American society is culturally diverse with a variety of religious denominations, sects, cults, and self-help groups vying for members. This volume analyzes nine of these groups, chosen both for their intrinsic interest and because they illustrate a variety of sociological concepts. The groups included in this study are: Heaven's Gate, Jesus People USA, the Love Family, The Farm, Amish Women, Scientology, El Nino Fidencio, Santeria, and Freedom Park. The contributors are social scientists with first-hand knowledge of the groups they examine.

Details the author's personal experiences with the least understood & often misunderstood aspect of African-American culture, voodoo.

African religions, as well as those religions that derive much of their cosmology, beliefs, and rituals from African religions, are becoming more international in scope and appeal. Yet they continue to be viewed either as indiscriminately adaptable or as static traditions. Neither view suggests much spiritual or psychological value outside their original milieu when compared with the so-called world religions. The chapters in this volume focus on African and African-derived religions, and challenge many of these positions. They examine how these religions display themselves in the contemporary world, particularly in the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe, and look at their continued dynamism and their relationship with other religious traditions, especially through the process of syncretism.

Our Lady of the Exile is a study of Cuban-American popular Catholicism, focusing on the shrine of Our Lady Charity in Miami. Drawing on a wide range of sources and using both historical and ethnographic methods, the book examines the religious life of the Cuban exiles who visit the shrine. Those pilgrims are diverse, and so are the motives that bring them. At the same time, author Thomas A. Tweed argues, Cuban devotees of the national patroness share a great deal. Most come to pray for their homeland and to recreate bonds with other Cubans, on the island and in the diaspora. The shrine is a place where they come to make sense of themselves as an exiled people. The religious symbols there link the past and present and bridge the homeland and the new land. Through rituals and artifacts at the shrine, Tweed suggests, the Cuban diaspora "imaginatively constructs its collective identity and transports itself to the Cuba of memory and desire." While the book focuses on Cuban exiles in Miami, it moves beyond case study as it explores larger issues concerning religion, identity, and place. How do migrants relate to heir homeland? How do they understand themselves after they have been displaced? What role does religion play among these diasporic groups? Building on this study of one exiled group, Tweed proposes a theory of diasporic religion that promises to illuminate the experiences of other groups that have been displaced from their native land. As the first book-length analysis of Cuban-American Catholicism, Tweed's book will be an invaluable resource to scholars and students of not only Religious Studies, American Studies, and Ethnic Studies, but also those who study cultural anthropology, human geography, and Latin American history.

Latinos/Latinas are the largest "minority" in the United States, but the field of U.S. Latino/Latina studies is still in its infancy. This work represents the first single volume ever published on the U.S. Latino/Latina religious experience, an area that is even less explored. A carefully selected group of experts examines the major sub-groups of Latinos/Latinas including Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans, along with some of the lesser studied groups such as Dominicans and Central Americans. In addition, the volume includes important thematic chapters on the role of art, film, health care, literature, music, politics, and women's influence in the U.S. Latino/Latina religious experience.

"This volume enhances our capacity to understand ... (and) our need to develop different theoretical models with which to explain different (ethnic) experiences.... A very solid contribution". -- Silvia Pedraza, University of Michigan

Cuba continues to loom large in U.S. consciousness and politics. Culture and Customs of Cuba is a much-needed resource that gives students and other readers an in-depth view of our important island neighbor. Luis, of Cuban descent, provides detailed, clear insight into the society, religions, customs, media, cinema, literature, performing arts, and art in the context of three interrelated periods in Cuban history: Colonial, the Republic, and Castros Revolution and beyond. The contributions of Cubans in exile are considered an inherent part of Cuban culture and Luis includes them as well.