Customer Reviews

Crossing the Water: A Photographic Path to the Afro-Cuban Spirit World

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This is a book loaded with photos There was a time in a not too distant past that all this was secret and prohibited. There are many images here that are not meant to be seen by the non initiated I am a member of this spititual lineage for Santiago de Cuba,where I was initated in Santeria in 200 in Palma Soriano. When I found this book at Modern Times in San Francisco it was by accident. I saw my godfater's godfather and the singer Saraba'that sang at my initiation The fotos are so extensive so nuanced and textural and precise that I could recall the smells or rum tacacco and blood, the sounds of the Afro cubans and the drums and feel of the muggy heat of the little room crowded with persons and spirits. The book transports me back to there.

The text is a bit antropological and removed form the scene and alienating but at the same time may benefit by being written by "outsiders" (The authors are German and are able to travel to Cuba and engage in such extended research.) At the same time it reveals those writers dedicaiton to the subject and even their love and admiraiton. The Cubans work so hard to accomlplish anything and this includes a huge labor to carry out their devotion and their ritual activity. It is part of their do-or-die, revolucion o muerte relationship to attaining what they need. This is a sub theme of the book and is inspiring to me.

Someday we will american santeros and paleros will be able to visit our spitiual families and to recieve these talented and humble Cubans to our communities and homes here. Until then enjoy Crossing the Water

This study of the religious practices of a single Santeria priest in Cuba is a phenomenal immersion experience for the reader. The photographs by Anneke Wambaugh, an independent scholar and documentary photographer, and her collaborator, the photographer Claire Garoutte, are stunning. The narrative is immensely readable in spite of being highly informed by the scholarly literature on African and Afro-Cuban art and religion. Wambaugh and Garoutte treat a a culture that is alien to most, and will be disturbing to many, with the utmost respect. This book will appeal to readers who are interested in Cuba, religious rituals, African art, Afro-Cuban art, documentary photography, and participatory research of all kinds.

A VERY INTERESTING BOOK INTO THE WORLDS OF SANTERIA, PALE MONTE AND ESPIRITISMO AND THE AFRO-CUBAN RELIGIONS