Lydia Cabrera (Havana, Cuba, May 20, 1899 - Miami, Florida, September 19, 1991) was a Cuban anthropologist and poet.
Cabrera was born in Havana; She was an authority on Santería and other Afro-Cuban religions. Over her lifetime she published over one hundred books; little if any of her work is available in English. Her most important book is El Monte, (Spanish: "The Wilderness") which was the first major anthropological study of Afro-Cuban tradit...
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Lydia Cabrera (Havana, Cuba, May 20, 1899 - Miami, Florida, September 19, 1991) was a Cuban anthropologist and poet.
Cabrera was born in Havana; She was an authority on Santería and other Afro-Cuban religions. Over her lifetime she published over one hundred books; little if any of her work is available in English. Her most important book is El Monte, (Spanish: "The Wilderness") which was the first major anthropological study of Afro-Cuban traditions. Upon her death, she donated her research collection to the library of the University of Miami. A section in Guillermo Cabrera Infante's book, Tres Tigres Tristes, has a section written under Lydia Cabrera's name, in a comical rendition of her literary voice.
The youngest of eight siblings, she comes from a very privileged white family where her father,Raimundo Cabrera, was a prominent man in society and her mother, Elisa Marcaida Casanova, was a respected socialite. Her father was a lawyer, jurist, writer, and president of the first...
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