This book takes readers along one path of what this transatlantic tradition of Yoruba religion has come to be---the
path from Africa to Cuba to New York City. Other paths could have been, and ultimately must be, chosen and researched
by scholars in the future. So this book talks about one line, one path among the many, and its focus is mainly
on the structures and rhythms of Santeria's history and on problems of collective memory and syncretism.
Table of Contents
I Introduction
The Processual Framework
Phases of Religious Development
Continuity and Change
II Africa
The Old Religion
Three Brothers Quarrel, and Their Homes Are Invaded by Strangers
III Cuba: Pre-Santeria and Early Santeria (1492-1870)
The Conquest Culture
The Catholic Religion
The Sugar Boom and Expansion of Slavery
Lucumi Ethnicity
Syncretism of African and European Religions
Transformation of the Old Religion
IV Cuba: Santeria (1870-1959)
An Economic Transition
The Suppression of the Cabildos
Espiritismo
Afro-Cubanism
The Ambivalence of Repression and Resistance
Cuban Postscript
V Santeria in the United States (1959-1982)
Spirits in Exile
New Forms in New York
VI Continuity and Change
Problems of Collective Memory
Problems of Syncretism
