Cachita's Streets

The Virgin of Charity, Race, and Revolution in Cuba

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Caribbean & West Indian, Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Reference, Ritual & Practices, Christianity, Denominations, Catholic, Catholicism
Cover of the book Cachita's Streets by Jalane D. Schmidt, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jalane D. Schmidt ISBN: 9780822375319
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: September 17, 2015
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Jalane D. Schmidt
ISBN: 9780822375319
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: September 17, 2015
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, also called Cachita, is a potent symbol of Cuban national identity. Jalane D. Schmidt shows how groups as diverse as Indians and African slaves, Spanish colonial officials, Cuban independence soldiers, Catholic authorities and laypeople, intellectuals, journalists and artists, practitioners of spiritism and Santería, activists, politicians, and revolutionaries each have constructed and disputed the meanings of the Virgin. Schmidt examines the occasions from 1936 to 2012 when the Virgin's beloved, original brown-skinned effigy was removed from her national shrine in the majority black- and mixed-race mountaintop village of El Cobre and brought into Cuba's cities. There, devotees venerated and followed Cachita's image through urban streets, amassing at large-scale public ceremonies in her honor that promoted competing claims about Cuban religion, race, and political ideology. Schmidt compares these religious rituals to other contemporaneous Cuban street events, including carnival, protests, and revolutionary rallies, where organizers stage performances of contested definitions of Cubanness. Schmidt provides a comprehensive treatment of Cuban religions, history, and culture, interpreted through the prism of Cachita.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, also called Cachita, is a potent symbol of Cuban national identity. Jalane D. Schmidt shows how groups as diverse as Indians and African slaves, Spanish colonial officials, Cuban independence soldiers, Catholic authorities and laypeople, intellectuals, journalists and artists, practitioners of spiritism and Santería, activists, politicians, and revolutionaries each have constructed and disputed the meanings of the Virgin. Schmidt examines the occasions from 1936 to 2012 when the Virgin's beloved, original brown-skinned effigy was removed from her national shrine in the majority black- and mixed-race mountaintop village of El Cobre and brought into Cuba's cities. There, devotees venerated and followed Cachita's image through urban streets, amassing at large-scale public ceremonies in her honor that promoted competing claims about Cuban religion, race, and political ideology. Schmidt compares these religious rituals to other contemporaneous Cuban street events, including carnival, protests, and revolutionary rallies, where organizers stage performances of contested definitions of Cubanness. Schmidt provides a comprehensive treatment of Cuban religions, history, and culture, interpreted through the prism of Cachita.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book After Spanish Rule by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book Unsettled Subjects by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book Raising the Dead by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book Conventional Arms Control and East-West Security by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book The Militia and the Right to Arms, or, How the Second Amendment Fell Silent by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book Brother Men by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book Immediations by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book The Already Dead by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book The Feminist Bookstore Movement by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book The Making of a Human Bomb by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book Myths of Modernity by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book Eating the Ocean by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book Extra/Ordinary by Jalane D. Schmidt
Cover of the book Cruel Optimism by Jalane D. Schmidt
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy