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

 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

 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.

 Most Africans came from West coast from Senegambia region to Angola  50 Million Africans: survived the “Middle Passage”  45% Brazil  40% Caribbean  10% Spanish Mainland Colonies  5% North America

 Indigenous ◦ Vodun ◦ Yorùbá ◦ Animism (spirit, nature)  Islam  Christianity ◦ Protestantism ◦ Catholicism

 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;

 Spanish ◦ Catholic  French ◦ Catholic  British ◦ Protestant

 Catholicism ◦ God ◦ Intermediaries (Saints) ◦ Humans  Yorùbá & Some Indigenous Religions ◦ God ◦ Intermediaries (Orishas) ◦ Humans  Protestant ◦ God ◦ Humans

 How Did They Form?  Syncretism  Transfigurativism (John Mason)

 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, 7 th Day Adventists, Shouter & Spiritual Baptists (T & T), St. Vincent, Grenada, Guyana, Venezuela), Cohortes & Holiness movements (Haiti)

 4. Divination ◦ Myalism (Jamaica); Espiritismo (P.R.); various Spiritist sects  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

 Tell My Horse: Part 1, Jamaica  Pocomania Cult: ◦ Neo-African (Syncretic) Religion  Ethnocentric Terminology: ◦ “Barbaric” “Primitive”

 Many Caribbean Immigrants  Practicing many Afro Caribbean Religions  Santeria  Lucumi  Vodun  Spiritual Baptists  And practicing African Religions  Especially Yorùbá