Beyond being just a part of a somewhat interesting local fable, the story of the growth and development of an African American òrìs̱à devotees in Philadelphia is an Yorùbáland via Cuba. Its adoption by African American devotees is thus a peculiarity that deserves some scholarly attention. Since òrìs̱à tradition is relatively new to African Americans in the United States, having experienced its entrenchment only within the last fifty years or so, its existence among them raises questions: No immediately identifiable whole African or African based spiritual systems have survived in North America with perhaps the exception perhaps of New Orleans Voodoo. Does the youth of the African American òrìs̱à experience make it inauthentic? Invalid? Most African Americans in the United States cannot precisely trace their ancestry directly to the Yorùbá through conventional genealogical means. Is their embrace of Yorùbá tradition misguided? Most Philadelphia community members have no recent or memorable African ancestry, yet many of them refer to themselves as "Africans." Are they simply mistaken? The version of òrìs̱à tradition that most Philadelphia devotees practice has found its way to mainland U.S.A. via Cuba, but many practitioners refer to the tradition as one that is "African" and one that is "theirs." What could they possibly mean by this? The existence of the Philadelphia community and others like it raises questions about the concept of Africanity: Just what exactly is it? And why, in 2007, hundreds years after the last African was forcibly brought to U.S. shores, are African Americans still seeking and finding psychological and spiritual significance in Africa and is that Africa "real" or "imagined?" How is it that African and African based religions that have not been observed in any cohesive context by most African Americans for generations still hold significance and evoke familiarity for people who have long been disconnected from Africa? Questions about the nature and evolution of African traditions in the New World also emerge. What happens to locally and ethnically specific traditions when they are applied in contexts that are contrastingly ethnically heterogeneous? What happens to the form and function of these practices, and how is it that they remain thematically similar to their progenitors despite their obvious differences? My research in the Philadelphia community has brought me to the conclusion that African American practitioners of òrìs̱à tradition in Philadelphia, though late to the process of adapting òrìs̱à tradition to themselves, have no less of a valid claim on Lucumí or Yorùbá tradition as their own than their predecessors throughout the diaspora because of their historical position, and their spiritual and social reasons and needs. The historical disposition of African American òrìs̱à devotees along with the spiritual and social reasons and needs responded to by òrìs̱à tradition are in turn supported by group and individual reckonings of identity, historically relevant entitlement, ancestry and descent, and their concepts and interpretations of Africa and African beliefs. In this dissertation I assert several points regarding òrìs̱à tradition in Philadelphia and its adherents. Moving from the widest geographical vantage point to the most local, I first propose that African religions both in Africa and in the diaspora make up one organism. Ideological, ritual, aesthetic and functional aspects of traditions on both sides of the Atlantic clearly evince the interconnectedness of Yorùbáland spiritual tradition its diasporan manifestations. Philadelphia òrìs̱à practice, as one example of the survival process of African traditions in the Americas exemplifies the dynamic nature of òrìs̱à traditions which continue to evolve and remain relevant to the present while maintaining the integrity of their core. Cyclical in nature, the survival process is one which depends on the depth of the African roots of a large part of African American ethos. This ethos, which has continually made its presence known throughout history in the arts, speech, and ritual life of Americans of African descent, is what shapes these forms and helps to determine the responses of African peoples to their contemporary environment and what helps to distinguish their cultures from those of their neighbors. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2009. / September 12, 2008. / African American Religion, Cultural Anthropology, African American Religion, Orisha, Caribbean Religions, African Diaspora, Orisa, Philadelphia / Includes bibliographical references. / Bruce Grindal, Professor Directing Dissertation; Peter Garretson, Outside Committee Member; Joseph Hellweg, Committee Member; Michael Uzendoski, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_254061 |
| Contributors | Metzger, Nzinga O. (authoraut), Grindal, Bruce (professor directing dissertation), Garretson, Peter (outside committee member), Hellweg, Joseph (committee member), Uzendoski, Michael (committee member), Department of Anthropology (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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