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I am speaking about Afro-Caribbean people regardless of language, not just the formerly British Caribbean. Either way, if you combine the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, East Indian, Chinese names in the English-speaking Caribbean, there will still be a sizeable population with non-English names.
As for the USVI, there is a sizeable population with non-English last names. Not sure why you only mention the Danish. Plenty French and Spanish surnames here because of people from the DR, Dominica, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Haiti etc.
Louisiana is unique and not the norm among African-Americans.
And of course the biggest islands in the Caribbean are Spanish speaking. Then there are the French nations of the Caribbean. Then there's Papamiento spoke on the ABC Islands (official language Dutch, they also speak Spanish due to closeness to Venezuela).
Actually if you count all Afro-Caribbean people the majority would not have English last names, but I think CaribNY only likes to count the English Caribbean when speaking of the Caribbean.
I did not grow up in Lousiana, so please tell me how Louisiana Voodoo is my culture?
This is why I dismissed the comments of the non African Americans here. Most African Americans do not live in, or have ties to Lousiana. I don't need to do "research" on African American culture, and a big part of the misinformation here is that some of you apparently really only know about what you've read. But a book, or multiple books only present a part of the picture and not THE picture. And of course there's such a thing as writer bias.
Never attended, but I've literally been by one.
I think you should take a journey throughout the American South and learn about your culture and history as an African-American. It's a bit sad that someone who is ignorant about his own people wants to lecture others about their cultures as you love to do on this forum.
BTW me telling you to do research does not mean I am reading from some book.
Very much so. Keep in mind not all African Americans share the same experience or prospectives, despite the tendency of people to group either AAs or Blacks in general together as the BORG.
Among African Americans in general, this may hurt Afrocentrists but they do not really have preserved elements of various African cultures like you do in Latin America or the Caribbean, and nothing such as a well developed African based religion.
There is nothing like the orishas in the southern US, unless you count Florida which has a lot of Latin American and Caribbean immigrants.
You keep saying this yet 1) you fail to realize that Yoruba religion is not the only religion in Africa that has been transplanted to the Americas and 2) you repeatedly ignore Louisiana Voodoo. Last time I checked, Voodoo have loas and Louisiana is in the South.
Quote:
Originally Posted by klmrocks
It seems that people are generalizing about African American culture. Are there not regional/state differences. Also what I totally don't get about even the term African American is that is seems to suddenly lump in all people that may be considered "black", but maybe from totally different heritages. It is the entire melting pot situation ... which is odd. It almost seems to high light the idea that being a certain skin colour makes you a certain way ex you eat, think, believe or do things a certain way ... which is not true. It seems contradictory.
I actually really liked when Raven Symone comments on this topic...
Self included the ongoing need for people to actually have to label themselves and not be taken for who they are as a person is annoying and exhausting.
With all due respect, how much do you know about African American history or culture?
And in regards to the term African-American, it was accepted and popularized by African Americas as a replaced for terms like colored, Negro, or Afro-American. It generally refers to all Americas of African ancestry or who are black and specifically refers to the 40 plus million strong ethnic group of Americans of African slave descent.
BTW Raven Symone has been considered a joke for quite some time in black communities.
You keep saying this yet 1) you fail to realize that Yoruba religion is not the only religion in Africa that has been transplanted to the Americas and 2) you repeatedly ignore Louisiana Voodoo. Last time I checked, Voodoo have loas and Louisiana is in the South.
With all due respect, how much do you know about African American history or culture?
And in regards to the term African-American, it was accepted and popularized by African Americas as a replaced for terms like colored, Negro, or Afro-American. It generally refers to all Americas of African ancestry or who are black and specifically refers to the 40 plus million strong ethnic group of Americans of African slave descent.
BTW Raven Symone has been considered a joke for quite some time in black communities.
Most Southerners are not in Lousiana and most Southern Blacks do not practice Louisiana Voodoo or have ANYTHING to do with Lousiana! The culture of MOST of the South is very different from that of the Louisana Creoles.
Most Southerners are not in Lousiana and most Southern Blacks do not practice Louisiana Voodoo or have ANYTHING to do with Lousiana! The culture of MOST of the South is very different from that of the Louisana Creoles.
Apparently you know nothing about the South.
No one said that. People responded to your post because you spoke in absolutes. You said "There is nothing like the orishas in the southern US." That is not true. Louisiana is an example of such religion in the South.
You should have said MOST of the South is devoid of Orisha religion...
Most Southerners are not in Lousiana and most Southern Blacks do not practice Louisiana Voodoo or have ANYTHING to do with Lousiana! The culture of MOST of the South is very different from that of the Louisana Creoles.
Santeria is derived mainly from the Yoruba religion, which comes from the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria. Its basically the Yoruba religion strongly mixed with Catholicalism, or in other words its hidden under Catholic symbols, due to slaves practicing their religion in secrecy and not getting caught by slave masters they acted like their was worshipping the Catholic saints, but really it was Yoruba orishas (gods) disguised as saints. It also has elements of other pagan West African religions and the native Taino religion. But its largely Yoruba. It is similar to Vudu (but less popular and that started from the Fon religion in Benin).
And it was developed in Cuba by slaves in the 1600s and 1700s. It is still strongly practiced there to this day. It can also be seen in lesser amounts in other Spanish speaking countries with high amounts of African descendants, including Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama, & Colombia. As well as in the US by Cuban & Puerto Rican im/migrants in Miami, NYC, Tampa, Orlando, Boston, & Philly for example. Groups like Mexicans, Peruvians, Argentians do not practice Santeria (a form of West African witchcraft), what they practice is Native American witchcraft from the Aztecs, Mayans, & Incas, totally different.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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I went to Havana a couple of weeks ago, and we saw a lot of Santeria adherents and open signs of the religion throughout the city. We did a walking tour of old Havana and our guide pointed out all of the people dressed in all white, we saw little shops selling the statues and outfits, and we even stopped in a church and were given a sunflower to offer to the orishas, along with a prayer. We saw someone holding a doll and praying. It was quite interesting. As a Caucasian Jewish person, I had never heard of this religion before but learned about it before this trip. So I was pleasantly surprised to see this topic scrolling on C-D.
There was a nice PBS special about Havana that also discussed Santeria: Weekend in Havana | PBS
Good question. Interesting that he makes these assumptions.
I've also lived in the South...most of my life actually.
He does tend to make a lot of unsubstantiated assumptions.
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