Session Abstract

This session will examine the various ways in which African societies have influenced Cuba, and how in turn Cuba has had an impact on Africa. Cuba’s African descended population arrived from primarily modern day Nigeria and Angola, and particularly through civil wars in Kongo (Angola) and the Hausa Yoruba region of northern Nigeria, thus placing emphasis on warfare. Barcia’s paper outlines the implications of practices of African warfare in the development of slave revolts in Cuba, while Thornton’s work deals with how Christianity in war torn Kongo was reshaped in Cuba’s sugar fields and towns. Heywood brings the story back from Cuba to Africa by examining the impact that war in Angola had on Cubans who served there, and how they understood this return to the land of their ancestors.