Afro-Latin American religious expressions and representations : Stockholm Review of Latin American Studies No. 4, March 2009

• The creation and re-creation of Afro-Latin American religious movements and traditions all over the Americas is an ever-changing process. Although popular, intellectual, and judicial actors have defined Afro-Latin American religions as magic, sorcery, or merely folklore, today they are becoming increasingly respected, visible, interrelated, and recognized as national culture. Attempting to discern symbolic meanings of cultural and religious manifestations in Afro-Latin American religious communities – be they in the form of saintly images, speech patterns or narrative – scholars, increasingly seconded by practitioners, have described the ongoing processes of creation and re-creation as acculturation, transculturation, métissage or syncretism and more recently as creolization, hybridization or dialogue. In that sense, a common denominator for a large share of studies of Afro-Latin American religions is that they deal with various aspects of representations. Representing is part of everyday life as people collectively name and define the world and therefore, representations influence the dissemination of knowledge, construction of social identities as well as social transformations. Furthermore, besides their West and Central African antecedents, Afro-Latin American religions share aspects as the colonial past, the multicultural origins, Christian mission and campaigning, as well as movements such as negritude, noirisme, Black Power and transnational youth culture that together have created conflicting expressions and representations of, and within, Afro-Latin American religious communities in Diaspora settings. Such representations, of course, induce responses within Afro-Latin American religious communities. Within these communities – sometimes influenced by scholars and at fora such as international conferences – there are contestations of representations of an African or Afro-American heritage and ongoing debates about the alleged purity of religious practices. The aim of this volume is to explore how Afro-Latin American religions and some of their shared basic features, such as communication with spiritual beings, identities and the use of magic, are represented, self-represented and understood in their various socio-cultural contexts.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Religious Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Internationell migration och etniska relationer (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- International Migration and Ethnic Relations (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialantropologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Anthropology (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Kulturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Cultural Studies (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Afro-Latin American religions

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)