International Journal for the Study of New Religions 1.1 (2010) 139–141 ISSN 2041-9511 (print) ISSN 2041-952X (online) doi:10.1558/ijsnr.v1i1.139

Book Reviews

Caribbean Diaspora in the USA: Diversity of Religions in New York City, by Bettina Schmidt. Ashgate 2008, 208 pages, 17 b&w illustrations, Hb. ₤50/$89.95, ISBN-13: 9780754663652.

Reviewed by Carole M. Cusack, University of Sydney, carole.cusack@sydney. edu.au Keywords: Santeria, Vodun This book is an updated version of Bettina Schmidt’s research which was originally published in German as Karibische Diaspora in New York City: Vom Wilden Denken zur Polyphonen Kultur (2002). While religion is definitely the focus, a range of issues including the nature of culture, identity and language, the experience of diaspora, and the fluidity of cultural categories are inves- tigated. One of the book’s great strengths is its refusal to confine the subject matter to neat categories; simply considering what is “Caribbean” forces an acknowledgement that there were English Spanish, French and Dutch colo- nial presences in the region, that the geographical designation refers to more than seven thousand islands and the surrounding coasts, and the contribu- tion of African culture is vitally important. In the America context, the term “Caribbean” becomes enmeshed with “Hispanic” and “Latino,” and the com- munity shares much with South and Central American migrants generally. Most of Schmidt’s fieldwork was done in the borough of Brooklyn, a vibrant centre for immigrants of all nations, though a small amount of fieldwork was conducted in Manhattan. She focuses in the “urban area as a living space for migrants” and “the process of change” (10). The book is punctuated by “pictures” of Caribbean culture in motion in the public spaces of New York city. These include street carnivals, such as the West Indian American Day Carnival in Brooklyn that takes place on Labor Day, and in 1999 had more than 3.5 million spectators. Schmidt details the component parts of the Carnival (beauty queens, music, food stalls, live bands on trucks or recorded music, elaborate costumes, children’s parade and competitions), and, in interpreting the tendency for order to col- lapse into chaos, Schmidt opposes earlier interpretations of the Carnival (for

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2010, 1 Chelsea Manor Studios, Flood Street, London SW3 5SR 140 International Journal for the Study of New Religions example, van Capelleveen) as anarchic and rebellious. Rather, she contends, there is a positive and joyful chaos, and the Carnival is an integrative event for all the different Caribbean ethnic groups (Jamaicans, Haitians, Grenadans, Trinidadians and so on). There are some fascinating political issues touched up; Jesse Jackson’s 1984 participation in the Carnival which resulted in political criticism, the desire of the Trinidad and Tobago community (de- spite its small size) to always lead the parade, and the participation of New York Mayor Ed Koch in 1985, which was subtly handled and resulted in his re-election through the support of the Caribbean community. Other public spaces where Caribbean culture and religion are displayed include art galleries and museums. The 1998 exhibition, “Sacred Arts of Hai- tian Vodou” at the American Museum of Natural History included paintings of Haiti, altar assemblages and Vodou flags, a room concerning the presenta- tion of the spirits, entered through a tunnel of mirrors, and a reconstructed temple from Port-au-Prince with a film of a Vodou ceremony projected on the walls. The Haitian community were involved, in that a priestess performed a blessing for well-being at the opening ceremony, and Mama Lola, the Vodou priestess made famous by the research of the anthropologist Karen McCarthy Brown, appeared with Brown for a public lecture. Schmidt notes how the dynamics of the event shifted; Brown is an academic and was the speaker, but she referred to Mama Lola as her teacher and almost all the questions from the audience were for Mama Lola, who had joined Brown on the stage, and “[a]t the end some of the Haitians in the audience thanked Mama Lola for her contribution to the establishment of Vodou as an important religion. The evening ended as an event with Mama Lola” (25) Many of the “pictures” supplied by Bettina Schmidt are disarming in their ordinariness, but they all illustrate forcefully the living nature of Caribbean religion in New York. Chapter Three considers religion explicitly, including both indigenized traditions like Vodou and Santeria, and the new heterodox Christian-influ- enced movements that are not necessarily accepted as “Christian” by official churches. In this category are churches such as the Latino Igreja Universal and the Yoruba-Orisha Baptist Church, a descendent of nineteenth century Shouter Baptist churches in Trinidad and Tobago. The Yoruba-Orisha church in Brooklyn is run by a minister, and “a Queen Mother, an elderly and highly respected woman who is not related to him,” and “eight senior mothers” (48). They regard themselves as Protestants but use syncretic elements in worship and iconography. The Societe la Belle Venus II is a Vodou temple presided over by a Haitian priestess, which is located in the cellar of her house. The walls have images of Catholic saints and there is a pole with three drums at

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2010 Book Reviews 141 the centre of the room, and the community consulted regularly with the mambo (priestess) and communicated with the spirits (lwa). When Schmidt did her fieldwork, there were only twenty-five members of the temple, but Marie the priestess was often consulted by outsiders. The final religious group considered is Cuban Santeria, in which humans communicate with orichas (Yoruba deities). Each members of the Santeria community, santero or santera, is connected to the ritual house of his or her padrino or madrina “(godfather or godmother), the person in charge of the initiation” (79). The first three chapters build up a “thick description” (see Geertz) of the Caribbean religions, and from Chapter Four Schmidt considers a range of theoretical positions through which the material might be interpreted. His- torically, these theories include mestizaje (miscegenation), cultural heteroge- neity and hybridity, and pastiche. The effects of new media are considered, and the argument concludes in favour of that cultural theory which permits the greatest complexity and dynamism. Schmidt endorses Claude Levi-Strauss’ concept of bricolage, arguing that “when we start looking at these religious compositions as religious bricolage, the viewpoint changes from a static prod- uct to the actors whose own interpretation of culture is visible in the religion” (155). For her, religious bricolage is an open and dynamic mixture, involving members of the community as creative actors. There is interplay between action and reaction, and dependence on context and situation. Finally it addresses all senses, being affective in orientation (159). The book concludes by asking whether Europe, usually characterized as monologist and scorn- ful of the hybrid Caribbean, has itself been transformed by migration and religious and cultural change into a similar polyphonic bricolage. Schmidt’s book is a very astute and accessible study of an important subject, and will be welcomed by students of religion, globalization, media studies and mul- ticulturalism.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2010