Crossing The Water: A Photographic Path to the Afro-Cuban Spirit World by Claire Caroutee, Annkek Wambaugh (review)

The Latin Americanist, June 2009 CROSSING THE WATER: A PHOTOGRAPHIC PATH TO THE AFRO-CUBAN SPIRIT WORLD. By Claire Caroutee and Annkek Wambaugh. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008, p. 280, $24.95. For the past several years, particularly in countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, there has been an increasing interest and vast growth in Afro-Latin Religious Studies as a scholarly theme. In an island such as Cuba, the subject of Afro-religion in particular with Santerı́a has been intriguing and fascinating due to the ways in which the island’s African-descent population is jostled together to illustrate the difference and transculturalization within society. In the past five years there have only been a few studies published that discuss this topic with an academic approach, such as Eugenio Matibag’s Afro-Cuban Religious Experience: Cultural Reflection in Narrative (1996) and David Brown’s Santerı́a Enthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion (2003). However, it is not until the publication of Crossing the Water: A Photographic Path to the Afro-Cuban Spirit World that the subjects of Afro-Cuban religions have been explored through the use of photographs. The Afro-Cuban religions of Santerı́a and Palo Monte for this particular publication have been portrayed in a very positive and spiritual light. Moreover, the photographs have captured the meaning and symbolism behind the religion and its practicing society. Vivid illustrations in conjunction with informative captions portray the spiritual power and energy of the ritual captured by Santiago Castañeda Vera and these two particular religions. A highly respected priest living in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, Vera has embraced more than one religion along with the practice of blending aspects of different traditions. His behavior is by no means unusual in Cuba. For example, over the last century, there has been a great deal of symbiotic interplay between Santerı́a, Palo Monte, Roman Catholicism, and Espiritismo. This mixture is particularly significant on the eastern end of the island. However, it is more important to understand that this mixture is rooted in its own path. Therefore, Vera, free to combine, transform, improvise, and innovate as he sees fit, practices his religion, as he wants to say, a mi manera—“in my own way.” It has been argued that Santerı́a’s origins derive from the Yoruba peoples of central Nigeria and neighboring regions of West Africa. This particular belief’s focus is on the interaction with the complex and richly defined pantheon of spirit beings who are referred to interchangeably as the orichas or “the saints.” While all of these spirits embody the aché of the High God Olofi, each oricha obtains a power that is associated with particular aspects of nature, cosmos, and the center of human thought or activity. It is believed that the orichass mirror “the variety and possible ways of being in the world.” The images included in this study document the ritual feeding of Vera’s orichas as well as the magnificent temporary altars or “thrones” that are periodically created and offered up to these spirits. 90 Book Reviews Along with Santerı́a, the sister Afro-Cuban religion of Palo Monte, which means “trees of the forest,” is deeply rooted in the cultural, linguistic , and ritual practices of Cuban society. Palo Monte’s history can be traced back to the Bantu-speaking peoples from the Congo and Angola religions in West-Central Africa. This belief is embedded in the powers of the dead along with the combination of practical and mystical forces that charge the natural world. These energies coalesce in Congo-Cuban ideas about el monte or “the forest.” Physically and conceptually rich, this holistic terrain is the dwelling place of the powers that infuse the Palo universe and the source of many of the materials—leaves, plants, trees, and other substances—essential to Palo Monte religious practice. Importantly, both Professor Claire Garoutte and photographer /independent scholar Anneke Wambaugh introduce to viewers and readers numerous years of experience and research in Afro-Cuban culture and society. The book features over a hundred beautiful and rich photographs in black and white...