Black Puerto Rican Identity and Religious Experience

Loiza is a Puerto Rican town known for best representing the African traditions. It's mostly black population is affected by profound racial discrimination and poverty. Many Loiza residents strongly identify themselves in religious terms, strategically managing their identities through a spiritual prism that effectively helps them cope with and transform their difficult reality.

Based on twelve months of fieldwork, this study shows how believers experience their religion in its various dimensions. Arguing that understanding and respecting the power of religion in this community is essential to addressing and remedying its social problems, Hernandez Hiraldo contests the characterisation of Puerto Rico as a culturally homogenous country with a monolithic church.