2018 – In process
The Abakua Secret Society belongs to the chapter entitled The Long Journey, which reflects on the weight and great importance of Africanness in the shaping of Cuban identity. Cuba cannot be understood without the heritage of its slaves. Their beliefs and legacy permeate Cuban society at all levels.
The Long Journey is one of the chapters of my long-term photographic project entitled he Island about Cuban society, its culture and its changes in the last decades.
The Abakua Secret Society It is the only one of its kind on the American continent and is almost two hundred years old. It is a brotherhood exclusively for men where one must prove to be “macho” and effeminate conduct, as well as cowardice or weakness are taboo. Some of its members are linked to marginality and delinquency, but there are also members of the military, professionals, intellectuals and artists. It has always been very closed and secretive, but the new generation, unlike their elders, speak openly about being abakuas because it gives them status and power in their neighbourhoods.
“To be a good son, a good father, a good brother, a good friend and a good man”; this is the philosophy of the Abakua Secret Society. This is what an abakua answers when asked, “What does being an abakua mean to you?
The Island
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