Terry Rey - Böcker

By 1791, the French Revolution had spread to Haïti, where slaves and free blacks alike had begun demanding civil rights guaranteed in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man. Enter Romaine-la-Prophétesse, a free black Dominican coffee farmer who dressed in women's clothes and claimed that the Virgin Mary was his godmother. Inspired by mystical revelations from the Holy Mother, he amassed a large and volatile following of insurgents who would go on to sack countless plantations and conquer the coastal cities of Jacmel and Léogâne. For this brief period, Romaine counted as his political adviser the white French Catholic priest and physician Abbé Ouvière, a renaissance man of cunning politics who would go on to become a pioneering figure in early American science and medicine. Brought together by Catholicism and the turmoil of the revolutionary Atlantic, the priest and the prophetess would come to symbolize the enlightenment ideals of freedom and a more just social order in the eighteenth-century Caribbean.Drawing on extensive archival research, Terry Rey offers a major contribution to our understanding of Catholic mysticism and traditional African religious practices at the time of the Haitian Revolution and reveals the significant ways in which religion and race intersected in the turbulence and triumphs of revolutionary France, Haïti, and early republican America.

As the twenty-first century begins, tens of millions of people participate in devotions to the spirits called Orisa. This book explores the emergence of Orisa devotion as a world religion, one of the most remarkable and compelling developments in the history of the human religious quest. Originating among the Yoruba people of West Africa, the varied traditions that comprise Orisa devotion are today found in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Australia. The African spirit proved remarkably resilient in the face of the transatlantic slave trade, inspiring the perseverance of African religion wherever its adherents settled in the New World. Among the most significant manifestations of this spirit, Yoruba religious culture persisted, adapted, and even flourished in the Americas, especially in Brazil and Cuba, where it thrives as Candomble and Lukumi/Santeria, respectively. After the end of slavery in the Americas, the free migrations of Latin American and African practitioners have further spread the religion to places like New York City and Miami. Thousands of African Americans have turned to the religion of their ancestors, as have many other spiritual seekers who are not themselves of African descent. Ifa divination in Nigeria, Candomble funerary chants in Brazil, the role of music in Yoruba revivalism in the United States, gender and representational authority in Yoruba religious culture - these are among the many subjects discussed here by experts from around the world. Approaching Orisa devotion from diverse vantage points, their collective effort makes this one of the most authoritative texts on Yoruba religion and a groundbreaking book that heralds this rich, complex, and variegated tradition as one of the world's great religions.

In addition to being a religious country--over ninety percent of Americans believe in God--the United States is also home to more immigrants than ever before. Churches and Charity in the Immigrant City focuses on the intersection of religion and civic engagement among Miami's immigrant and minority groups. The contributors examine the role of religious organizations in developing social relationships and how these relationships affect the broader civic world. Essays, for example, consider the role of leadership in the promotion and creation of "civic social capital" in a Haitian Catholic church, transnational ties between Cuban Catholics in Miami and Havana, and several African American congregations that serve as key comparisons of civic engagement among minorities. This book is important not only for its theoretical contributions to the sociology of religion, but also because it gives us a unique glimpse into immigrants' civic and religious lives in urban America.

Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s,significant numbers of Haitian immigrants began to arrive and settle in Miami.Overcoming some of the most foreboding obstacles ever to face immigrants inAmerica, they, their children, and now their grandchildren, as well as morerecently arriving immigrants from Haiti, have diversified socioeconomically.Together, they have made South Florida home to the largest population ofnative-born Haitians and diasporic Haitians outside of the Caribbean and one ofthe most significant Caribbean immigrant communities in the world. Religion hasplayed a central role in making all of this happen. Crossing the Water and Keeping the Faith is a historical andethnographic study of Haitian religion in immigrant communities, based onfieldwork in both Miami and Haiti, as well as extensive archival research.Where many studies of Haitian religion limit themselves to one faith, Rey andStepick explore Catholicism, Protestantism, and Vodou in conversation with oneanother, suggesting that despite the differences between these practices, thethree faiths ultimately create a sense of unity, fulfillment, and self-worth inHaitian communities. This meticulously researched and vibrantly written bookcontributes to the growing body of literature on religion among new immigrants,as well as providing a rich exploration of Haitian faith communities.

Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s,significant numbers of Haitian immigrants began to arrive and settle in Miami.Overcoming some of the most foreboding obstacles ever to face immigrants inAmerica, they, their children, and now their grandchildren, as well as morerecently arriving immigrants from Haiti, have diversified socioeconomically.Together, they have made South Florida home to the largest population ofnative-born Haitians and diasporic Haitians outside of the Caribbean and one ofthe most significant Caribbean immigrant communities in the world. Religion hasplayed a central role in making all of this happen. Crossing the Water and Keeping the Faith is a historical andethnographic study of Haitian religion in immigrant communities, based onfieldwork in both Miami and Haiti, as well as extensive archival research.Where many studies of Haitian religion limit themselves to one faith, Rey andStepick explore Catholicism, Protestantism, and Vodou in conversation with oneanother, suggesting that despite the differences between these practices, thethree faiths ultimately create a sense of unity, fulfillment, and self-worth inHaitian communities. This meticulously researched and vibrantly written bookcontributes to the growing body of literature on religion among new immigrants,as well as providing a rich exploration of Haitian faith communities.

Pierre Bourdieu was one of the most influential social theorists of our time. He developed a series of concepts to uncover the way society works and to challenge assumptions about what society is. His ideas illuminate how individuals and groups find value and meaning and so have rapidly come to be seen as hugely productive in analysing how religion works in society. 'Bourdieu on Religion' introduces students to Bourdieu's key concepts: cultural, social and symbolic capital; habitus and field; and his challenge to the structures of social inequality. This study will be invaluable to any student interested in the relationships between religion, class and social power.