Authenticity and Authority in the Shaping of the Trinidad Orisha Identity: Toward an African-Derived Religious Theory.

Historical Background The contemporary practice of African-derived religions in Trinidad lends much to the theoretical discussion of Black religious formation in the Western Hemisphere in the twenty first century. Trinidad is the larger of two inhabited islands of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Among its multi-ethnic and multi-religious population of about 1.1 million are descendants of enslaved and immigrant Africans who comprise one of the two largest ethnic groups on the island.