Afro-Caribbean Religions Helps Form Part of a Wider Cultural and Academic Phenomenon

Introduction eligion is one of the most important elements of Ca rib be an culture that links Afro- Caribbean people to their African past. Scattered over the R three-thousand- mile- long rainbow- shaped archipelago and nestled near the American mainland bordering the beautiful Ca rib be an Sea are living spiritual memories and traditions of the African diaspora. A family of religions (big and small, long-standing and recently arrived, defunct and vigorous, ancestral and spiritual) and their peoples dot the unique Ca rib be an map. J. Lorand Matory puts it succinctly: “The Atlantic perimeter hosts a range of groups pro- foundly infl uenced by western African conceptions of personhood and of the divine. Their religions include Candomble, Umbanda, Xango, and Batique in Brazil, as well as Vodou in Haiti and ‘Santeria,’ or Ocha, and Palo Mayombe in Cuba.”1 These diverse religious traditions share several commonalities: They show strong African connections and harbor African cultural memory; they are religions of the people, by and for the people; they are nontraditional and creole faiths shaped by cultures; they are an integral part of the Carib be an colonial legacy; and they continue to generate international interest and inspire a huge body of literature worthy of academic study. The robust African religious traditions in the region have muted the voice of academic skeptics who have questioned the ability to prove for certain that African religions survived oppressive conditions of colonialism in the Americas. “A per sis tent white view had been that Africa had little par tic u lar culture to begin with, and that the slaves had lost touch with that as well.”2 The provocative Frazier- Herskovits debate, which has raged since the early 1940s, about how much of African religion and culture survived among African Americans epito- mizes the ripening of the controversy that is almost a century old. Most scholars Introduction • 2 who have participated in the debate agree that the Carib be an is a clear excep- tion to the “defunct religions” thesis, providing undeniable evidence of the vital- ity of African religions and cultures3 in peoples’ lives. Well documented4 is the fact that, during colonialism and slavery, Africans brought to the Americas pre- served cultures that represented many ethnic groups and affi liations. The nu- merical strength of some of these groups quite naturally exerted greater infl u- ence on African cultures in the diaspora than others. Originating mainly from West Central Africa, these groups owe their existence in the region to the inter- action among several historical, economic, and po liti cal forces that have infl u- enced and shaped Carib be an peoples. A renewed interest in Afro-Caribbean religions helps form part of a wider cultural and academic phenomenon. The last half century ignited a global ex- plosion of religious- cultural exchange and movements that continue to wrest attention from diverse academic disciplines, fi elds, and institutions. As part of this global phenomenon, a plethora of new religious groups has emerged, tiny sects have mushroomed into larger movements, religious traditions are being invented and reinvented, and various aspects of faiths are being borrowed and reconfi gured into new ones.5 Indeed, cultural trends have brought the study of nontraditional and marginal religions and cultures of the Americas to Main Street. The rise of the Ogun sect in the United States as a new movement, for example, parallels the Orisha phenomenon in the Ca rib be an region and interest in the Yoruba religion in general. The pop u lar Ifa divination system— common among the Yoruba, Fon Ewe (Dahomey), Ebo, Igbo, and other peoples of West Africa— is not only alive in Cuba, Brazil, and Trinidad,6 it is an academic and cultural pursuit both inside and outside the region. Reason, Scope, and Method Since the 1930s, scholars in different fi elds of the humanities have published important works providing a rich study of the Afro- Caribbean religious culture. So why another book? The modern interest in the Carib be an, the wealth of liter- ary works that Carib be an studies generate, the fact that in the last few de cades Afro- Caribbean culture has been and continues to be popu lar ized in fi lm, the media, pop music, and other areas of the arts, make this book as exciting as it can be valuable. I seek to complement the ethnographic studies of well-known researchers of the different religions.7 My interest in writing this monograph is both personal and academic. I am a child of the Carib be an seeking new ways to tell the story of my creole peoples and their religious cultures in the region. Born fi ve generations removed (over one hundred years) from my Nigerian Yoruba an- cestry, my umbilical chord was cut in Grenada where my great, great grandfather landed as an indentured worker in the late 1840s (Grandpa was born in 1884). My study of Ca rib be an history and politics at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, stimulated my interest in this fi eld. I made frequent visits to Haiti, Puerto Rico, and the eastern Carib be an states, and I studied, Introduction • 3 worked, and got married in Jamaica after college. Academic pursuits have given me a distaste for accepted popu lar portraits of African peoples’ cultures, one that encouraged me to echo another voice on Carib be an religions. This book also originated from a practical concern: providing a classroom- friendly book that introduces students to all the African- derived religions of the Ca rib be an under one cover. I have taught Ca rib be an religions since 1990 but, up to when I began research on this book in 2000, no one book treated all of the religions. Apart from Simpson’s Black Religions in the New World (1978), most books on this subject offer a study of aspects of one or a few Ca rib be an religions. For example, in 1980 Brian Gates edited Afro- Caribbean Religions, which offers only a few topical essays. Guyanese historian Dale Bisnauth’s A History of Religions in the Ca rib be an (1989) provides a survey of Hinduism, Islam, and Roman Catholic Christianity in the region, with only a cursory chapter on “Africanism” in the Carib be an. Many books (too numerous to men- tion here) focus on one religion8 and several recent monographs treat some Afro- Caribbean religions9 in ways I found invaluable to this study. My book is an extension of the vision of these works, with a trajectory treating all Afro- Caribbean religions under one cover. Historically, Afro- Caribbean religions were treated as backward pagan prac- tices on the margins of Carib be an society, more appropriate for study in African folk culture than in the history of religions. I contend, however, that African cultural and religious expressions among Ca rib be an peoples must be treated as a fi eld of study sui generis— after its unique kind, and with its own set of catego- ries. Ca rib be an studies runs amok if they assume, however tacitly, that these religions should not be studied on their own terms.10 As a religionsgeschichte (history of religions), my book is largely descriptive; it investigates African- based religions within their historical, social, cultural, and po litical settings. I hold the view that Afro- Caribbean religions developed from known African Traditional Religions (ATRs) to their present creole form, but I do not advocate the theory that the religions evolved from animism to their modern state.11 I am not com- mitted to a functional analysis of religion, as are trained social scientists. Where I parallel Melville Herskovits, Roger Bastide, George Simpson, Rene Rebeiro, and others, I do so to show how the cogwheels of the African religions meshed so that they could survive and fl ourish in a colonial Ca rib be an context. As an in- sider to the culture, I study Afro-Caribbean religions with empathy for our peoples’ myths, rituals, and traditions. At the same time, the focus and content of this book are not Afrocentric in methodology; I do not attempt to analyze the data through African lenses or with a predetermined African point of view. While this book is, of necessity, critical of the Eu ro pe an legacy in the Ca rib be an and its attempted destruction of African spirituality, the idea that African peoples and cultures are primary, superior, or more important than other ethnic groups in the study of religions and cultures does not orient my thinking. I also do not promise an exhaustive study that offers everything one wants know about Ca rib be an religions and cultures. The label “Afro-Caribbean” Introduction • 4 imposes ethnographic restrictions on the scope of the book, which is not de- fi ned exclusively by regional geography. The Carib be an Sea washes many shores not always regarded as part of the archipelago—for example, Brazil, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Panama, and Belize. Also, Carib be an history, economics, culture, and religion have been tied to countries on the mainland of South and Central America almost as strongly as the region is linked by soccer and cricket. Mainland Guyana and Suriname function as Carib be an islands12 but, because of linguistic and cultural ties to Europe, Martinique and Guadeloupe—located in the center of the island chain— have had more communication, commerce, and cultural exchange with France than with their Carib be an neighbors. Brazil, on the other hand, lies outside of the archipelago, but since the 1500s has had stronger economic, religious, and cultural ties to the rest of the Ca rib be an islands than the two French Islands.

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