About the Book:Dealing with the ongoing interaction of rich and diverse cultural traditions from Cuba and Jamaica to Guyana and Surinam, Nation Dance addresses some of the major contemporary issues in the study of Caribbean religion and identity. The book’s three sections move from a focus on spirituality and healing, to theology in social and political context, and on to questions of identity and diaspora. The book begins with the voices of female practitioners and then offers a broad, interdisciplinary examination of Caribbean religion and culture. Afro-Caribbean religions, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are all addressed, with specific reflections on Santera, Palo Monte, Vodou, Winti, Obeah, Kali Mai, Orisha work, Spiritual Baptist faith, Spiritualism, Rastafari, Confucianism, Congregationalism, Pentecostalism, Catholicism, and liberation theology. Some essays are based on fieldwork, archival research, and textual or linguistic analysis, while others are concerned with methodological or theoretical issues. Contributors include practitioners and scholars, some very established in the field, others with fresh, new approaches; all of them come from the region or have done extensive fieldwork or research there. In these essays the poetic vitality of the practitioner’s voice meets the attentive commitment of the postcolonial scholar in a dance of “nations” across the waters.Table of Contents: ContentsAcknowledgmentsDancing the Nation: An Introduction Patrick TaylorI. Spirituality, Healing and the Divine1. Across the Waters: Practitioners Speak Eva Fernandez, Yvonne B. Drakes, Deloris Seiveright2. How Shall We Sing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land? Constructing the Divine in Caribbean Contexts Althea Prince3. Communicating with our Gods: The Language of Winti Petronella Breinburg4. The Intersemiotics of Obeah and Kali Mai in Guyana Frederick Ivor Case5. Religions of African Origin in Cuba: A Gender Perspective Mara Margarita Castro FloresII. Theology, Society and Politics6. Sheba’s Song: The Bible, the Kebra Nagast and the Rastafari Patrick Taylor7. Themes from West Indian Church History in Colonial and Post-Colonial Times Arthur C. Dayfoot8. Congregationalism and Afro-Guyanese Autonomy Juanita de Barros9. Eden After Eve: Christian Fundamentalism and Women in Barbados Judith Soares10. Current Evolution of Relations Between Religion and Politics in Haiti Lannec HurbonIII. Religion, Identity and Diaspora11. Jamaican Diasporic Identity: The Metaphor of Yaad Barry Chevannes12. Identity, Personhood and Religion in Caribbean Context Abrahim H. Khan13. Sanfancn: Orientalism, Self-Orientalization and “Chinese Religion” in Cuba Frank F. Scherer14. The Diasporic Mo(ve)ment: Indentureship and Indo-Caribbean Identity Sean Lokaisingh-MeighooCaribbean Religions: A Selected BibliographyContributorsIndex