To and through the doors of Ocha: Music, spiritual transformation, and reversion among African American Lucumi

摘要

This dissertation asserts that members of Ile Asho Funfun, the Lucumi spiritual house at the center of the research, is comprised of members who have undergone the process of converting to the spiritual practice of Lucumi and, as such, have experienced tremendous personal transformation. The author argues that the religious practice of Lucumi was introduced to African Americans through music and dance traditions in the 1940s by performing artists and that since that time music has been one of the foremost tools of conversion. Among the theories asserted herein, the author develops the theory of reversion to describe the process of conversion from Christianity to Lucumi. Borrowed from Islamic traditions that use the term to refer to a return to the natural state of awareness of the one true God, reversion here is viewed as a return to the religion of practitioners' ancestors and to a set of practices that are innately a part of human understanding of the cosmos and Creator as well their place within the cosmos and with the Creator. Furthermore, the author contends that process of reversion is ongoing, informed by Afrocentricity, and impacted by the constant expansion and contraction of the religion. These occur as individuals and the community adjust to life events while negotiating their identity as both African and American. This dissertation establishes the theories of expansion and contraction as the processes by which African practitioners of Yoruba-derived religions have always adapted their practices to the situation and environment. The author introduces these concepts as a more precise description of processes of adaptation than the more commonly cited concept of syncretism. The author both observed and practiced the religion for ten years prior to undertaking the research and did field work and ethnographic research for six years while studying for and writing this dissertation using a reflexive approach.