Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Kongo Christianity, Festive Performances, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition

Cécile Fromont and Michael Iyanaga

Part 1 Ritual Battles from the Kongo Kingdom to the Americas

1. Sangamentos on Congo Square? Kongolese Warriors, Brotherhood Kings, and Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans

Jeroen Dewulf

2. Moros e Christianos Ritualized Naval Battles: Baptizing American Waters with African Spiritual Meaning

Kevin Dawson

3. A Mexican Sangamento? The First Afro-Christian Performance in the Americas

Miguel A. Valerio

Part 2 America’s Black Kings and Diplomatic Representation

4. Representing an African King in Brazil

Lisa Voigt

5. Black Ceremonies in Perspective: Brazil and Dahomey in the Eighteenth Century

Junia Ferreira Furtado

Part 3 Reconsidering Primary Sources

6. Envisioning Brazil’s Afro-Christian Congados: The Black King and Queen Festival Lithograph of Johann Moritz Rugendas

Cécile Fromont

7. The Orisa House That Afro-Catholics Built: Africana Antecedents to Yoruba Religious Formation in Trinidad

Dianne M. Stewart

Part 4 Aurality and Diasporic Traditions

8. On Hearing Africas in the Americas: Domestic Celebrations for Catholic Saints as Afro-Diasporic Religious Tradition

Michael Iyanaga

List of Contributors

Index