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Informed by the perspective articulated in Matory's observation, this chapter offers an extended meditation on Black Religion as the Ancestor Narrative through a reading of Paule Marshall's novel Praisesong for the Widow. Though I employ techniques of literary criticism and theory, my primary goal is to assess the Black Religion as Ancestor Narrative as represented in this novel. In this regard, the interests, approaches, and perspectives of the critical theory of religion are central. Of particular importance for me is the location of this novel with respect to the Afrocentric and Afro-Eccentric versions of the Ancestor Narrative. My exploration seeks to answer the question: does Praisesong for the Widow rest comfortably within one version of the Ancestor Narrative, split the difference between them, ordisplace the Afrocentric and Afro-Eccentric options altogether? The insights regarding migration, cultural reproduction, displacement, and self-creation in the Afro-Atlantic world as described in the introductory epigraph inform my analysis.

DOI: 10.1057/9780230118713_3

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