Religious Reproduction and Change: Belonging and Authority in Three Afro-Cuban Trajectories in Cienfuegos (1990–2025)

Abstract

This study analyzes three Afro-Cuban trajectories in Cienfuegos—Divina Caridad, Oluo Popo, and El Cristo—to examine how belonging and authority are reproduced and reconfigured between 1990 and 2025. The research was conducted through a qualitative and historical-comparative strategy based on theses, articles, and a contemporary public record, distinguishing primary materials cited in those publications and keeping undocumented intervals open. The results show three differentiated dynamics: in Divina Caridad, community continuity was sustained despite the interruption of a ritual support; in Oluo Popo, a domestic promise expanded into a community space without demonstrated legal institutionalization; in El Cristo, long-term continuity was maintained through ritual kinship, consecrations, successions of authority, and regional and transnational networks. The discussion concludes that continuity and reconfiguration are not mutually exclusive: evidence demonstrates that community reproduction can integrate changes of scale, partial interruptions, and successions of authority, as long as relationships are renewed and documented. The scope of the study is limited by the temporal asymmetry of the sources, highlighting the need for further research to cover the open intervals.