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assume that she wrote about mainly oral, practical religions with only an “embryonic” written tradition. She is credited by literary critics for having transformed Afro-Cuban oral narratives into literature, which is, written works of art, while anthropologists rely on her accounts of oral information collected during interviews with santeros, babalawos, and paleros, and on her descriptions of religious ceremonies. There is a dialectical relationship between Afro-Cuban religious writing and
Cabrera's work; she used a religious writing tradition that has now internalized her own ethnography.
347:, she takes a very anthropological approach to studying her subject matter. The main theme in her work is the focus on to the once-marginalized Afro-Cubans, giving them a respectable identity. Through the use of imagery and storytelling in her work, she seeks to retell the history of the Cuban people through the Afro-Cuban lens. Generally, her work blurs the line between what society has deemed as "fact" and "fiction." She attempts to pose ideas and theories that force one to question what they have been told. In Afro-Cuban Tales (
363:, first going to Madrid and later settling in Miami, FL., where she remained the rest of her life. Ms. Cabrera received several honorary doctorate degrees, including one from the University of Miami in 1987. Cabrera describes her stories as "transpositions," but they went much further than a simple retelling. She recreated and altered elements, characters, and themes of African and universal folklore, but she also modified the traditional stories by adding details of Cuban customs of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
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319:. Being a secret society, the Abakuás were reluctant to talk to her about their religion. Since they did not accept women as members, Cabrera relied on the use of interviews to gain information for her book. It focused on the origins of the group, the myth of Sikaneke, and the hierarchy of its members. Somehow she managed to photograph their
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In El Monte, Cabrera fully described the major Afro-Cuban religions: Regla de Ocha (commonly known as
Santeria) and Ifá, which are both derived from traditional Yoruba religion; and Palo Monte, which originated in Central Africa. Both the literary and anthropological perspectives in Cabrera's work
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in 1899 as the youngest of eight siblings, Cabrera came from a family of high socio-economic status in Cuba. Her father, Raimundo
Cabrera, was a writer, lawyer, prominent man in society, and an advocate for Cuba's independence. Her mother, Elisa Marcaida Casanova, was a housewife and respected
351:) she writes, "They dance when they're born, they dance when they die, they dance for killings. They celebrate everything!" (Cabrera 67). Here, she is connecting Afro-Cuban tales with African rituals because it is important to celebrate birth, passage to adulthood, marriage, and death.
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is written under Lydia
Cabrera's name, in a comical rendition of her literary voice. She was one of the first writers to recognize and sensitively publish on the richness of Afro-Cuban culture and religion. She made valuable contributions in the areas of literature, anthropology, art,
186:(a central African faith) both religions reaching the Caribbean through enslaved Africans. Her papers and research materials were donated to the Cuban Heritage Collection - the largest repository of materials on or about Cuba located outside of Cuba - forming part of the
224:, where Lydia got her first experience as a writer. At the age of thirteen, Cabrera wrote a weekly anonymous column that appeared in her father's journal. She covered topics relevant to her specific community, such as wedding announcements, childbirths, or obituaries.
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culture. She had been introduced to their folklore at a very young age by her Afro-Cuban nanny and Afro-Cuban seamstress. Three factors influenced her decision to study
Afrocubanismo as an adult. The first influence was her experience in Europe, where studying
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The family had many Afro-Cuban servants and child caretakers, through whom young Lydia learned about
African folklore, stories, tradition, and religions. Like the majority of wealthy Cubans in the early 1900s, the family had private
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who came to the home of the
Cabreras to educate the children. For a short period of time, she attended the private school of Maria Luisa Dolz. At that time it was not socially acceptable for a woman to pursue a high school
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to study art and religion at L'Ecole du Louvre She studied drawing and painting in Paris with theatrical
Russian exile Alexandra Exter. Cabrera lived in Paris for 11 years and returned home in 1938. After graduating from
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The real reason why she left is still unknown. Some claim that she left because of the lifestyle the revolution was trying to instill. For many years, Cabrera had stated her dislike for the revolution and its
178:(Spanish: "The Wilderness"), which was the first major ethnographic study of Afro-Cuban traditions, herbalism and religion. First published in 1954, the book became a "textbook" for those who practice
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socialite. Her father was also the president of the first Cuban corporation, La
Sociedad EconĂłmica de Amigos del PaĂs, founded in the eighteenth century. He owned a popular literary journal,
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Toward the last years of her life, Lydia
Cabrera worked diligently to edit and publish the many notes she had collected during more than thirty years of research in Cuba.
293:, a Venezuelan novelist and socialite whom she met while studying in Europe, and who enjoyed reading Cuban books with her. They often studied the island together.
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public. Although the reason why she left is unknown, she never returned and spent the rest of her life living in Miami until her death on September 19, 1991.
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Rodriguez-Mangual, Edna M. Lydia Cabrera and the Construction of Afro-Cuban Cultural Identity. North Carolina: University of North Carolina, 2004. Print.
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With her focus on thoroughly exploring Afro-Cuban culture, she returned to Cuba in 1930. She moved to a ranch, La Quinta San Jose, in the suburb of
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Pogolotti where she conducted most her research on Afro-Cuban culture. Between 1937 and 1948, she published her second book of short stories
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During the late 1950s she continued to publish several books about Afro-Cuban religions, especially focusing on the
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Cannavacciuolo, Margherita. Habitar el margen. Sobre la narrativa de Lydia Cabrera. Sevilla: Renacimiento, 2010.
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ideology. Others claim she left because members of the Abakuá were hunting her down since she had made their
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Cabrera, Lydia. Afro-Cuban Tales = Cuentos Negros De Cuba. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2004. Print.
308:. For this collection, she participated in the culture of the Afro-Cubans and recorded their religious
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By 1927 Cabrera wanted to make money on her own and to become independent of her family. She moved to
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726:« Biographie de Lydia Cabrera, conteuse, folkloriste et anthropologue "noire et blanche" »
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She left the country in 1960 shortly after the revolution and never returned. She left as an
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686:. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. 2006: 1–2, 25, 87, 147, 149, 152, 157.
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Nationalizing Blackness: Afrocubansimo and Artistic Revolution in Havana, 1920–1940
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249:, she did not become an artist as expected, instead moving back to Cuba to study
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Anaforuana: ritual y sĂmbolos de la iniciaciĂłn en la sociedad secreta Abakuá
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In 1936, while in Paris, she published her first book, "Cuentos Negros".
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Lydia Cabrera (1899–1999): Recapitulando en la alborada de su centenario
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in Bérose - Encyclopédie internationale des histoires de l’anthropologie
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Moore, Robin D. "The Minorista Vanguard: Modernism and Afrocubanismo",
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art became very popular. Secondly she was influenced by her studies in
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Involvement in Afrocubanismo and the preservation of Afro-Cuban culture
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BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology
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Lydia Cabrera and the Construction of an Afro-Cuban Cultural Identity
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Lydia Cabrera and the Construction of an Afro-Cuban Cultural Identity
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735:. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004: 1–167.
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Anagó : vocabulario lucumì (el yoruba que se habla en Cuba)
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at the Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries
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Koeko iyawĂł, aprende novicia: pequeño tratado de regla lucumĂ
721:. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997: 195–200.
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Luis, William. "Present and Future Antislavery Narratives",
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Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2011. Print.
237:, so Cabrera finished her secondary education on her own.
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Racial Experiments in Cuban Literature and Ethnography.
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La sociedad secreta Abakuá, narrada por viejos adeptos.
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For most of her life, Cabrera had a large interest in
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Francisco y Francisca: chascarrillos de negros viejos
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Writing Rumba: The Afrocubanista Movement in Poetry
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665:La Regla Kimbisa del Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje
652:Cuentos para adultos niños y retrasados mentales
437:Great Houses of Havana: A Century of Cuban Style
705:Encyclopedia of Cuba: People, History, Culture
422:Encyclopedia of Cuba: People, history, culture
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771:Digital images from the Lydia Cabrera Papers
731:RĂłdriguez-Mangual, Edna M. "Introduction",
637:Itinerarios del Insomnio: Trinidad de Cuba
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523:RodrĂguez-Mangual, E. "Introduction," 15.
514:RodrĂguez-Mangual, E. "Introduction," 14.
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478:RodrĂguez-Mangual, E. "Introduction," 12.
469:RodrĂguez-Mangual, E. "Introduction," 11.
460:RodrĂguez-Mangual, E. "Introduction," 10.
505:RodrĂguez-Mangual, E. "Introduction," 4.
411:RodrĂguez-Mangual, E. "Introduction," 8.
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400:The University of North Carolina Press
394:RodrĂguez-Mangual, E. "Introduction,"
339:Her career spanned decades before the
791:Resources related to research :
693:New York: Vintage Books, 2002: 54–66.
689:GarcĂa, Cristina. "Clave 1: Danzon,"
300:, Marianao, located just outside the
16:Afro-Cuban anthropologist (1899–1991)
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873:Cuban emigrants to the United States
47:move details into the article's body
642:Reglas de Congo: Palo Monte Mayombe
583:Otán iyebiyá: las piedras preciosas
764:at the Cuban Heritage Collection,
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289:. Thirdly she had as a companion
843:20th-century Cuban women writers
609:La laguna sagrada de San JoaquĂn
550:¿Por qué? Cuentos negros de Cuba
306:Por Que...Cuentos negros de Cuba
203:ethnomusicology, and ethnology.
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799:, Paris, 2018. (ISSN 2648-2770)
762:Lydia Cabrera Papers, 1910-1991
596:Ayapá : cuentos de Jicotea
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858:American Folklorists of Color
848:Anthropologists of the Yoruba
766:University of Miami Libraries
868:20th-century anthropologists
797:"Cabrera, Lydia (1899-1991)"
724:Ortiz GarcĂa, Carmen, 2018.
853:Cuban women anthropologists
355:Coming to the United States
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253:culture, especially their
560:Refranes de negros viejos
196:Guillermo Cabrera Infante
159:– September 19, 1991, in
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211:Early life and education
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434:Mallea, Hermes (2011).
682:Arnedo-GĂłmez, Miguel.
537:Cuentos negros de Cuba
349:Cuentos Negros De Cuba
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828:Cuban anthropologists
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200:Tres Tigres Tristes
192:University of Miami
823:People from Havana
776:2018-02-22 at the
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291:Teresa de la Parra
155:(May 20, 1899, in
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321:sacred drum
807:Categories
691:Cubanismo!
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382:References
341:Revolution
274:Afro-Cuban
255:traditions
251:Afro-Cuban
184:Palo Monte
169:Afro-Cuban
167:and other
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372:communist
287:Cuban art
172:religions
45:and help
774:Archived
555:El Monte
259:folklore
215:Born in
198:'s book
176:El Monte
165:SanterĂa
310:rituals
279:African
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124:poetry
92:Havana
361:exile
283:Paris
242:Paris
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