West African roots of African American spirituality

Abstract

People of African descent retained elements of their original spirituality and combined them with European and Euro‐American religious ideas and practices to craft a world view that provided them with resources for both survival and liberation. In contrast to the typical caricature of en masse and instantaneous conversions of people of the African diaspora to Euro‐American forms of Christianity, a more pluriform expression of religiosity found expression within so‐called Christian norms. In fact, cosmological, theological, linguistic, and ritualistic elements of a paradigmatic West African world view seem to have prevailed, in one form or another, in most of the Americas. These include the concepts of the sacred cosmos, the role of mediators, and experiences with the spiritual presence. Cross‐cultural expressions of these elements can be seen in such diverse religious traditions as Macumba, Umbanda, Candomble (Brazil), Vodun/Voodoo (Haiti, New Orleans), Santeria (Puerto Rico, Cuba), Obeah and Myal (Jamaica), and Hoodoo (U.S.).