Developing the Dead: Mediumship and Selfhood in Cuban Espiritismo

339 Pages·2015·1.7 MB·English

by  Diana Espírito Santo

Developing the Dead
University Press of florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
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 Developing
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 the Dead
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 Mediumship and Selfhood in Cuban Espiritismo
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 University Press of Florida
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Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
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 Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota
Copyright 2015 by Diana Espírito Santo
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
This book may be available in an electronic edition.
20 19 18 17 16 15 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Espírito Santo, Diana, author.
Developing the dead : mediumship and selfhood in Cuban espiritismo /
Diana Espírito Santo.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-8130-6078-1
1. Santeria—Cuba. 2. Blacks—Cuba—Religion. 3. Cuba—Religion—
African influences. 4. Spiritualism—Cuba. I. Title.
BL2532.S3E87 2015
299.6'897291—dc23
2015004615
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the
State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University,
Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida
International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida,
University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North
Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
Contents
List of Figures vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
1. Spirits at the Crossroads of Belief and Pragmatism 1
2. Spiritism and the Place of the Dead in Afro-Cuban Religion 41
3. On Good Mediumship: Science, Revolution, and Legitimacy 97
4. Encounter, Selfhood, and Multiplicity 155
5. Development as Cosmogony: Ritual and Materialization 213
Epilogue: Biographical Intersections 282
References 291
Index 307
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Figures
1. A stand in a market of religious items in Central Havana 25
2. A male iyawó in Central Havana 26
3. Example of ngangas 81
4. Example of ngangas 81
5. A misa espiritual at Eduardo and Olga’s house 227
6. Party for the gypsy spirits at Eduardo and Olga’s house 230
7. Gypsy spirit representation 230
8. Eduardo and the author 231
9. Bóveda espiritual 248
10. Bóveda espiritual 248
11. Statuette of San Lázaro 252
12. Representations of Congo spirits 253
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Preface
The data described and analyzed in this book derive from ethnographic
fieldwork carried out for the duration of twenty months between 2005
and 2013, with the bulk executed consecutively between August 2005
and December 2006, followed by month-long trips in 2008, 2009,
2011, and 2013. Having carried out neither a pilot project nor a field
reconnaissance trip prior to my arrival, I was relatively “green” on the
ground from the outset. Most of the sparse existing literature on Cu-
ban espiritismo was in Spanish—and archived in Cuba, which made
preparing the project a difficult, even speculative, affair. As a result
of this gap, I read extensively on Brazilian and Puerto Rican spiritism
and any literature I could find on Afro-Cuban religious practices and
their history, searching for clues in this fascinating body of work that
pointed to the role of espiritistas in Cuba’s religious complex. While
I had initially applied to the doctoral program at University College
London with a proposal to research Portuguese spiritist societies, a
task I had already informally begun prior to my application, I had a
change of heart early on, in great part due to my exposure to the en-
grossing ethnographic descriptions and analytical insights of my co-
supervisor, Martin Holbraad, on the Afro-Cuban divination cult of
Ifá. Intriguingly, Martin insisted that espiritismo was everywhere in
Cuba, that the muerto, the spirit of the dead, was an essential “grease”
in the Afro-Cuban religious machinery, and that espiritistas wielded
enormous, under-recognized influence, yet he could tell me very little
further. However, the ethnographic vagueness which surrounded con-
temporary espiritismo suggested that a challenge was at hand.
I had read about Afro-Brazilian cults to the dead and had a good
working knowledge of Candomblé, Brazil’s version of Santería, having
spent some time in Bahia in my early twenties. In comparison to Brazil,