« Innovation », circulation, fragmentation

• Main Author: Emma Gobin
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative 2007-07-01
• Series: Ateliers d'Anthropologie
• Subjects: conflict; Cuba; religion; transnationalization; tradition
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/411

Analysing a conflict caused by a ritual innovation in Havana now dividing practitioners of Ifá religion, this article argues that the expansion of Cuban religions of Yoruba origins as well as of the African religions which they originated from, is now a key concept in our understanding of ritual practices and discurses at the meso level. Indeed, the strategies of legitimization and delegitimization in stake in that conflict can only be understood if we consider their resonnance in a global context. Moreover, these conflicts are the result of a complex relationship between practitioners and “tradition” also caused by the establishment of religious networks between Cubans and foreigners. Within the last years, these changes have had a tremendous impact on the Afro-Cuban religious field especially in its constant tendency of fragmention.