Dance and Caribbean Festivals - Article Review - Sample 1 - 2012

Dance and Caribbean Festivals - Article Review - Sample 1 - 2012

Student ID: Sample
Name: Sample
Topic: Religious Cosmology and Praxis
March 12, 2012

Maureen Warner Lewis. “Central Africa, in the Caribbean – Transcending Time Transforming Cultures.”

This article was found on Google books via the internet. A great study that explores and identifies some of the main linkages of the Central African cultural legacy in the Caribbean. . The author identifies Central African cultural forms in those areas settled in Africa by the Koongo, Mbundu, and Ovimbunde. (The modern-day locations of these three ethnic groups are present-day Congo, Zaire and Angola.) The book illuminates Caribbean thought and practice by comparison with Central African worldview and custom. it highlights the origin and transformation of cultural forms in the Caribbean against a larger background of African culture, economy, colonialism, slavery, emancipation and independence.
With its Central African focus, the book is a pioneering perspective on Caribbean cultural forms. A noted linguist, the author uses her knowledge of the most functional languages of the region, Spanish, English and French, to access Creole languages, which gives the study a truly pan-Caribbean breadth. The book appeals to all interested in African Diaspora studies, African and Caribbean history, linguistic and cultural anthropology. This book also tries to share information concerning central Africa and the Caribbean. For the purposes of this study the Caribbean is defined as the Islands of the Caribbean sea and Caribbean areas in Central and south America. This article also used evidence both from the plantation and post –plantation era within the Caribbean.

The Works to nuclei are :
• Printed observation and impressions by sixteenth – twentieth century observers concerning Central Africans within the Caribbean.
• The oral recall by associates and descendants of this group regarding the Central African population within the region. This also includes literary material such as folk Tales, songs and proverbs.
In reading this article, there were a lot of similarities between the Caribbean and Central Africa. A lot of the customs and ceremonies which were done within the Caribbean countries like Trinidad, Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti originated from the African continent. There are also similarities in the ritual and customs which were done both in the Caribbean and Central Africa. Some of these rituals and dances which I focused on were the Saraca, Kumina, Bongo, and Bele. In these dances we focused on the clothing, the songs and rituals done and also where these dances are performed. The article also focused on what is religion and cosmology. Religion is that aspect of human activity which involves adoration of entities, beings, energy sources conceptualized as superhuman even divine: it involves supplication made to such presences in order to secure some satisfaction in the human plane. Cosmology on the other hand is the general science or philosophy of the universe.