Santerías theology taught at Florida International University

Santería’s theology taught at Florida International University
By Karen Juanita Carrillo

Santería was taught for the first time this past fall semester at Florida International University's (FIU) Biscayne Bay campus.

Oba Ernesto Pichardo, a research fellow in FIU’s African-New World Studies (ANWS) program

and a priest at the Church of Lukumi Babalú Ayé (CLBA) in Hialeah, Florida, taught the three-credit course, “Santeria in Transnational Perspectives.”

“The controversial, charismatic and enterprising Pichardo, a Yoruba priest and the country's leading expert on Santería, spent hours talking about the transatlantic slave trade, paraded in cultural anthropology professors and expected both PowerPoint presentations and 12-page research papers at semester's end,” notes Erika Beras in the Miami Herald article “Santería class less ritual, more rigor.”

“ ‘This is not some fringe movement,’ Pichardo told his students. ‘If you can get a Ph.D. in Judaism or Christianity, you should at least be able to take a course in Santería.’… …At semester's end in December, the students said they now know more about the history of Africa and the Americas.”

Pichardo wants his class to grow from an offering to a major course of study at FIU: Santería is already taught in various other higher education programs across the nation – but mainly as an elective class for Religion majors.

Columbia University, Rice University, Rutgers University, West Virginia University, The New School, and the University at Buffalo are among a number of schools that offer classes which touch on the subject, but not many specifically focus on the ideological and intellectual worldview that Santería worshipers live in.

“Our objective is to teach and what better way to erase the negative prejudices and stereotypes that exist about this religion,” Akin Ogundiran, director of the African-New World Studies Department, told Univision in the article Santería se dictará en Universidad: Nuevo curso promete acabar con mitos by G.R. Murillo.

“I believe that our students will be better educated by having the best professors and the best sources to learn about this subject. Everyone is governed by a God and by his or her beliefs and experiences; it’s the same with Santería. And those students registered in this class will come away with their minds opened to this fact.”

FIU’s press release about the course offering gave a short biography of Pichardo: “Born in Cuba, Oba Pichardo was claimed in utero by the Yoruba divinity Sango. He was among the first wave of immigrants that left Cuba following the revolution. In 1971, he was ordained to the priesthood of Sango, and has since then dedicated himself fully to the study of Lucumi religion and philosophy. Oba Pichardo describes the experience in the following words: ‘It’s like going to the university and never being able to graduate.’ This refers to the intense intellectual life and learning required of a Lucumi-Yoruba priest. One decade of oral apprenticeship and practice earned Pichardo the rank of Oba Oriate, a high-ranking position that makes him a master of all rites of passage, priesthood ordination, and divination in Lukumi-Yoruba religion.

“Ernesto co-founded Church of Lukumi Babalú Ayé (CLBA) in 1974, and has since then served as its president, charged with developing the structure of the church and its educational and outreach programs. CLBA is recognized as the first Lukumi church with a corporate structure in the history of the African Diaspora.”

Besides his writings and frequent media appearances talking about the importance of Santería, Oba Pichardo is known throughout Florida for having won a June 11, 1993 U.S. Supreme Court case against the city of Hialeah, Florida.

The Supreme Court found that a Hialeah city ordinance banning ritual animal sacrifices was specifically created for enforcement against CLBA’s Santería practitioners. The justices said that the law was unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment’s “Free Exercise Clause.” The practice of Santería is legal in the United States today because the Church of Lukumi Babalú Ayé won its federal lawsuit against the city of Hialeah.