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African diaspora religions are a number of related Pagan beliefs that developed in the
Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...
in various nations of the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, Latin America and the Southern United States. They derive from Pagan traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
.


Characteristics

Afro-American religions involve ancestor veneration and include a creator deity along with a pantheon of divine spirits such as the
Orisha Orishas (singular: orisha) are spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. T ...
, Loa, Vodun, Nkisi and Alusi, among others. In addition to the religious syncretism of these various African traditions, many also incorporate elements of Folk Catholicism including folk saints and other forms of Folk religion,
Native American religion Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the Native Americans in the United States. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual nations, tribes and bands. Early European ...
, Spiritism, Spiritualism,
Shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...
(sometimes including the use of Entheogens) and European folklore. Various "doctoring" spiritual traditions also exist such as Obeah and Hoodoo which focus on spiritual health. African religious traditions in the Americas can vary. They can have non-prominent African roots or can be almost wholly African in nature, such as religions like Trinidad Orisha.


African diaspora religions in the present

The nature and composition of the African diaspora have undergone significant changes over time: from the forced migration of African captives of the Old and New Worlds to the voluntary emigration of free, skilled Africans in search of political asylum or economic opportunities; from a diaspora with little contact with the point of origin (Africa) to one that maintains active contact with the mother continent; all culminating in the birth of a unique African who straddles continents, worlds and cultures.


Defining diasporas

There are several conceptual difficulties in defining the African diaspora—indeed, in defining the term ''diaspora''. Contemporary theorizations of the term ''diaspora'' tend to be preoccupied with problematizing the relationship between diaspora and nation and the dualities or multiplicities of diasporic identity or subjectivity; they are inclined to be condemnatory or celebratory of transnational mobility and hybridity. In many cases, the term ''diaspora'' is used in a fuzzy, ahistorical and uncritical manner in which all manner of movements and migrations between countries and even within countries are included and no adequate attention is paid to the historical conditions and experiences that produce diasporic communities and consciousness—how dispersed populations become self-conscious diaspora communities.


List of religions and spiritual traditions


Brazil

* *
Candomblé Candomblé () is an African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between several of the traditional religions of West Africa, especially that of the Yoruba, and the Roman ...
** Candomblé Bantu ** Candomblé Jejé **
Candomblé Ketu Candomblé Ketu (or Queto in Portuguese) is the largest and most influential branch (''nation'') of Candomblé, a religion practiced in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. The word Candomblé means "ritual dancing or gather in honor of gods" and Ketu ...
* * Macumba * Quimbanda * Santo Daime * Tambor de Mina * Umbanda *


Belize

Dugu Obeah


Colombia

* Colombian Yuyu * Lumbal


Cuba

* Abakuá * Arará religion *
Cuban Vodú Cuban Vodú is a religion indigenous to Cuba. It is a religion formed from the blending of Fon and Ewe beliefs and Dahomey religion which came to form Haitian Vodou. Loa are worshiped by the religion's practitioners. Cuban Vodú is noteworthy ...
* Palo *
Santería Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between the tradit ...


Curaçao

*
Montamentu Montamentu is an African Caribbean ecstatic religion found in Curaçao. Precursors or earlier forms may be seen in ancestor veneration in the 18th century and a 1788 court case in which religionists were condemned by the colonial court for practic ...


Dominican Republic

* Dominican Vudú


Grenada

* Big Drum Dance (Gwa Tambu)


Guatemala (Garifuna)

* Dugu


Guyana

* Comfa * Obeah


Haiti

*
Haitian Vodou Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism. There is ...


Honduras

* Dugu


Nicaragua

* Dugu


Jamaica

* Convince * Jamaican Maroon religion **
Kromanti dance Kromanti dance or Kromanti play (capitalised to Kromanti Dance or Kromanti Play) is a Jamaican Maroon religious ceremony practiced by Jamaican Maroons. It is rooted in traditional African music and religious practices, especially those of the Ak ...
* Kumina * Myal * Obeah *
Rastafari Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...
** Bobo Ashanti ** Nyabinghi **
Twelve Tribes of Israel The Twelve Tribes of Israel ( he, שִׁבְטֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל, translit=Šīḇṭēy Yīsrāʾēl, lit=Tribes of Israel) are, according to Hebrew scriptures, the descendants of the biblical patriarch Jacob, also known as Israel, throu ...


Puerto Rico

* Sansé Espiritismo


Saint Lucia

* Kélé


Suriname

* Winti


The Bahamas

* Obeah *
Haitian Vodou Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism. There is ...
*
Rastafari Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...


Trinidad and Tobago

* Spiritual Baptist * Trinidad Orisha * Obeah *
Rastafari Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...
*Vodonu/Rada (Dahomean Religion in Trinidad)


United States

* Hoodoo (Gullah Voodoo/Lowcountry Voodoo) * Louisiana Voodoo


Venezuela

* María Lionza * Venezuelan Yuyu


See also

*
Black theology Black theology, or black liberation theology, refers to a theological perspective which originated among African-American seminarians and scholars, and in some black churches in the United States and later in other parts of the world. It context ...
* Ring shout * Traditional African religions


References


External links


Roots and Rooted
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afro-American Religion