Resumen

ARGYRIADIS, Kali. Religión de indígenas, religión de científicos: construcción de la cubanidad y santería. Desacatos [online]. 2005, n.17, pp.85-106. ISSN 2448-5144.

This article describes the evolving function of religious practices in Havana, its micro-politics and the construction of the categories that define them, stressing the interactions between believers, H researchers, national institutions, European, American and African intellectual movements, and foreign believers. Current diffusion of the so called Cuban santeria in the rest of the world is analyzed from the viewpoint of its continuity and historical, political, social and identity logic: the spatial expansion of the exchanges does not essentially transform the content of the debate at the local level. It is about legitimizing certain ritual practices and, therefore, beyond the religious dimension, what is at stake is the question of Cubanness.

Palabras llave : Santería; religion; politics; identity; Cuba.