Crossroads and Cosmologies: Diasporas and Ethnogenesis in the New World (Cultural Heritage Studies)

Christopher Fennell offers a fresh perspective on ways that the earliest enslaved Africans preserved vital aspects of their traditions and identities in the New World. He also explores similar developments among European immigrants and the interactions of both groups with Native Americans. Focusing on extant artifacts left by displaced Africans, Fennell finds that material culture and religious ritual contributed to a variety of modes of survival in mainland North America as well as in the Caribbean and Brazil. Over time, new symbols of culture led to further changes in individual customs and beliefs as well as the creation of new social groups and new expressions of identity. Presenting insights from archaeology, history, and symbolic anthropology, this book traces the dynamic legacy of the trans-Atlantic diasporas over four centuries, and it challenges existing concepts of creolization and cultural retention. In the process, it examines some of the major cultural belief systems of west and west central Africa, specific symbols of the BaKongo and Yoruba cosmologies, development of prominent African-American religious expressions in the Americas, and the Christian and non-Christian spiritual traditions of German-speaking immigrants from central Europe. "Christopher Fennell offers a fresh perspective on ways that the earliest enslaved Africans preserved vital aspects of their traditions and identities in the New World. He also explores similar developments among European immigrants and the interactions of both groups with Native Americans." "Focusing on extant artifacts left by displaced Africans, Fennell finds that material culture and religious ritual contributed to a variety of modes of survival in mainland North America as well as in the Caribbean and Brazil. Over time, new symbols of culture led to further changes in individual customs and beliefs as well as the creation of new social groups and new expressions of identity." "Presenting insights from archaeology, history, and symbolic anthropology, Fennell traces the dynamic legacy of the trans-Atlantic diasporas over four centuries and challenges existing concepts of creolization and cultural retention. In the process, he examines some of the major cultural belief systems of west and west central Africa, specific symbols of the BaKongo and Yoruba cosmologies, development of prominent African American religious expressions in the Americas, and the Christian and non-Christian spiritual traditions of German-speaking immigrants from central Europe."--Jacket Introduction: Diasporas, histories, and heritage From the diminutive to the transatlantic Shared meanings and culture dynamics Core symbols across a continuum A core symbol of the BaKongo culture Marking social group contours Expressions of group identity and individual purpose A model for diaspora analysis Interpreting cultural expressions through ethnohistorical analogy BaKongo culture in West Central Africa Predicting facets of symbolic expression in new settings African diasporas and symbolism in the New World Private rituals in North America Yoruba and BaKongo dynamics in Cuba Innovation of new emblems in Haiti and Brazil Afro-Christian dynamics in North America European diasporas and the persistence of magic From the Palatinate to Virginia Hexerei practices among German-Americans Social networks and interpersonal conflicts Expressions instrumental and emblematic Creolization, hybridity, and ethnogenic bricolage Offers a perspective on ways that the earliest enslaved Africans preserved vital aspects of their traditions and identities in the New World. This book also explores similar developments among European immigrants and the interactions of both groups with Native Americans. A far-reaching anthropological study of African and African American religions, German American folkways, and archaeological methodology.