Welcome to the American Rootwork Association!

Welcome to the American Rootwork Association (ARA), the formal place to unify practitioners and practitioner scholars in the areas of rootwork and southern folk traditions. I am excited to finally begin this journey and invite anyone interested in the preservation of traditional southern rootwork, rootdoctoring and other folk traditions to join along in this endeavor.

American rootwork has been studied on the periphery of academia, and scant information is available by scholar-practitioners. I know there are many rootworkers, conjure doctors, conjure workers and practitioners of other African-derived traditions who hold degrees, even advanced degrees, but have yet to contribute significantly to the published body of knowledge. My hope is that ARA will catapult some of these individuals out of the shadows and into the public narrative so that a more balanced and authentic representation of the traditions will be available to the general public.