First Name:
Molly
Last Name:
Hansen
Major Department:
Art
Thesis Director:
Eli Bentor
Date of Thesis:
May 2012
The Atlantic Slave Trade brought millions of Africans to the Americas, and the slaves that were transplanted carried their religious figures with them and adapted them to their new environments. In Brazil and Cuba the West African slaves continued practicing their religion and devotion toorishas, the gods and goddesses, underneath the guise of Catholic saints and symbols. Yemanjá in Brazil and Yemayá in Cuba share their origins in Yemojá, the goddess of the Ogun River in West Africa, and were transformed into goddesses of the sea by the slaves that chose the most powerful orishas to continue their rituals. Candomblé in Brazil and Santería in Cuba, the religions that include Yemanjá and Yemayá, place great emphasis on the initiation process that connects the devotee to an orisha like Yemanjá/Yemayá. The power present in sacred objects and other representations of orishas used in rituals empower their practitioners in the private space of the house devoted to the religion. The religions and their members had been persecuted during and after slavery, but at the beginnings of the twentieth century (and continuing today) the governments of Brazil and Cuba sought to display the elements of African cultural influence in order to increase tourism and portray a diverse country to the world. By placing orishas and their religious symbols in the public sphere the sense of empowerment was lost and the complexity of Candomblé and Santería was also absent. Examining the different forms of depicting Yemanjá and Yemayá within the religion and in popular culture leads to interesting conclusions about the nature of understanding and representing other cultures today.