spirituality – PUBLICA

Afro-Caribbean Enfleshed Spirituality: Resistance, Memory, and Liberation

By Agustina Luvis Núñez*

Afro-Caribbean spirituality is not mere popular religiosity, but a historical praxis of resistance that has sustained life since the European and U.S. invasions. It has reconstructed Black subjectivities and generated epistemologies of liberation against the coloniality of being, knowledge, and power in the Caribbean.

To speak of Afro-Caribbean spirituality is to speak of embodied memory, of people who resisted when every political, economic, and religious apparatus attempted to strip them of their humanity. The transatlantic slave trade did not just uproot human beings; it attempted to erase worldviews, languages, and cultures. However, amidst the plantation system, spiritual practices emerged that preserved African memory under new, camouflaged forms. These were not simple religious syncretisms: they were strategies of cultural and spiritual resistance.

Eclecticism (1 Thessalonians 5:21, “test everything; hold fast to what is good”) is not about syncretic theological naivety, but rather a liberating tactic that chooses the fullness of life. Naming the Orishas under Roman Catholic iconography allowed for the preservation of African symbolic systems under colonial surveillance. The ritual consisted of resurrecting wisdom, ancestors, and institutions. The drum spoke to us in the same coded language used by Jesus of Nazareth. It reclaimed our humanity as sacred territory.

In the case of Haiti, spirituality was a space of symbolic and political articulation that contributed to the anti-colonial revolution culminating in 1804. Spirituality was not separate from the struggle for social freedom. Historically, their spirituality was rooted in political emancipation. Enslaved persons turned to this enfleshed spirituality in search of solace and the strength to resist the brutality of their enslavers.

The colonial project constructed the Black being as a “non-being,” as merchandise, as an exploitable entity. Against this, Afro-Caribbean spirituality affirmed a different ontology: that of a relational, communal being open to the pluriverse. If colonialism commodifies, Afro-Caribbean spirituality re-sacralizes. If colonialism turns the Black subject into an object, Afro-Caribbean spirituality reaffirms their intersubjective being where there are no objects, but rather communion with ancestry and nature.
“The drum spoke to us in the same coded language used by Jesus of Nazareth. It reclaimed our humanity as sacred territory.”
— Agustina Luvis Núñez
Afro-Caribbean spirituality affirms that all humanity is sacred, not an instrument or a resource. Ancestry remains alive. Nature is not something inert; it is a living being and our kin. Our spirituality maintains that the divine inhabits concrete history (Luke 17:21, “The Kingdom of God is among you”). Facing the Western dichotomy that tears the soul from the body, a Black spirituality preaches unity. Our being remembers and transmits through intergenerational solidarity what the colonial archive attempted to erase.

In this sense, Afro-Caribbean spirituality resists an exclusionary North Atlantic coloniality of our knowledge, which privileges the written word and discredits orality. Our spirituality confronts the coloniality of being by celebrating parallel ways of being and existing in the world. In Puerto Rico, Afro-Caribbean rituals were systematically stigmatized as superstition and witchcraft. The Spanish colonial project first, and later the U.S. regime, imposed imaginaries of cultural and religious whitening (blanqueamiento).

Sectors of both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism discounted Afro-descendant spirituality through their Eurocentric and white supremacist lenses. Fortunately, within the Afro-Caribbean and U.S. contexts, Pentecostalisms emerged with forms of resistance through their African worldview, their orality, and their enfleshed spirituality expressed through possession, divine healing, rhythmic music, the shout, the dance, and the liberation of the self in worship, dreams, and visions.

These practices, brought by the diaspora of African descent, merged with Protestant religious fervor to recreate a Christianity that experiences the sacred directly in daily life. Although modern Pentecostalism formally emerged at the beginning of the 20th century in the United States, its popular and vibrant expressions are deeply informed by African spirituality.

Today, in a context of economic crisis, mass migration, gender violence, and chronic climate illness, Pentecostalisms re-emerge as spaces for Afro-Boricua identity reassignment and communal healing. We are not dealing with relics of the past but with beings more alive than ever. Black spirituality is not peripheral. It is constitutive of all Christian expression in the Caribbean context.
“Black spirituality preaches unity. Our being remembers and transmits through intergenerational solidarity what the colonial archive attempted to erase.”
— Agustina Luvis Núñez
Having said all of this, let us ask ourselves: What images of the Divine have we inherited? Which (soul-less) bodies do we consider normative? What rituals do we consider “legitimate”? What knowledge have we excluded? Afro-Caribbean spirituality invites a theological reflection that is embodied, holistic, communal, rhythmic, ecological, and anti-colonial. Interreligious dialogue must recognize in Afro-Caribbean spirituality its search for abundant life amidst structures of death.

It is not a matter of romanticizing our Afro-Caribbeanness, but of recognizing that the Holy Spirit of the Christian religion blows beyond our religion, passes through the walls of our temples, and manifests itself also in the ashé of the Yoruba religion.

Afro-Caribbean spirituality is not just resistance; it is proactive. Against extractivist capitalism, it bets on reciprocity with Mother Nature. Against neoliberal individualism, it proposes a life in solidary community. Against structural racism, it opts to cancel the very concept of race, since all humans come from African ancestry. Against the coloniality of power, it chooses service to those who do not know what it is to be served.

In a Caribbean marked by an “eternal” debt, forced displacement, and fatal climate illness, Afro-Caribbean spirituality generates imaginaries of resistance contrary to the kingdoms of this world. This spirituality challenges us to revise colonial burdens, their body/soul binarism, and their sacred/profane dichotomy. This spirituality is resistance, a celebration of ontological equality, political militancy, a matrix of multiple knowledges and flavors, a creator of communal healing theologies, and a source of gestures, symbols, signs, and images of more just worlds and futures.

Note: This piece was originally shared by Dr. Agustina Luvis Núñez as part of the panel ‘Black Spiritualities and a Proposal for a New Humanity’ during the 5th Edition of Cumbre Afro at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus. It was originally in Spanish and has been translated by Guesnerth Josue Perea.

March 28, 2026March 28, 2026

Publica

Spiritualities and Political Theology from Abya Yala

Statement at the Conclusion of the First Continental Gathering on “Spiritualities and Political Theology from Abya Yala.” (Over 400 participants, including women, men, and children.)

Mazatenango, Suchitepéquez, Guatemala November 10, 2025

Gathered in Mazatenango, Guatemala, from November 7–9, 2025, representatives of faith communities, social movements, grassroots organizations, farmers, educators, academics, and theologians from across Abya Yala convened to share experiences and deepen our common search for meaning. This First Encounter of Spiritualities and Political Theology From Abya Yala* arose as a space of attentive listening and collective discernment, inviting us to reimagine faith, justice, and hope in light of our continental realities and the ancestral wisdom of the original peoples of Abya Yala.

Over the course of three days of dialogue, a shared conviction emerged: our spiritualities, born in Abya Yala, cannot be separated from history, from our bodies, or from our motherland. They are embodied spiritualities, expressed in the daily struggles of our peoples, in the memory of those who gave their lives for justice, and in the care for life in all its forms. Confronted with the open wounds of colonialism, patriarchy, racism, and the new manifestations of global capitalism, we affirm the urgent need for a theology conceived and lived within communities—one that is political, liberating, and decolonial.

We understand that our spiritualities as christians and followers of Jesus of Nazareth is characterized by a commitment to the life and dignity of the oppressed, distinguishing it from the power dynamics that, throughout history, have shaped Christianity as a system of domination. In this sense, we affirm that Christian Native spiritualities cannot be separated from transformative action or from the horizon of the Kingdom of God, understood as justice, equity, and universal solidarity.

During this first encounter, the conviction emerged strongly that Abya Yala theology is ancestral, comunal and political theology and must begin with feeling, caring, and repairing. These three dimensions express a profoundly human and spiritual methodology. Feeling involves allowing oneself to be affected by the suffering and hope of people; caring implies assuming mutual responsibility among human beings and with creation; repairing, finally, refers to transformative action that seeks to restore dignity and build new conditions for life.

Furthermore, the importance of critically engaging with digital spaces was emphasized, recognizing that networks can be both sites of domination and territories of encounter and resistance. From the perspective of political theology, there is an urgent need to construct narratives that promote discernment, solidarity, and communion in a world fragmented by disinformation and indifference.

These shared reflections also led us to recognize the value of ancestral memories as a source of wisdom for political action. Our ancestral identity is a symbol of spirituality and cultural heritage for the peoples of Abya Yala: a memory that resists oblivion, teaches us to walk with humility, and inspires us to build community in the face of adversity.

In this context, we express our appreciation for the support of CODECA, PUBLICA, ÑAWI, and the delegations from various countries who, through their commitment to human rights, land and territories, and the dignity of peoples, embody the Gospel as a life-giving force in the face of fascism, racism, impoverishment, supremacies, and the many forms of exclusion and genocide committed in Abya Yala. Their decolonial actions stand as a living testament to a spirituality that takes shape and becomes resistance.

These days together leaves us with the conviction that reflecting on spiritualities is not an isolated theoretical exercise but an urgent necessity for sustaining and guiding the political struggles of our peoples. A political theology without spirituality risks becoming meaningless, and a spirituality without political commitment becomes sterile in the face of the world’s suffering. Both dimensions must be intertwined so that faith becomes transformative praxis.

From Abya Yala, we invite faith communities, ecclesial and academic institutions, and social movements to continue forging common paths. We call for a spirituality rooted in decolonial history, one that looks with compassion and acts courageously in the face of injustice.

We firmly believe that without spiritual practices there can be no lasting political transformation, and that without justice there can be no true spirituality. With this conviction, we reaffirm our commitment to life and to building a future of peace, equity, and dignity for all in our motherland.

With hope and determination,
We, the participants of the First Gathering on Spiritualities and Political Theology in Abya Yala.

*Abya Yala in the Guna language means “land in full maturity and land of vital blood.” In the 1970s, activists, historians, politicians, and theologians with a strong sense of ancestral identity adopted the term Abya Yala as a unified name for the continent, instead of referring to it as Latin America, The Americas among other names that perpetuate colonial divisions (Delgado & Ramírez, 2022).

November 10, 2025December 9, 2025

Publica

The Embrace of the Spirit in Abya Yala

By Yenny Delgado & Claudio Ramírez

The Spirit has been with us from the beginning of times, accompanying us from all around, providing hope and freedom that is neither static nor exclusive. As we witness in the journeys of the original peoples of Abya Yala who keep their spiritualities alive, there is a profound embodiment of the vital cosmic force that dances alongside in harmony, pulsating within their traditions with the Spirit.

The Spirit’s influence extends throughout the lives of the people of Abya Yala, fostering a consciousness deeply rooted in their cultural identity and fostering free and respectful relations. In traditional and spiritual practices in Abya Yala, we can learn from the Guaraní people who believe and understand the land without evil, an ideological process that fills all life with meaning. The path to the land without evil is not a utopia but a strenuous and accessible walk without hunger and oppression. The land without the evil of the Guarani would be nothing more and nothing less than land that lives in the movement and embraces the Spirit of God, the creator; for the Guarani, this consciousness embodies a dual nature: “oréva,” representing their unique individuality tied to their land, language, beliefs, and customs, and “ñandeva,” embracing inclusivity and acknowledging the existence of other cosmologies and rationalities.

Central to understanding native spirituality is the recognition that it is experiential, narrative, and symbolic, drawing nourishment from a rich tapestry of myths, ceremonies, communal gatherings, dreams, and artistic expressions. The movement of the Spirit evokes a profound spirituality, where every practice becomes sacramental, infused with the diverse cultures, languages, and spiritualities that thrive across the expanse of Abya Yala. This sentiment echoes the sentiments expressed in the “Holy Spirit and Native Peoples” document by the Episcopate Conference of Mexico, which celebrates the beauty of unity within diversity, recognizing that various theological perspectives are not contradictory but complementary, enriching the understanding of the divine mystery.

In embracing the Spirit, the people of Abya Yala find strength in their interconnectedness, forging pathways towards a future where diversity is celebrated, and all are united in their pursuit of land without evil, where the Spirit of God moves freely.

The history of domination and colonization in Abya Yala unfolded within the framework of a patriarchal system, where women endured violation, abuse, and subsequent silencing of their transformative power. However, despite these oppressions, the flame of resistance flickered in the Women, the cornerstone of vitality and life within native communities, embracing the power and the holy of the Spirit. The Spirit, akin to breath, light, and movement, guides original peoples in confronting the challenges wrought by colonization. It is paramount to acknowledge that spiritual practices harmonize with ancestral.

Following centuries of colonization’s oppressive grip, the original peoples of Abya Yala strive to reclaim their existence, affording freedom and hope in spiritual expression. The Spirit propels resistance against the veiled neo-colonialism perpetuated by modern states, which marginalizes and disregards the knowledge, wisdom, and spirituality of original peoples. Across Abya Yala, many communities embark on a journey of decolonization, invoking the Spirit of their ancestors to heal and reconnect with ancestral inheritance memories, fostering new pathways of existence amidst the pervasive messages of colonialism, anthropocentrism, and hegemony.

The assertion that the Spirit of God permeates Abya Yala carries political and decolonial implications. It envisions a realm of goodness where encounters with roots, masculinity and femininity, and fluidity transpire because the Spirit is both and embraces all. The Spirit, acting as both agent and repository of historical memory, shapes perceptions of time and instills hope amidst present turmoil, reminding humanity of the enduring struggle for justice and the persistence of dedication and faith through the ages.

The embrace of the Spirit is not only resistance but also a spirit of liberation to truly live in the lifeblood of ancestral promise and spiritual practices. The Spirit sustains ancestral memories, transforming the pain into a healing force— anamnesis— that transcends personal, social, and historical wounds. We believe the Spirit engenders solidarity, community, organization, and hope of resurrection in Abya Yala.