Unificar, enseñar, y limpiar la imagen: public representation and religious community in Santería and the history of Lukumi v. Hialeah

The 1993 United States Supreme Court case Lukumi v. Hialeah, in which practitioners of the Afro-Cuban religion Santera successfully challenged laws banning religious animal sacrifice, has often been described by observers as an unprecedented and uncharacteristic public reaction by santeros against negative legal treatment and media representation in Miami during the 1980s. In fact, the clash between the negative public image of Santera and the public activities of Santera organizations in Lukumi was derived from historical precedents: The representation of Afro-Cuban religions as witchcraft in Republican Cuba and the counter-representation offered by Afro-Cuban religious organizations, cabildos, of their practices as a legitimate religion. In representing Santera as a legitimate religion in Miami, public Santera organizations sought to recreate the cabildo model of religious community and authority in a transnational context. This led to significant intra-religious conflict in Santera in the United States, which now can begin to be positioned within the larger history of Santera