"Obí Agbón: Lukumí Divination with Coconut"

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT MUCH MORE THAN JUST OBI DIVINATION. Obí Agbón is a ground-breaking exploration of Lukumí (Yoruba) divination with coconut and its historical evolution in Cuba and the Cuban diaspora. This study reviews the existing scholarship on the topic, offering critical and profound observations that are of great significance and relevance to the state of affairs of Lukumí religion in the XXIst century. In the process of analyzing the subject of Lukumí divination, this book examines some of the important debates, internal divergences and worrisome, unprecedented trends that have challenged the Lukumí community through the years, and continue to do so in the modern context. Furthermore, while not dismissing the role of mythology and tradition, the author's exploration presents a series of fundamental considerations that are vital for devotees and the scholarship, which are founded upon historical archival evidence as well as oral "texts"-the accounts of the Lukumí community themselves. In the process, the reader gains valuable insight about the role of human capriciousness and inventiveness that so often lead to confusion, discrepancies and contention amongst Olorishas, and so often upset or alter religious practice. Built upon very firm foundations, this study will certainly-and hopefully-lead to other levels of discussion that are of extreme importance given the growth and expansion of the Lukumí religion since the Cuban Revolution.