Noah Stommel

Catholic Influence on Soup Tureen Bibliography

Bascom, William R. 1950. “The Focus of Cuban Santeria.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 6, No. 1, 64-68. The University of Chicago Press.

I found this source by searching JSTOR by using the keywords “santeria altar.” Some of the main ideas presented in this article included the discussion of the connection between Santeria and Catholicism. The article went into some depth about a certain level of syncretism that can be seen today between the two religions on the island of Cuba. The article also raised questions of how much Santeria has diverged from its African roots during its presence on the island. Perhaps most importantly, the article stressed the importance of stones in religious practices of Santeria. These consecrated stones have a strong basis in Catholicism, and are also a key principle in the activation of the soup tureen I am studying.

The author seems to stress the importance that Catholicism has in shaping Santeria to its current state, and that this European religion seems to lay at the core of Santeria. Bascom seems to show slight bias in the way he views Santeria more as a form of Catholicism than as a religion evolved from the African Yoruba. He argues that the use of consecrated stones, as well as herbs and blood allow for Santeria people to separate themselves from Catholic influences and form their own religious identity.

De La Torre, Miguel A. Santería: The Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America. Grand Rapids & Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004.

I found this book when skimming shelves in the Santeria section of the library. Initially, I was searching for a different book, but when I got to the library, I noticed the vast array of sources available, and this book caught my eye. One of the main reasons this book was valuable to my research was that it discussed in detail the impacts that Catholicism has had on Santeria throughout the years and how aspects of Santeria can be clearly linked to Christian influence. Because I intend to show the influence of Christianity on this particular soup tureen, this book will guide me in the right direction by giving me important background information on Christian-Santeria interrelationships, if not so much on the tureen itself.

The author’s perspective in this book shows a pretty critical analysis of the ways in which Santeria has been changed and continues to be shaped by forces in Christianity. The author allows us to see how this particular Yoruba-originating religion has distinguished itself from others due to the heavy integration it has undergone with Christianity. Although this Christian influence could be seen as disruptive to the practice of an Orisha religion, the author explains how this has become natural from Santeria practitioners, and that the religion is so unique because of this mixture.

Fardon, Richard, editor. Counterworks: Managin the Diversity of Knowledge. New York, Routledge, 1995.

This book was brought to my attention through my meeting with Patricia Mardeusz. I found this source particularly interesting because it raised arguments that Santería is not at all a product of Catholicism. I think that this book would therefore offer an interesting counterargument to what I am trying to show with my object analysis. In my analysis, I am trying to show how a soup tureen dedicated to the goddess Obba was originally used in Yoruba religion and the differences seen in its uses in Santeria due to the influence of Catholicism. However, this book’s claims would try to dismember my argument altogether, by insisting that Catholicism plays no role whatsoever in the practices of modern Santeria. I think it would be interesting to contrast this book’s arguments with information from other sources that supports my thesis.

Ultimately, Fardon is staking this claim in a small section of his book. This section is dedicated to showing how natives argue against many scholars’ beliefs that Santeria evolved under heavy Catholic influence. As Fardon quotes from a priest of Chango, “this religion is not Catholicism, and it has nothing to do with it. The origin of this religion is in the forests of the country previously called Yorubaland, better known today as Nigeria” (Fardon 83). Fardon is trying to instill an understanding that outside perspectives differ greatly from practitioners of Santeria. While perhaps he himself is not arguing completely for or against the viewpoints of the majority of scholars, he brings up other interesting and necessary opinions on this matter that would ultimately contribute to balancing my argument.