western civilization and is willing to operate from within Black circles to perpetuate the dominance of Eurocentric culture. However, Von Vampton repeatedly fails in his attempt to find this Android.

The Wallflower Order is a powerful organization with great influence at the highest rungs of politics and society. It has installed Warren Harding as president, believing him to be the perfect candidate to promote Atonism. However, a rumor circulates that Harding has Black ancestry. When it’s revealed that Harding attended a Black rent party and enjoys jazz, the Order poisons him. The Order also starts a war against Haiti, which it believes to be the source of Jes Grew.

Von Vampton throws a lavish party where he introduces his Black Talking Android (which is Gould in blackface). LaBas interrupts the festivities and gives a speech that explains the marginalized history of Jes Grew, dating back to Osiris and Moses. He draws connections between Judeo-Christianity and traditional African beliefs that are rooted in nature. At the speech’s conclusion, LaBas exposes Von Vampton and Gould as Atonists who are feigning their affiliation with Black culture. LaBas and his associates hold Von Vampton and Gould captive, bringing them to Benoit Battraville, who will deport them to Haiti to face justice.

LaBas receives a letter from recently killed Abdul. In the letter, Abdul explains that he burned the sacred text. LaBas understands that this is why Jes Grew has now subsided. He sees this as an opportunity for the young generation of Black artists and activists to create a new sacred text for Jes Grew.