CORROBORATION AND CONTENTION IN ‘CONGO’ CONSECRATIONS: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF CUBAN REGLAS CONGAS By LONN S. MONROE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2007 1 © 2007 Lonn S. Monroe 2 To my family and friends living and dead. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my mentors, Dr. Kesha Fikes, Dr. Guérin Montilus, Dr. Robin Poynor, Dr. Michael Heckenberger, and Dr. Manuel Vasquéz. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................8 LIST OF RELIGIOUS TERMS IMPORTANT IN REGLAS CONGAS AND AFROCUBAN RELIGIONS....................................................................................................9 ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................12 CHAPTER 1 ‘CONGO’-‘MADE IN CUBA’: THE CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS PRACTICES OF CUBAN REGLAS CONGAS ..........................................................................................13 Positioning Reglas Congas in Literature, Method, and Theory..............................................13 The Literature and Anthropology on Congo-derived Religion ..............................................16 The Politics of Diaspora: Race, Religion, and Representation in Cuban Reglas Congas ......26 Methods and Ethnographic Perspectives in Researching Reglas Congas ..............................32 2 THE HISTORICAL GENEALOGY OF REGLAS CONGAS: CUBAN DIALOGUES AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF AFRICAN RELIGION .................................................37 Narrating ‘Afro’ and ‘Congo’ Ethnicity in 20th Century Cuban History ...............................37 Chapter Synopsis-What is this Chapter and What is it Doing? ..............................................39 What Every Good Scholar Should Know About Reglas Congas: Spanish Catholicism and Nationalizing African Cuban Religious Practices........................................................43 The Formulation of Reglas Congas and AfroCuban Religiosity............................................46 The Cuban Nation, Ortiz and AfroCuban Religiosity ............................................................47 20th Century Accounts of Reglas Congas in AfroCuban Religion: The Historical Description of ‘Practices’ in the Examination of African Religion....................................50 The Contemporary Description of African Religions through the Analysis of the ‘Practitioner’ .......................................................................................................................53 Considering Methods in Contemporary and Historical Approaches of Signifying of African and African-Identified Religion: Historicizing the Methodological Shift from ‘Practices’ to ‘Practitioner’ .................................................................................................55 The Historical Production of AfroCuban ...............................................................................57 3 PALO MONTE PRACTITIONERS: RELIGIOUS RITUALS, BELIEFS, AND IDENTITIES IN CUBA .........................................................................................................60 Inquiries of ‘Congo’-Identified Religion in Cuba ..................................................................60 The Production of Munanso in Cuban Reglas Congas...........................................................64 Ritualized Perspectives of Congo-Identified Practice and Belief: The Cuban Nganga .........71 Describing Los Nfumbi, Nzambi, and Los Mpungos.............................................................73 5 ‘Congo’ Craftwork in Cuba....................................................................................................79 Munanso NsasiMusundi (La Habana April 14th 2004) ..................................................81 Munanso NsasiNdembo (El Oriente/Province, May 15th 2002).....................................83 Ritual Language and Ritualizing Language ....................................................................85 The Firmas of Palo Practices...........................................................................................89 Possession in Palo Practices ............................................................................................91 A Hot Summer Day in El Oriente (June 6 2002) ............................................................92 Claiming ‘Congo’ Identity in African-Derived Cuban Religions ..........................................96 4 THE NGANGA OF REGLAS CONGAS: AN ANALYSIS OF AESTHETICS AND MEANING IN CONGO-IDENTIFIED CUBAN NECROMANCY...................................111 Positioning Distinctions and Derivation in the Cuban Nganga............................................111 Evoking Congo in the Cuban Nganga ..................................................................................114 Nganga as Cuban Culture Congo Style: Deriving Beliefs in Cultures of the Cuban Nganga ..............................................................................................................................124 Potentials and Symbols in Rituals Processes of the Nganga ................................................128 The Cuban Nganga: Considering Consequences of Creation and Critique..........................132 5 BETWEEN THE TANGIBLE AND LOS TRATADOS CONGOS: THE MATERIALITY OF NFUMBI IN THE CUBAN NGANGA.............................................140 The Tangibility of Mystery: The Living Nganga .................................................................140 Collecting and Disbursing Power: The Corporeal Life of the Nganga ................................142 Seclusion, Secrets, and Subtlety: Performing Mystery in the Rituals of the Nganga ..........145 Communal Participation, Privilege, and Power of the Nganga............................................148 Concluding the Dynamics of Nganga: Making a Mystery ...................................................150 6 ACTORS, INTERMEDIARIES, AND THE PRODUCTION OF REGLAS CONGAS.....153 Considering Context, Collusion, and Craftsmanship of Cuban Congo................................153 Ngangulero’s Administration ...............................................................................................156 The Ortizian Legacies: 20th Century Authors on AfroCuban Religiosity ............................161 Historical Contingencies and AfroCuban Identity ...............................................................167 Public Displays and Contemporary Publications: Folklore, Facsimile, and Facilitation .....173 Compiling Congo: Coercion and Continuity in Cuban Religiosity......................................180 7 ‘CONGO’ CULTURE AS DIASPORA: DEFINING CONTEXT IN CONTEMPORARY AND PAST REPRESENTATIONS OF CONGO IDENTITY IN CUBA ...................................................................................................................................185 Dissecting the Meanings in the Cultural Analysis of ‘Diaspora’ .........................................185 Congo Identity in Cuban Religious Consciousness..............................................................190 Reading Representation, Replication, and Reception of ‘Congo’ in African Diasporic Representations of Cuba ...................................................................................................198 6 8 UNCOVERING THE ‘CONGO’ LEGACIES: RACE, RELIGION AND REPRESENTATION IN CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES OF REGLAS CONGAS .....204 Conquests and the Colony: Colonial Conceptions of Race in Construction of Religion .....204 Defining National Order: Race, Religion, and Representation of Cuban Progeny ..............209 AfroCuban Realities: ‘Congo’ Hybridities in National Legacies, Religious Identity, and the African Diaspora of Cuba ...........................................................................................215 9 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................222 LIST OF REFERENCES.............................................................................................................227 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................267 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 3-1 An nganga from 1998 ......................................................................................................102 3-2 An nganga from 1999. .....................................................................................................103 3-3 An nganga from 2000. .....................................................................................................104 3-4 An nganga 2002 ...............................................................................................................105 3-5 Offerings to the nganga 2000...........................................................................................106 3-6 Chamalongos, candle (muinda), and symbol of Nzambi Mpungo in front of the nganga 2000.....................................................................................................................107 3-7 Feeding the nganga with tobacoo (nsunga) 2000 ............................................................108