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LA SANTERIA, A WAY OF LOOKING AT REALITY

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Date Issued:
1981
Summary:
Faced with a highly industrial society, traditional Cubans, who began to leave the island for political reasons since 1959, have experienced repeated social strains under rapid social changes: strains at the levels of economics, the family, social relationships and a system of meaning. Cubans have resisted the pressures of assimilation from a larger, dominant, group by integrating into American society while re-enacting their traditional worldview. This integration has established their diversity, their capacity to select traits that confrom to, and do not clash with, pre-existent traits, and their need for supportive, 'liminal,' mechanisms of a 'relational' quality which C&~ aid them move through life crises. LA Santeria, the worship of African gods as catholic saints, is one of the adaptive mechanisms used by Cubans in their process of transculturation. This syncretism of La Santeria provides a mythological worldview that integrates meaning in the midst of social stress through ritual activity.
Title: LA SANTERIA, A WAY OF LOOKING AT REALITY.
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Name(s): SOSA, JUAN JORGE.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Early, John D., Thesis advisor
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of Anthropology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1981
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 140 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Faced with a highly industrial society, traditional Cubans, who began to leave the island for political reasons since 1959, have experienced repeated social strains under rapid social changes: strains at the levels of economics, the family, social relationships and a system of meaning. Cubans have resisted the pressures of assimilation from a larger, dominant, group by integrating into American society while re-enacting their traditional worldview. This integration has established their diversity, their capacity to select traits that confrom to, and do not clash with, pre-existent traits, and their need for supportive, 'liminal,' mechanisms of a 'relational' quality which C&~ aid them move through life crises. LA Santeria, the worship of African gods as catholic saints, is one of the adaptive mechanisms used by Cubans in their process of transculturation. This syncretism of La Santeria provides a mythological worldview that integrates meaning in the midst of social stress through ritual activity.
Identifier: 14083 (digitool), FADT14083 (IID), fau:10898 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1981.
Subject(s): Santeria
Cubans--Florida--Religion
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14083
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.