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Introduction
An Introduction This module on Hybrid Religions in the African Americas will attempt to show how the sacred and the secular in the African Americas are closely related to one another. Hybrid Religions in the African Americas will specifically show how some African American religions, religious expressions, and expressions of the sacred, have supported and shaped strategies of survival in the secular.The term "hybrid" is used to describe the African American religions presented because "hybrid" refers to a mixture or blend of different things which results in something new. The term usually used to describe this in religion is "syncretism". However, though both terms are accurate, "hybrid" seems to invest this process of blending religions with a sense of their accomplishment in terms of their ability to use different and varied sources in the creation of traditions of survival. What the term hybrid highlights is the creative synthesis and development that occurs, by and among African American people, in the selection and use of religious practices, religious symbols and religious beliefs, with the aim of survival.
The module attempts to develop this overall aim of showing how hybrid religions in the African Americas aided strategies of survival in the secular through use of the symbols and imagery of the sacred, in three major segments.
The first segment, Ways of Understanding Religion and Religious Expressions, presents how we can understand religion and the various ways we can be religious. This segment will give us the basic interpretive tools to approach the phenomenon of religion and hence religion on the whole. At the end of this segment we should be able to understand, identify, discuss and present the various ways we and others can be religious.
The second segment, The African Americas, presents the historical and geographical origins of the African Americas and African American peoples. It also presents the religious history of African American peoples. This segment should give us the historical, geographical and social context of African American religions. At the end of this segment we should be able to not only identify the African Americas but also identify the distinguishing characteristics of African American experience and religions.
The third segment, Hybrid Religions in the African Americas, presents examples of hybrid religions in the African Americas, Vodoun and Santeria, and also presents how hybrid religions supported strategies of survival in the secular. It presents these strategies of survival by looking at the role of spirit possession, benevolent societies, the spirituals and the blues in African American existence. This segment should give us some understanding of hybrid religions and the strategies of survival used by hybrid religions in the African Americas. At the end of this segment we should be able to understand how hybrid religions function and how they generate and use strategies of survival.
Created through funding from Andrew Mellon Foundation by Gerald Boodoo,Ph.D.
