Crucial Issues in Caribbean Religions concentrates on the effects of intersections in the Caribbean of major world religions such as Christianity (both Catholicism and Protestantism), Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism, with indigenous religions such as Caribs and Arawaks, and African-derived religions such as Lucumi (Yoruba/Santeria/Regla de Ocha), Regla de Palo, Vodun, Obeah, Rastafari, Orisa, or Shango in Trinidad. Closely examined are the social and economic problems and issues of exile, slavery, oppression, racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, cultural dominance, religious diversity, syncretism, popular religiosity, religious and spiritual imperialism, continuity and change, survival techniques in the face of attempts at eradication by religious powers, interreligious dialogue, and the quest for universal spirituality.

Nation Dance Religion, Identity, and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean Edited by Patrick Taylor Addresses the interplay of diverse spiritual, religious, and cultural traditions across the Caribbean. Dealing with the ongoing interaction of rich and diverse cultural traditions from Cuba and Jamaica to Guyana and Surinam, Nation Dance addresses some of the major contemporary issues in the study of Caribbean religion and identity. The book's three sections move from a focus on spirituality and healing, to theology in social and political context, and on to questions of identity and diaspora. The book begins with the voices of female practitioners and then offers a broad, interdisciplinary examination of Caribbean religion and culture. Afro-Caribbean religions, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are all addressed, with specific reflections on SanterÃa, Palo Monte, Vodou, Winti, Obeah, Kali Mai, Orisha work, Spiritual Baptist faith, Spiritualism, Rastafari, Confucianism, Congregationalism, Pentecostalism, Catholicism, and liberation theology. Some essays are based on fieldwork, archival research, and textual or linguistic analysis, while others are concerned with methodological or theoretical issues. Contributors include practitioners and scholars, some very established in the field, others with fresh, new approaches; all of them come from the region or have done extensive fieldwork or research there. In these essays the poetic vitality of the practitioner's voice meets the attentive commitment of the postcolonial scholar in a dance of "nations" across the waters. Patrick Taylor, Associate Professor in the Division of Humanities and in the Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought at York University, Toronto, is past Deputy Director of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean and Editor-in-Chief of the Caribbean Religions Project. He is author of The Narrative of Liberation: Perspectives on Afro-Caribbean Literature, Popular Culture and Politics and co-editor of Forging Identities and Patterns of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean. His articles have appeared in Callaloo, Studies in Religion, and other scholarly journals and books. May 2001 224 pages, 1 b&w photo, 1 map, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, bibl., index cloth 0-253-33835-2 $39.95 L / £30.50 paper 0-253-21431-9 $18.95 s / £14.50 books. Contents Acknowledgments Dancing the Nation: An Introduction,Patrick Taylor I. Spirituality, Healing and the Divine Across the Waters: Practitioners Speak, Eva Fernandez, Yvonne B. Drakes, and Deloris Seiveright How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land? Constructing the Divine in Caribbean Contexts, Althea Prince Communicating with our Gods: The Language of Winti, Petronella Breinburg The Intersemiotics of Obeah and Kali Mai in Guyana, Frederick Ivor Case Religions of African Origin in Cuba: A Gender Perspective, MarÃa Margarita Castro Flores II. Theology, Society and Politics Sheba's Song: The Bible, the Kebra Nagast and the Rastafari, Patrick Taylor Themes from West Indian Church History in Colonial and Post-Colonial Times, Arthur C. Dayfoot Congregationalism and Afro-Guyanese Autonomy, Juanita de Barros Eden after Eve: Christian Fundamentalism and Women in Barbados, Judith Soares Current Evolution of Relations between Religion and Politics in Haiti, Laënnec Hurbon III. Religion, Identity, and Diaspora Jamaican Diasporic Identity: The Metaphor of Yaad, Barry Chevannes Identity, Personhood and Religion in Caribbean Context, Abrahim H. Khan SanfancÃ3n: Orientalism, Self-Orientalization, and "Chinese Religion" in Cuba, Frank F. Scherer The Diasporic Mo(ve)ment: Indentureship and Indo-Caribbean Identity, Sean Lokaisingh-Meighoo Caribbean Religions: A Selected Bibliography

Caribbean Diaspora in the USA presents a new cultural theory based on an exploration of Caribbean religious communities in New York City. The Caribbean culture of New York demonstrates a cultural dynamism which embraces Spanish speaking, English speaking and French speaking migrants. All cultures are full of breaks and contradictions as Latin American and Caribbean theorists have demonstrated in their ongoing debate. This book combines unique research by the author in Caribbean New York with the theoretical discourse of Latin American and Caribbean scholars. Focusing on Caribbean religious communities, including Cuban/Puerto Rican Santería (Regla de Ocha), Haitian Vodou, Shango (Orisha Baptist) from Trinidad and Tobago, and Brazilian Pentecostal church, Schmidt's observations lead to the construction of a cultural concept that illustrates a culture in an ongoing state of change, with more than one form of expression depending on situation, time and context. Showing the creativity of religions and the way immigrants adapt to their new surroundings, this book fills a gap between Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

This book offers an overview of the material expressions of Caribbean religious expressions, including those that have been imported through the vehicle of colonialism, and which subsequently changed and adapted within the Caribbean Islands and those religious expressions which developed through the contact of African, indigenous and imported world views. This book takes a multi-disciplinary perspective, drawing from subjects as diverse as archaeology, religious studies, history, human geography and anthropology. It introduces current topical debates around the role of colonialism and religion in the Caribbean, and also considers theoretical approaches to the study of Caribbean religions set within a wider global context. This approach introduces the reader to a number of important and topical concepts around the wider study of Caribbean religions, and illuminates the complex cultural history and interplay of these religions in the Caribbean Islands. Richly illustrated and drawing upon a range of different cultural approaches, it offers new and challenging perspectives on the development and cultural history of Caribbean spiritual and religious expression through the lens of the material world. The book is for anyone interested in the Caribbean as a region and the role of religious behaviour in human society. Students of religions, archaeology and anthropology will find a number of thought-provoking and important case studies which relate complex theories to real-world case studies. Any profits from this book will be donated to UNICEF Eastern Caribbean projects supporting vulnerable children in the region (https://www.unicef.org/easterncaribbean/).

The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions is the definitive reference for Caribbean religious phenomena from a Caribbean perspective. Generously illustrated, this landmark project combines the breadth of a comparative approach to religion with the depth of understanding of Caribbean spirituality as an ever-changing and varied historical phenomenon. Organized alphabetically, entries examine how Caribbean religious experiences have been shaped by and have responded to the processes of colonialism and the challenges of the postcolonial world. Systematically organized by theme and area, the encyclopedia considers religious traditions such as Vodou, Rastafari, Sunni Islam, Sanatan Dharma, Judaism, and the Roman Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist churches. Detailed subentries present topics such as religious rituals, beliefs, practices, specific historical developments, geographical differences, and gender roles within major traditions. Also included are entries that address the religious dimensions of geographical territories that make up the Caribbean. Representing the culmination of more than a decade of work by the associates of the Caribbean Religions Project, The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions will foster a greater understanding of the role of religion in Caribbean life and society, in the Caribbean diaspora, and in wider national and transnational spaces.

This is an essential book for all who are interested in the history of religions.

A comprehensive introduction to the syncretic religions developed in the Caribbean region Creolization—the coming together of diverse beliefs and practices to form new beliefs and practices—is one of the most significant phenomena in Caribbean religious history. Brought together in the crucible of the sugar plantation, Caribbean peoples drew on the variants of Christianity brought by European colonizers, as well as on African religious and healing traditions and the remnants of Amerindian practices, to fashion new systems of belief. Creole Religions of the Caribbean offers a comprehensive introduction to the syncretic religions that have developed in the region. From Vodou, Santería, Regla de Palo, the Abakuá Secret Society, and Obeah to Quimbois and Espiritismo, the volume traces the historical–cultural origins of the major Creole religions, as well as the newer traditions such as Pocomania and Rastafarianism. This second edition updates the scholarship on the religions themselves and also expands the regional considerations of the Diaspora to the U. S. Latino community who are influenced by Creole spiritual practices. Fernández Olmos and Paravisini–Gebert also take into account the increased significance of material culture—art, music, literature—and healing practices influenced by Creole religions.