Arch. de Sc. soc. des Rel., 2002, 117 (January-March) 59-80
by Erwan DIANTEILLKONGO IN CUBA, CONVERSION OF AFRICAN RELIGION
The emphasis on the “invention” of “Africanity” in Afro-American religions, conceived as an instrument of competition among employers for religious legitimacy, now tends to forget the classic debate on the historical relationship between Africa and America. Yet the research started by Raimundo Nina Rodriguez, Fernando Ortiz, Melville Herskovits, and Bastide, in which the elements of African origin are not intended as ideological artifacts, but as positive facts, are yet not exhausted. The Bantu religions case is particularly interesting from this point of view because, as recently noted by Stefania Capone (2000), the case was overlooked by the first African-Americanists. The publication of a book by Luc de Heusch (2000) that includes a chapter on “Kongo in Haiti” encourages us to turn our attention to “Kongo in Cuba.”
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