{{Short description|Religions of the African diaspora}} {{protection padlock|small=yes}} {{Traditional African religion}} '''African diaspora religions''', also described as '''Afro-American religions''', are a number of related beliefs that developed in the Americas in various areas of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Southern United States. They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity and Islam.<ref name="MurphyMeltonWard">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2011 |orig-year=1993 |editor-surname=Murphy |editor-given=Larry G. |editor-surname2=Melton |editor-given2=J. Gordon |editor-link2=J. Gordon Melton |editor-surname3=Ward |editor-given3=Gary L. |title=Encyclopedia of African American Religions |series=Religious Information Systems, 9 |edition=Reprint |place=New York; London |publisher=Routledge |url={{Google books|id=fxsmAgAAQBAJ|plainurl=y|page=}} |isbn=978-0-8153-0500-2}}</ref><ref name="FulopRaboteau">Fulop, Timothy Earl; Raboteau, Albert J., eds. (1997). ''[https://www.questia.com/library/118508007/african-american-religion African American Religion: Interpretive Essays in History and Culture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307050220/https://www.questia.com/library/118508007/african-american-religion |date=2016-03-07 }}''. London; New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-91458-2}}.</ref>

==Characteristics== Afro-American religions share a number of beliefs and practices.<ref>{{cite web | surname=Van Eyghen| first=Hans| title=Philosophy of African Diaspora Religions| website=The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy| url=https://iep.utm.edu/african-diaspora/ }}</ref> Central beliefs include ancestor veneration and include a creator deity along with a pantheon of divine spirits such as the Orisha, Loa, Vodun, Nkisi, and Alusi, among others.<ref name="Woodson">{{cite book |surname=Woodson |given=Carter G. |authorlink=Carter G. Woodson |title=African Myths and Folk Tales |publisher=Dover Publ. |place=Mineola, NY |year=2009 |orig-year=1928 |isbn=978-0486114286 |oclc=853448285}}</ref> In addition to the religious syncretism of these various African traditions, many also incorporate elements of folk Catholicism including folk saints and other forms of folk religion, Native American religion, Spiritism, Spiritualism, Shamanism (sometimes including the use of Entheogens), and European folklore.

Various "doctoring" spiritual traditions also exist such as Obeah and Hoodoo which focus on spiritual health.<ref>{{cite book|title=Routes to slavery: direction, ethnicity, and mortality in the transatlantic slave trade|first1=David|last1=Eltis|first2=David|last2=Richardson|publisher=Routledge|year=1997|page=88|url={{Google books |id=kuXEzQZQmawC|plainurl=y|page=88}}|isbn=0-7146-4820-5}}</ref> African religious traditions in the Americas can vary. They can have non-prominent African roots or can be almost wholly African in nature, such as religions like Trinidad Orisha.<ref>{{cite book |title=Spirits, Blood, and Drums: The Orisha Religion in Trinidad |first1=James|last1=Houk|publisher=Temple University Press |year=1995 |isbn=1566393507}}</ref>

== African diaspora religions in the present == The nature and composition of the African diaspora have undergone significant changes over time: from the forced migration of African captives of the Old and New Worlds to the voluntary emigration of free, skilled Africans in search of political asylum or economic opportunities; from a diaspora with little contact with the point of origin (Africa) to one that maintains active contact with the mother continent, all culminating in the birth of a unique African who straddles continents, worlds and cultures.<ref>{{Citation |last=Hall |first=Horace R. |title=African and Black Diaspora as Curriculum |date=2021-03-25 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education |url=https://oxfordre.com/education/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-1581?d=/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-1581&p=emailAQDDeyKrJ9r7o |access-date=2025-01-17 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1581 |isbn=978-0-19-026409-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Defining diasporas == There are several conceptual difficulties in defining the African diaspora—indeed, in defining the term ''diaspora''. Contemporary theorizations of the term ''diaspora'' tend to be preoccupied with problematizing the relationship between diaspora and nation and the dualities or multiplicities of diasporic identity or subjectivity; they are inclined to be condemnatory or celebratory of transnational mobility and hybridity. In many cases, the term ''diaspora'' is used in a fuzzy, ahistorical and uncritical manner in which all manner of movements and migrations between countries and even within countries are included and no adequate attention is paid to the historical conditions and experiences that produce diasporic communities and consciousness—how dispersed populations become self-conscious diaspora communities.<ref>{{Cite web|title=African Diaspora {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/anthropology-and-archaeology/human-evolution/african-diaspora|access-date=2020-11-04|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

== List of religions and spiritual traditions ==

=== The Bahamas === * Haitian Vodou * Obeah * Rastafari

=== Belize === * Dugu Obeah

=== Brazil === * Batuque * Cabula * Candomblé ** Candomblé Bantu ** Candomblé Jejé ** Candomblé Ketu * Jarê * Omolokô * Quimbanda * Tambor de Mina * Terecô * Umbanda * Xangô de Recife

=== Colombia === * Alabaos * Colombian Yuyu * Lumbalú

=== Cuba === * Arará religion * Cuban Vodú * Palo * Regla de Ocha (aka. Santería) * Ganga-Longoba * Espiritismo

=== Curaçao === * Montamentu

=== Dominican Republic === * Dominican Vudú

=== Grenada === * Big Drum Dance (Gwa Tambu)

=== Guatemala (Garifuna) === *Dugu

=== Guyana === * Comfa * Obeah

=== Haiti === * Haitian Vodou * Ibo loa

=== Honduras === *Dugu

=== Jamaica === * Convince * Jamaican Maroon religion ** Kromanti dance * Kumina * Myal * Obeah * Rastafari ** Bobo Ashanti ** Nyabinghi ** Twelve Tribes of Israel

=== Nicaragua === * Dugu

=== Puerto Rico === * Sansé Espiritismo

=== Saint Lucia === * Rastafari * Kélé * Obeah

=== Suriname === * Winti

=== Trinidad and Tobago === * Obeah * Rastafari * Spiritual Baptist * Trinidad Orisha * Vodunu

=== United States === {{See also|Black church|Religion of Black Americans|Hoteps}}

* Hoodoo * Louisiana Voodoo<ref>{{cite book |year=1991 |editor-surname=Payne |editor-given=Wardell J. |title=Directory of African American Relugious Bodies |place=Washington, DC |publisher=Howard University Press |isbn=0882581740}}</ref> * Spiritual church movement * Espiritismo * African Theological Archministry

===Venezuela=== *María Lionza *Birongo

== African diaspora religions in Asia ==

===Pakistan=== *Sheedi Mela

==See also== {{Portal|Traditional African religion}} * Black theology * Ring shout * Traditional African religions * African diaspora in the Americas

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{iep|url-id=african-diaspora|title=Philosophy of African Diaspora Religions}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20190909042755/http://rootsandrooted.org/ Roots and Rooted] {{Afro-American Religions}} {{African diaspora}}{{Bantu}}{{Religion topics}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afro-American Religion}} Category:Afro-American religion