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38 | 2013
Pratiques religieuses (afro-)cubaines

Logiques rituelles, logiques sociales
(Afro-)Cuban Religious Practices: Ritual Dynamics, Social Dynamics
Edited by Emma Gobin and Géraldine Morel

Between the Revolution of 1959 and the beginning of the ‘Special Period in Peacetime’—the period of national crisis that followed the demise of the USSR—empirical studies in and on Cuba were predominantly conducted by Cuban researchers. The ideological and socioeconomic reorientations adopted during the Special Period significantly changed this situation, allowing foreign researchers to undertake fieldwork on the island, particularly on the subject of so-called “Afro-Cuban” religions. Indeed, these protean socio-religious phenomena have recently emerged as a major research topic, as they play a key-role in the organisation of the everyday life and worldviews of their many followers and have singular visibility in contemporary Cuba.

Based on recent, detailed ethnographies, this collection of articles illustrates the diversity of this religious world and the dynamism of the studies it is currently inspiring. In particular, the collection aims to contribute to a better anthropological understanding of the ritual and social logic underpinning (Afro‑)Cuban religious practices. In doing so, it highlights how they generate complex processes of personal and collective identity construction and negotiation, which develop both in the fringe and at the heart of the major issues Cuban society faces today.

Contributors: Ana Stela de Almeida Cunha, Diana Espirito Santo, Emma Gobin, Katerina Kerestetzi, Alain Konen, Géraldine Morel

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