ABSTRACT
In the context of some “creole” societies in the Americas, there is disagreement over the African roots of particular religious practices and beliefs, in which ethnic origins and religious observance are considered to be intrinsically linked. The generation and maintenance of the sense of community originated in Africa, in contrast to the development of pan-ethnic Yoruba and Igbo identities. In Brazil, lay brotherhoods allowed ethnic organization within a religiously derived structure of Christianity, so that candomble, of West-Central African origin, became the means of consolidating Nago ethnicity. In examining the charter generation of transatlantic port communities, Berlin raises the issue of layers of adjustment and identity formation, which intersected with religion and ethnicity. The concept of ethnicity is a particularly valuable tool for unraveling the past because it is a complex phenomenon tied into very specific historical situations. The ethnicity, religion, and culture of the enslaved population kept changing.
