• Complain

Reinaldo L. Román - Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956

Here you can read online Reinaldo L. Román - Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956 full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 2007, publisher: University of North Carolina Press, genre: Politics. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

No cover
  • Book:
    Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    University of North Carolina Press
  • Genre:
  • Year:
    2007
  • Rating:
    4 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 80
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

Freedom of religion did not come easily to Cuba or Puerto Rico. Only after the arrival of American troops during the Spanish-American War were non-Catholics permitted to practice their religions openly and to proselytize. When government efforts to ensure freedom of worship began, reformers on both islands rejoiced, believing that an era of regeneration and modernization was upon them. But as new laws went into effect, critics voiced their dismay at the rise of popular religions. Reinaldo L. Roman explores the changing relationship between regulators and practitioners in neocolonial Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Spiritism, Santeria, and other African-derived traditions were typically characterized in sensational fashion by the popular press as a plague of superstition. Examining seven episodes between 1898 and the Cuban Revolution when the public demanded official actions against misbelief, Roman finds that when outbreaks of superstition were debated, matters of citizenship were usually at stake. He links the circulation of spectacular charges of witchcraft and miracle-making to anxieties surrounding newly expanded citizenries that included people of color. Governing Spirits also contributes to the understanding of vernacular religions by moving beyond questions of national or traditional origins to illuminate how boundaries among hybrid practices evolved in a process of historical contingencies.

Reinaldo L. Román: author's other books


Who wrote Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956 — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make
GOVERNING SPIRITS
2007 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Heidi Perov
Set in Electra and Bureau Empire
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for
Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Romn, Reinaldo L., 1970
Governing spirits : religion, miracles, and spectacles in
Cuba and Puerto Rico, 18981956 / Reinaldo L. Romn.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8078-3141-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8078-5836-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. CubaReligion. 2. CubaReligious life and customs.
3. Puerto RicoReligion.
4. Puerto RicoReligious life and customs.
I. Title. BL2566.C9R66 2007
200.9729109041dc22
2007023195
cloth 11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1
paper 11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1
for Alexa and Luca,
who have shared the joys and afflictions
Contents
Illustrations
Hilario Mustelier
Musteliers hospital cell
Juan Manso administers magnetic passes to Zoila Gener
Zoilas burial in El Gabriels cemetery
The press, the judge, and the police convene
The crowd in San Lorenzo
Irma Izquierdos thighs
Irma Izquierdo en route to El Cobre
The encased spring
Sgt. Ismael Trabal carries his son
The spring at the time of the first apparitions
Acknowledgments
In writing this book, I incurred debts in several countries. (The total varies depending on how one negotiates the count). Although the account I offer draws principally from archival and periodical sources, I am deeply grateful to the Cubans and Puerto Ricans who spoke to me about intimate matters of faith and healing. Without their insights, candor, and aid, mine would be a poorer story. Yolanda Trull and her husband, Juan, put me up in Santiago de Cuba on more than one occasion. They arranged for my introduction to palo and espiritismo de cordn, and tracked down documents on my behalf. In Puerto Rico, my debts run deep and wide. I am particularly grateful to Vuestra Madres followers in San Lorenzo, Cayey, Yabucoa, and surrounding towns who spoke to me about Elenitas ministry and the sanctuary in Montaa Santa. If these people remain anonymous, it is out of regard for their privacy. As I note in the text, Elenitas identity remains disputed. The faithful must negotiate a difficult transaction between obedience to the church and the conviction that the Virgin has graced barrio Espino with her presence since 1899. Finally, I must thank Carmen Julia Vzquez, who granted me several interviews to speak about her aunt La Samaritana and who shared with me her own manuscript papers.
I owe debts of gratitude to researchers and archivists at a variety of institutions. I am especially grateful to Ernesto Chvez Alvarez, Toms Fernndez Robaina, Amparo Hernndez Denis, Fe Iglesias, Olga Portuondo Ziga, Belkis Quesada, Isabel Reyes, Mara Antonia Reynosa, and the staff members of the Archivo Nacional de Cuba, Archivo Provincial de Santiago de Cuba, Biblioteca Nacional Jos Mart, Centro de Antropologa de Cuba, Instituto de Literatura y Lingstica, and Instituto de Historia de Cuba. In Puerto Rico, I depended on the generosity of Javier Almeyda Loucil, Else Zayas Len, and the librarians and archivists at the Archivo General de Puerto Rico, Archivo Diocesano de la Arquidicesis de San Juan, Centro de Estudios Avanzados del Caribe, and the Centro de Investigaciones Sociales and Coleccin Puertorriquea of the Universidad de Puerto Rico.
In completing the book manuscript, I had the assistance of numerous scholars who guided my investigations, commented on drafts, and honed my thinking. At the University of California in Los Angeles, I had the unstinting encouragement of Jos C. Moya, Robert Hill, and Vinay Lal. In subsequent years, I have depended on the counsel of Dain Borges, Arcadio Daz-Quiones, Fernando Pic, and especially Stephan Palmi. I also want to thank Rosanne Adderley, Robin Derby, Juan Jos Baldrich, Humberto Garca Muiz, Alejandro de la Fuente, David Sartorius, Jalane Schmidt, Xavier Totti, and Kevin Yelvington, who commented on chapters of this book when they were in nascent form.
Among my colleagues in the Department of History at the University of Georgia, I owe special thanks to Kathleen Clark, Claudio Saunt, and Pamela Voekel, who have heard more about this project than collegiality could ever require. I also want to acknowledge my intellectual and personal debts to a group of scholars who are now scattered in universities across North America, Europe, and the Caribbean: Manuel Barcia, Alejandra Bronfman, Susan Gantt, Jorge Giovanetti, Marial Iglesias, Adrin Lpez Denis, Mark Mairot, Marc McLeod, Jos Ortega, and Rebecca J. Scott. Besides offering ideas, suggestions, and research materials, they have sustained me in ways that I shall not detail, lest the recitation become confessional.
I am grateful to the Ford Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Institute for Latin American Studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and the History Department and Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at the University of Georgia for the financial support and leave time that made my work possible. I must thank also UNC Press senior editor Elaine Maisner; were it not for her direction and patience, I could not have written this book. Finally, I want to thank UNC Press editor Mary Caviness and Carol White and Kathy Gilbreath for sorting out my lapses and formatting errors in spite of pressing deadlines.
GOVERNING SPIRITS
Introduction
T sabes cmo es la gente aqu. In the last months of 1995, my mother, Ana Isabel Garca, repeated that sentence nearly every time we talked on the telephone. Her bemused you know how people are here punctuated the conversation whenever we spoke of the chupacabras or the rumors surrounding the latest animal killings. She offered the refrain as a sociological truism, a knowing echo of the often-heard assertions linking the depredations of the goatsucker to the proclivities of Puerto Ricos people. Puerto Ricans, she reminded no one in particular, were as given to overindulgence in supernaturalism as they were susceptible to fads. A monstrous celebrity like the chupacabras exploited both weaknesses. The truism was more camouflage than self-contempt, however; it provided cover for the white lies we traded. The introductory you know was a discreetly reassuring fib aimed at placating my immigrants yearning for enduring insights into the islands affairs. The lilting aqu (literally, here), that shibboleth of Puerto Ricos cultural nationalists, validated our nativist claim to the chupacabras despite emerging evidence of its itinerant disposition.
My mother did not dismiss the news of mysterious animal deaths. Unlike other critics, she never referred to the reports as fantasies. But she saw the medias sensational coverage and the appetites it whetted as symptoms of excesses that afflicted and defined the island. Even as it drew precious fluids, from backyard animals no less, the chupacabras revealed Puerto Ricans prodigality. Opportunism, credulity, and disbelief spilled over with every turn of the narrative. She assured me that she was not surprised when politicians and pundits and desordenados (literally, disorderly but also disrespectful people) began to appear wherever the chupacabras was spotted, looking to conjure opportunities amid the din. Political stalemate, a stifling water shortage, and crimes rising tide were suffocating the island. The chupacabras offered a respite. Surely, elected officials were grateful for headlines that drew attention away from their failings. Newspaper editors had reasons to rejoice, too. The mysterious attacks were doing more for circulation figures than another expos of corruption or scandalous politicking ever could. At least that is what our long-distance accounting suggested.
Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956»

Look at similar books to Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956»

Discussion, reviews of the book Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898-1956 and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.