On Wednesday, November 15th, I attended the lecture “Thrones of the Gods and Altars of the Soul” by Daniel Rodriguez in the Fleming Museum. Daniel Rodriguez is a professor of Spanish, and a practitioner of Santeria. He’s an Oba Oriate, which means that he’s reached the level of highest ranking priest in Santeria. An Oba Oriate sets up ceremonies for initiates and other practitioners, performs Ifa divination, and provides overall advice to lower rank followers of Santeria, as well practicing Santeria themselves. With all of these responsibilities, it’s no wonder that Professor Rodriguez put emphasis on the fact that it’s very difficult for him to balance his job as a professor and his responsibilities to his religion.

Although I wasn’t able to stay for the whole lecture, I attended the part where Professor Rodriguez discussed Santeria, before he got to individually discussing Orisha. I found that this lecture was very much worth attending, because it is another way for outsiders to hear the perspective of someone on the inside. In learning about religions such as Yoruba, Santeria, and Vodou in class, we often discuss the view of the outsider versus the view of the insider, and how we as outsiders can never truly have the same perspective as an insider, no matter how much we try. An example of an outsider’s view can be seen in an article titled “Body Rituals Among the Nacirema”, in which the author writes, “It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves” (p.8). The author describes the practices of the “Nacirema”, which is “American” backwards, and twists all the aspects that we view as normal into sounding foreign, mystical, and dangerous. This article exists to show the reader how anything, described from an outsider’s perspective, can be misinterpreted, and is a good example of how an outsider’s view is always distorted.

Professor Rodriguez talked a lot about how new practitioners don’t want to wait to have privileges, and they don’t realize how difficult and what a commitment practicing Santeria can be. He explained that a lot of people view religions such as Santeria and Vodou as “trendy” and don’t know that it is a lot of work to practice Santeria. He specifically mentioned how, for example, when one is initiated, they must wear white for a year and a day. Many initiates don’t realize how difficult this can be, or how much of a commitment it is to always feed, clean, and take care of altars. He also mentioned that many initiates don’t want to wait to get their special privileges, they want immediate benefits. This is one way in which an outsider’s view distorts Santeria for initiates: they don’t understand how important it is to earn your status rank, instead of having it be handed to them, and they view the religion as “easy” and trendy, instead of treating it seriously.

Professor Rodriguez also discussed how the media views Santeria. My first experience with Santeria was with my class at UVM where we explored the intricacies and beauties of Santeria, so although I am an outsider, I don’t particularly have a negative connotation with the word Santeria. Professor Rodriguez brought up interesting points about how media shows their outsider’s view of Santeria in a bad light, so much so that “trendy” people who are being initiated  sometimes prefer to say that they practice “Regla de Ocha”, even though these terms have the same meaning. A lot of people view followers of Santeria as “evil” based on the fact that they perform animal sacrifice, and modern media only cares to cover stories about “animal remains being discovered”, or other stories meant to demonize Santeria, instead of trying to learn about everything else that Santeria practitioners do, and how they can positively impact society. Again, the outsider’s view comes into play in how in people who don’t practice Santeria, often their only exposure to it is through negative media, instead of the real perspectives of people that are part of Santeria and its culture.

Overall, I thought that it was worth going to Professor Rodriguez’s lecture. He spoke from a point of experience about Santeria as a modern religion, and the hardships that they face, which is important to know. Although I am an outsider to the religion of Santeria, I feel that after listening to the perspective of an insider, I am much more informed about Santeria culture and how Santeria functions in society.

Works Cited:

Miner, Horacce. “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” American Anthropologist 58:3, pp. 5–8.