Paper short abstract:

My paper analyses practices of “Africanization” and competing constructions of “authentic tradition” within a globalized religious setting in Cuban Santería. It focuses transatlantic ritual exchanges, dealing for instance with gender issues, and discusses its local religious impacts.

Paper long abstract:

My paper analyses practices of "Africanization" and competing constructions of "authentic tradition" within a globalized religious setting in Cuban Santería. I focus on a specific project of ritual innovation headed by one of the most famous cult leaders in the trans-local religious sphere in Cuba. Especially it deals with the female initiation into the cult of Ifá which has caused a broader religious conflict which has to be considered as being highly influenced by global debates on Yoruba Religion as a result of general globalization processes within the larger Yoruba Diaspora. My paper will offer an introduction into recent Cuban debate on this controversially discussed ceremony focusing on religious protagonists. Finally I will link this to a broader transnational debate and issues of gender and women's emancipation within religious practice of Cuban Santería.