Tracing the Amerindian Influence on the Caribbean Diaspora’s Beliefs and Practices: A Study of the African and Indigenous Caribbean Religious Encounter and its Indelible Signs

Authors

Alejandro Casas Reyes, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

Religious Studies

First Advisor's Name

Albert Kafui Wuaku

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Whitney Bauman

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Ana Maria Bidegain

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

Caribbean Amerindians, Palo Monte, Habitus, decolonial options, historical trope of Caribbean indigenous extinction, syncretism, cultural survival, Afro-Caribbean Diaspora, palenques, marronage

Date of Defense

3-25-2021

Abstract

It has been five hundred and twenty eight years since the Spanish colonial presence that occasioned the annihilation of the Amerindians of the Caribbean and portions of Latin America started. Yet, the Amerindian influence is still felt all over the Caribbean and Latin America. Identifying what these influences are and where they are found, however, are questions that have not been fully answered. Passing references have been made in many works to these influences, but there is no comprehensive study on the subject; especially in the Caribbean. In that the scant literature available on the subject matter offers very little insight into the significance of the Amerindian influence on Afro-Caribbean religions, there is an urgent need for a sincere and more comprehensive inquiry into this issue. Following this line of thinking, the focus of this project is on the Taino and Carib religions and the signs of its influence on the Afro-Caribbean Religion of Palo Monte.

Identifier

FIDC009691

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7301-2529

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Casas Reyes, Alejandro, "Tracing the Amerindian Influence on the Caribbean Diaspora’s Beliefs and Practices: A Study of the African and Indigenous Caribbean Religious Encounter and its Indelible Signs" (2021). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4640.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4640