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Crossing borders: The Afro-Cuban Santeria in Germany between transnational dynamics

Figure of Lorge Sanchez Martinez, Berlin
Foto: Lioba Rossbach de Olmos
Figure of Lorge Sanchez Martinez, Berlin

The Afro-Cuban Santería, a religion on the move, has arrived in Germany, where on the one hand Cubans keep their religious ties to Cuba, on the other hand their priests find a new, non-Cuban, increasingly heterogeneous clientele. Even among initiated Santería priests, one occasionally encounters previous experience of shamanism with a South American-Indigenous background, relations with the Venezuelan María Lionza cult or the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé. At the same time, in Cuba retraditional efforts are returning to Yoruba traditions. In Germany too, individual priests are seeking a new orientation in Africa. Our project helps to understand the complexity of these processes, their dynamics of transnationalization and retraditionalization, and whether and how these are compatible with the heterogeneity of the followers. Research was realized in Germany and Cuba, as well as in two countries where the Santería has received less scientific attention but is known to be present: Colombia and Venezuela. The observed dynamics showed confusing and non-uniform entanglements.

Project leaders: Prof. Dr. Ernst Halbmayer and Prof. Dr. Mark Münzel
Scientific assistants: Dr. Sol Montoya and Dr. Lioba Rossbach de Olmos
Student assistant:  -
Conception: Dr. Sol Montoya, Dr. Lioba Rossbach de Olmos, Prof. Dr. Ernst Halbmayer and Prof. Dr. Mark Münzel
Duration: 2010-2012
Financing: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)