ABSTRACT
For the countless numbers of Africans captured, enslaved, and transported to Venezuela during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, adaptation to their new environment did not imply resettling and assimilating to the mores and practices of the geographical spaces where they ended up landing. Current evidence of the survival of African cultural elements in the Americas indicates intentional decisions and acts of resistance to the overwhelming pressures to adapt and conform to subservient roles in societies and backbreaking labor in fields and mines. Resistance was carried out in many forms and in many places: on plantations, in cities, and in secret spaces. In Venezuela specifically, and throughout the Americas in general, African dance, music, and spirituality continued in new realities and has been used in mental and physical quests for liberation. Through a cross-disciplinary lens, this chapter highlights the large role played by dance and other cultural elements in the historical and current resistance of African people in Venezuela.
