VooDoos and Obeahs: Phases of West India Witchcraft

Joseph J. Williams’s study examines Afro-Caribbean religious and magical practices in the West Indies, with particular attention to the terms "voodoo" and "obeah" as they were understood in historical and colonial contexts. It is significant as an early attempt to document and analyze these traditions anthropologically; readers will find ethnographic observations, comparative discussions, and interpretations shaped by the scholarship of its time.

Joseph J. Williams (1875–1940) was a Jesuit scholar and ethnographer known for his studies of African and Afro-diasporic religion, folklore, and ritual, especially in the Caribbean. His work is significant for the documentation and interpretation of religious and magical traditions within comparative religious literature.