Resistance and the Reclamation of Racial Identity through Spirituality and Witchcraft in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem

Guadeloupean writer Maryse Condé’s I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem reimagines Tituba, an enslaved Black woman accused during the Salem witch trials, as a powerful symbol of resistance. By centring Afro-Caribbean spirituality and witchcraft, Condé transforms Tituba’s silenced history into a narrative of racial and spiritual reclamation. This paper, drawing on Black feminist, ecofeminist, and postcolonial theory, explores how Tituba’s healing practices and ancestral connections resist colonial violence. Through her relationship with the natural world and her ironic voice, Condé offers an alternative history of survival grounded in Black female subjectivity and spiritual resilience.