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Chapter Reference: The Encounter; Colonial Crucible; Postcolonial Blues; Neoliberalism
Santería and Candomblé are neo-African religions practiced in Cuba and Brazil, respectively. Both are basically New World versions of the religious beliefs of the Yoruba people of West Africa, with admixtures of other African influences. They have often been described as "syncretic" religious practices, a word that suggests a hybrid mixture with Christianity, because both Santería and Candomblé use the images of Catholic saints to represent the various deities. As the workings of these religions have become better understood by scholars in recent years, it has become clear that there is a wide range of ways in which Catholic elements are incorporated. They may be superficial or deeply significant. In addition, some practitioners of Santería and Candomblé have "re-Africanized" their religion through direct contact with African sources. Some practitioners of Santería and Candomblé remain simultaneously devout Catholics. Importantly, aside from considerations of syncretism, African religions have evolved in Cuba and Brazil according to their own internal logic, the way any religion evolves when it enters a new social setting. In that sense, these religions may be called "neo-African." Neo-African religions have always embodied resistance to psychic absorption into the slave owners' world and, indirectly or directly, they always constitute remembrance of an ancestral homeland. A paper on this complex topic should probably focus on Brazil, Cuba, or Haiti (which has an exact analog of Santería or Candomblé, called Vodou).
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- To what extent were slaves able to practice African religious traditions during the colonial period? How did fusing these practices with elements of Catholicism allow slaves to circumvent limitations placed on religion by colonial authorities?
- When and where were Santería and Candomblé ceremonies held during the colonial period? How did these ceremonies change following independence, and how did the attitude of new republican states toward neo-African religions differ from that of colonial administrators?
- sNeo-African religions served as a form of resistance to slavery partly through their ability to inspire group identity connected to Africa. How did the appeal of these religions evolve in the twentieth century?
Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places.)
Bastide, Roger. The African Religions of Brazil: Towards a Sociology of the Interpretation of Civilizations. Translated by Helen Sebba. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.
Though dated and somewhat dense, this monograph presents a wealth of information in a readable narrative.
** Brandon, George. Santería from Africa to the New World: The Dead Sell Memories.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
This book presents a concise and informative history of the African roots and new world flowers of Santería, engaging questions of economics, power structures, and collective identities.
Crook, Larry, and Randal Johnson, eds. Black Brazil: Culture, Identity, and Social
Mobilization. UCLA Latin American Studies, 86. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin
American Center Publications, n.d.
This edited volume contains a handful of short essays on Candomblé.
De Queirós Mattoso, Kátia M. To Be a Slave in Brazil, 15501888. Translated by Arthur
Goldhammer. With a foreword by Stuart Schwartz. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press, 1986.
Contains an accessible treatment of the formation of these religions in Brazil.
Desmangles, Leslie G. Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti. Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.
This scholarly, readable book is an excellent look at Vodou and the Church in Haiti.
** Galembo, Phyllis. Divine Inspiration: From Benin to Bahia. Albuquerque: University of
New Mexico Press, 1993.
This collection of photographs taken in Nigeria and Brazil also contains accessible and informative text.
González-Wippler, Migene. Legends of Santería, new and rev. ed. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn
Publications, 1994.
As the title suggests, this is a collection of legends about Santería deities.
**_______. Santería: African Magic in Latin America, 2nd rev. ed. Plainview, NY: Original
Publications, 1992.
A good overall introduction.
** Murphy, Joseph. Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African Diaspora. Boston:
Beacon Press, 1994.
Murphy offers a comparative view of neo-African religion in Brazil and the Caribbean.
Sweet, James H. Recreating Africa: Culture, Kinship, and Religion in the African-
Portuguese World, 14411770. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press,
2003.
Sweet's study is a scholarly treatment, though students will find parts two and three are helpful for understanding the colonial roots of the mixing between Catholicism and African religious traditions.
Wedel, Johan. Santería Healing: A Journey into the Afro-Cuban World of Divinities, Spirits,
and Sorcery. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004.
This scholarly anthropological approach to Santería is another good introduction, with a focus on the healing powers of Santería and an assessment of the practice at the end of the twentieth century.
Other Resources:
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