Afro-Caribbean Religions

1. Afro-Caribbean Religions A lecture presented by Dr. Rosalyn Howard University of Central Florida, Associate Professor of Anthropology Teacher Workshop Melbourne, Florida April 24, 2010

2. Theories of Religion • Intellectual • Humans want explanations for the world around them. • Religious beliefs provide explanations for puzzling things and events. • Psychological • Religion helps people cope with times of difficulty. • The emotional or affective satisfactions that people derive from religion. • Sociological • Religion has a useful effect on human societies. • Instills common values, creates solidarity, controls behavior

4. Diaspora: A Definition • Diaspora – a Greek word meaning “scattering” or “dispersion” that was applied to Jews forced to leave Israel. • Diaspora now refers to populations who as a result of wars, persecution, colonization, slavery, and similar events are forced or induced to migrate from their homelands.

5. The African Diaspora • Most Africans came from West coast from Senegambia region to Angola • 50 Million Africans: 10-20 survived the “Middle Passage” • 45% Brazil • 40% Caribbean • 10% Spanish Mainland Colonies • 5% North America

6. African Religions • Indigenous • Vodun • Yorùbá • Animism (spirit, nature) • Islam • Christianity • Protestantism • Catholicism

7. African Indigenous Religious Beliefs • 1. There is one God who created and controls the universe and all that is contained therein; • 2. There are selected forces of nature which deal with the affairs of mankind on Earth and govern the universe in general; • 3. The spirit of man lives on after death and can reincarnate back into the world of men; • 4. Ancestral spirits have power over those who remain on Earth, and must be remembered, appeased, honored, and consulted by the living;

8. Colonialism & Religion in the Americas • Spanish • Catholic • French • Catholic • British • Protestant

9. Cosmological Similarities and Differences • Catholicism • God • Intermediaries (Saints) • Humans • Yorùbá & Some Indigenous Religions • God • Intermediaries (Orishas) • Humans • Protestant • God • Humans

10. Afro-Caribbean Religions • How Did They Form? • Syncretism • Transfigurativism (John Mason)

11. Afro Caribbean Religion: 6 Categories • 1. Neo-African • Vodou (Haiti), Santeria, Lucumi(Cuba, P.R., D.R.), Candomble & Macumba (Brazil); Shango (T & T) Regla De Ocha (Cuba, P.R.) • 2. Afro Christianity • Orisha (T & T, Grenada), Kumina & Convince (Jamaica) • 3. Revivalist • Charismatic Protestant incl. Pentecostals, Baptists, 7th Day Adventists, Shouter & Spiritual Baptists (T & T), St. Vincent, Grenada, Guyana, Venezuela), Cohortes & Holiness movements (Haiti)

12. Afro Caribbean Religion: 6 Categories • 4. Divination • Myalism (Jamaica); Espiritismo(P.R.); various Spiritistsects • 5. Religio-Political Movements • Rastafarian and Dread; Nation of Islam • 6. Hindu • Imported from Asia; (T & T, Guyana, Suriname) • Not mutually exclusive • Intrinsic part of the cultures they serve

13. Shango: T & T

14. Shango

15. Shango: Cuba

16. YemojaYemaja

17. Oshun

18. IyawoOshun

19. Zora Neale Hurston: Eatonville, FL • Tell My Horse: Part 1, Jamaica • PocomaniaCult: • Neo-African (Syncretic) Religion • Ethnocentric Terminology: • “Barbaric” “Primitive”

20. Florida • Many Caribbean Immigrants • Practicing many Afro Caribbean Religions • Santeria • Lucumi • Vodun • Spiritual Baptists • And practicing African Religions • Especially Yorùbá