Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #128426 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
"Santer�a Enthroned has now set a new standard for scholarship on the aesthetic dimensions and historical development of this fascinating initiatory tradition. . . . Santer�a Enthroned gives much food for thought; indeed, this generously illustrated and superbly designed volume is a banquet for the eye as well as the intellect. . . . The fruit of twenty years' labor, Brown's study will stand the test of time and is easily the best account of Santer�a as created, lived, and lovingly elaborated to date. Glancing at the honey-toned cover . . . one is reminded that sometimes what glitters does turn out to be a full twenty-four carats, or at least to be worth its weight in gold."-Elizabeth P�rez, History of Religions (Elizabeth P�rez History of Religions )

"A densely layered and beautiful book. Brown''s work on the unique innovations and incorporations of Spanish and Catholic royal elements into "Yoruba" religious aesthetics is nuanced. The comparative work with religious iconography, and material culture like initiation gowns and altars, pays close attention to both Yoruba philosophical models and the development of Lucumi Yoruba Cuban innovations. . . . Santeria Enthroned is an ambitious book that achieves a dense, textured understanding of Orisha traditions located in multiple, local Diasporas: New Jersey in the late twentieth century, Havana in the nineteenth century, and so on. Readers get a sense of the shifting strategies that help Santeria practitioners and artists negotiate their history and their present creativity."-Solimar Otero, International Journal of African Historical Studies (Solimar Otero International Journal of African Historical Studies )

"Brown''s narrative is lucid and compelling, and the text is organized in an ingenious way that builds, embellishes, and clarifies the big and the small throughout. Complete with 108 figures and illustrations, 27 colour plates, and six appendices, the volume will appeal to both specialists and non-specialists alike. . . . Without doubt, a monumental and definitive achievement." (Keith E. McNeal Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies )

"Brown''s tome is a definitive work of scholarship and should become a standard reference for anyone interested in the diaspora of West African religion. While the guiding argument about the invented character of tradition is well rehearsed in anthropology, what makes this book so impressive is the subtlety and richness with which this process is described." (Martin Holbraad Journal of Latin American Studies )

"Brown has written a definitive study of Afro-Cuban religion. . . . This book is essential reading for scholars of religion and theologians who explore religion in the Americas."-Michelle A. Gonzalez, Journal of Religion (Michelle A. Gonzalez Journal of Religion )

"Drawing on an intimate knowledge of Afro-Cuban communities in Cuba and the United States, Brown's account of the adaptability and versatility of the folk religion commonly known as Santeria (or Lucumi) is simply the best and most enlightening account of the faith's iconographic elements available. . . . Brown has a novelist's flair for description and story that keeps the book engaging throughout. Lavishly illustrated."--Library Journal (Library Journal )

"Using virtually every extant secondary source on Afro-Cuban culture, formalistic and imagistic evidence from the tradition itself and, crucially a plethora of oral narratives, Brown reconstructs the history of Santer�a from Africa to Cuba to Miami in luxurious detail. , , . This wealth of information is firmly undergirded by a rigorous yet ground-breaking theoretical perspective. . . . A truly prodigious achievement, a remarkably coherent compilation of vast resources, and a major contribution to the field."-Lesley A. Northup, Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos (Lesley A. Northup Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos )

"Brilliantly constructed, theoretically sophisticated. . . . Brown''s text exemplifies how we might use historical data for theoretical innovations that shed new light on the complexities of race, legitimacy, and people''s struggles over the authenticity of social and cultural change."-Kamari Maxine Clarke, Transforming Anthropology (Kamari Maxine Clarke Transforming Anthropology )

"A deep and rich ethnographic treatment of this distinct religious tradition." (Joseph M. Murphy Theological Studies )

"Santeria Enthroned presents an ambitious blend of archival research, visual analysis, oral-historical interviews, ethnography, ethnohistory, and the techniques of art history, applied to the problematic tension between continuity and innovation in Afro-Cuban religion. The book will stand as an essential reference for decades to vcome." (Michael Stone H-Net Review )

"[Brown] combines the methods and materials of anthropology, art history, and social history among other disciplines, to consider what this case can contribute to the ongoing debate over the source of African diasporic cultural forms. . . . His analysis shatters any simplistic dichotomy of change versus continuity, and in doing so goes beyond any previous work on Santer�a to provide the most careful and historically nuanced account of this religion''s origins and contemporary practices yet written. . . . While it is essential reading for specialists in African diasporic and Caribbeanist history, comparative religion, visual anthropology, and ethnography, it would be most useful . . . for advanced undergraduate and graduate seminars. And yet I am tempted to press it upon anyone expressing any curiosity about Santer�a, precisely because it so carefully dissects and questions the assumed wisdom." (Kristina Wirtz Museum Anthropology Review )

"Brown''s text is tremendously full, monumental in its scope, and seminal as a study of historical change over time . . . Essential reading for scholars of African-Caribbean art and religion. . . . It is also a key text for scholars of the African Diaspora." (Heather Shirey African Arts )

"In this masterful volume, Brown has skilfully shown how innovation and tradition are, in many ways, reversible terms." (Roger Sansi Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute )

"Brown's book sets a benchmark in clarifying most issues related to Regla de Ocha/Lucum�, aka Santer�a, as it has evolved through Havana and into eastern parts of the United States."--Jualynne E. Dodson, North Star: A Journal of African American Religious History (Jualynne E. Dodson North Star )

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About the Author

Customer Reviews

One of the best
This is one of the best books written on the topic of Cuban popular religion. The author covers the history of Santeria remarkably well and his research is well-founded. Dispels a lot of the bogus mythology and mangled metaphysics surrounding the tradition and gives honor to the forebears of the Religion.

A Wonderful Resource on Santeria
This is a wonderful resource on Santeria, and might serve well those readers who are interested in the field of African diasporic religions. This book is written from an anthropological point of view and the academic lingo is qite prominant. But if you can go beyond the academic approach you will find this book is a very valuble addition to your library.

Enjoy!
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Outstanding History
Alafia, Mr. Brown's book is an important history of Orisha worship and Santeria that I can be comfortable in recommending. It is in depth and written from the perspective of a scholar who has done his research painstakingly. The footnotes are extensive even to the point of being a bit intrusive, yet it is all there. This is a book I would suggest for the seasoned practitioner of the religion or the serious student. Unlike many books on Orisha worship this is not a pamphlet it is a book in the true sense of the word. While it is too new to be a classic it is certainly well on its way to this venerable status.

Awo Ogbe Sa