Serafín “Tato” Quiñones and Yesenia Fernández Selier will introduce the general public to the Afro-Cuban Yoruba Culture, the Afro-Caribbean religions and their significance as “time capsules” of identity. Afro Cuban ritual practices were for centuries considered atavist and barbaric, transmitted through oral tradition and hidden from mainstream culture. However, lately there has been a renascence of interest by scholars and the general public with an outstanding transitional network of practitioners and religious families. Tato will discuss the main transformations of the Ifa and Santeria transnational practices.
Journalist, writer, a self-taught documentary filmmaker and a scholar on Afro-Cuban religion and culture, Tato is a Priest of the Ifá Iranlowo Temple in Havana, Cuba.
Yesenia Fernández Selier is a Cuban-born performer, Afro-Cuban dance teacher and researcher, currently a Media, Culture and Communication Ph.D. student at New York University. She will give a dance workshop on April 20 with the Modern Folklore class from 1:10 – 3:50PM in the dance studio. She will demonstrate how these identity practices have been incorporated (embodiment) through the representation of the orishas, and ritual music and dances.
✽ Wednesday, April 19 at 4:15pm to 5:45pm | Hollander Hall, 241
✽ Thursday, April 20 at 1:10PM to 3:50PM | Dance workshop with the Modern Folklore class in the dance studio
Sponsored by Dance, Africana Studies, Anthropology & Sociology, Global Studies, Religion, Davis Center, Spanish, Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Megamenu Social