Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1981

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Early, John D.

Abstract

Faced with a highly industrial society, traditional Cubans, who began to leave the island for political reasons since 1959, have experienced repeated social strains under rapid social changes: strains at the levels of economics, the family, social relationships and a system of meaning. Cubans have resisted the pressures of assimilation from a larger, dominant, group by integrating into American society while re-enacting their traditional worldview. This integration has established their diversity, their capacity to select traits that confrom to, and do not clash with, pre-existent traits, and their need for supportive, 'liminal,' mechanisms of a 'relational' quality which C&~ aid them move through life crises. LA Santeria, the worship of African gods as catholic saints, is one of the adaptive mechanisms used by Cubans in their process of transculturation. This syncretism of La Santeria provides a mythological worldview that integrates meaning in the midst of social stress through ritual activity.

Extent

140 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1981.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT14083

Format

pdf

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