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Religion

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Florida International University

Series

2001

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Botánicas: Absence In Cuba, Proliferation In The United States, José A. Lammoglia Apr 2001

Botánicas: Absence In Cuba, Proliferation In The United States, José A. Lammoglia

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Afro-Cuban Religious Complex (ARC), developed in Cuba, where the material used in their rituals was obtained trough different sources. However, the concept of a centralized store of religious goods, called bótanicas, for the ARC did not develop in Cuba alongside the religion. The reasons for the absence of these stores in Cuba until the early 1990s is explored via personal interviews with members of the ARC, participant observation, 200 questionnaires distributed in Cuba and Miami, and anchored in scholarly works about the psychology and economics of migration, as well as in those concerned with religious anthropology and sociology. …


Boy Exile Turned Saint: Elián Gonzalez As A Contested Religio-Ideological Symbol Among Cuban-American Catholics, Ikam Acosta Mar 2001

Boy Exile Turned Saint: Elián Gonzalez As A Contested Religio-Ideological Symbol Among Cuban-American Catholics, Ikam Acosta

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This Master's thesis explores the hypothesis that Elian Gonzalez functions as a religious and ideological symbol for Cuban-Americans similarly to La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre. Both La Caridad and Eliin are contested symbols among most Cuban and Cuban-American individuals, meaning both groups appropriate them toward their religious and ideological ends. The Virgin aids in the formulation of a collective identity for members of the Cuban exile community. Her shrine in Miami bridges the spatial and temporal gap between the exile community and the homeland of Cuba and represents the exile's hope for a return to a free Cuba. …