The Abakuá Secret Societies of Cuba

Record summary

Abakuá are male initiatory associations in Cuba, historically associated with free and enslaved Africans from the Cross River region and with mutual aid, ritual performance, drum language, oaths, and secret knowledge. The first documented Cuban lodges emerged in the early nineteenth century, while origin narratives connect them to African Ekpe institutions. This matters for comparison because secrecy, ritual governance, performance, and colonial surveillance intersect in a durable institution. The relationship between African antecedents and Cuban reconstitution remains an active scholarly topic.