Santería Enthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion

by David H. Brown

Overview

Ever since its emergence in colonial-era Cuba, Afro-Cuban Santería (or Lucumí) has displayed a complex dynamic of continuity and change in its institutions, rituals, and iconography. Originally published in 2003 Santería Enthroned combines art, history, cultural anthropology, and ethnohistory to show how Africans and their descendants have developed novel forms of religious practice in the face of relentless oppression. Focusing on the royal throne as a potent metaphor in Santería belief and practice it shows how negotiations among ideologically competing interests have shaped the religion’s symbols, rituals, and institutions from the nineteenth century to the present. Rich case studies of change in Cuba and the United States, including a New Jersey temple and South Carolina’s Oyotunji Village, reveal patterns of innovation similar to those found among rival Yoruba kingdoms in Nigeria. Throughout, the book argues for a theoretical perspective on culture as a field of potential strategies and "usuable pasts" that actors draw upon to craft new forms and identities – a perspective that will be invaluable to all students of the African Diaspora.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781000124378
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/24/2021
Series:	Routledge Revivals
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	454
File size:	24 MB
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About the Author

David H. Brown

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: Institutional and Ritual Innovation 1. Black Royalty: New Social Frameworks and Remodeled Iconographies in Nineteenth-Century Havana 2. From Cabildo de Nacíon to Casa-Templo: The New Lucumí, Institutional Reform, and the Shifting Location of Cultural Authenticity 3. Myths of the Yoruba Past and Innovations of the Lucumí Present: The Narrative Production of Cosmology, Authority, and Ritual Variation Part II: Iconographic Innovation 4. Royal Iconography and the Modern Lucumí Initiation 5. "The Palace of the Obá Lucumí" and the "Creole Taste": Innovations in Iconography and Meaning Conclusion Appendix 1: Fredrika Bremer’s Description of a Sunday Afternoon Drumming in a Havana Lucumí Calbido, 1853 Appendix 2: Irene Wright’s Description of Her Visit to "African Cabildo" in El Cerro, 1910 Appendix 3: The "Regular" Ifá-Centric Initiation versus the Ocha-Centric Initiation Appendix 4: The Oriate’s Counternarrative to Ifa-Centric Ocha Practive Appendix 5: Calendar of Oricha and Saint Feasts Days Appendix 6: Oral Data from Fieldwork: Interviews, Personal Communications and Correspondence Notes Glossary Works Cited Index