David H. Brown

Originally published in 2003, The Light Inside is a ground-breaking study of an Afro-Cuban secret society, its sacred arts, and their role in modern Cuban cultural history. Enslaved Africans and creoles developed the Abakuá Society, a system of men’s fraternal lodges, in urban Cuba beginnings in 1836. Drawing on years of fieldwork in the country, the book’s novel approach builds on close readings of dazzling Abakuá altars, chalk-drawn signs, and hooded masquerades. It looks at the art history of Abakuá altars, not only tracing changing styles but also how they evolve through cycles of tradition and renovation. The Light Inside reflects the essence of the artists’ creativity and experience: through adornment, altars project the powerful spirituality of Abakuá practice, an aesthetic strategy. The book also traces a biography of Abakuá objects – their shifting forms and meanings – as they participated in successive periods of Cuban cultural history. The book constructs close rhetorical and visual analyses of changing representations of the Abakuá, spanning nineteenth-century arts and letters, modern ethnographic texts, museum displays, paintings, and late twentieth century commercial kitsch. This interdisciplinary work combines art history, African Diaspora, cultural studies and cultural anthropology with Latin American.

Ever since its emergence in colonial-era Cuba, Afro-Cuban Santería (or Lucumí) has displayed a complex dynamic of continuity and change in its institutions, rituals, and iconography. Originally published in 2003 Santería Enthroned combines art, history, cultural anthropology, and ethnohistory to show how Africans and their descendants have developed novel forms of religious practice in the face of relentless oppression. Focusing on the royal throne as a potent metaphor in Santería belief and practice it shows how negotiations among ideologically competing interests have shaped the religion’s symbols, rituals, and institutions from the nineteenth century to the present. Rich case studies of change in Cuba and the United States, including a New Jersey temple and South Carolina’s Oyotunji Village, reveal patterns of innovation similar to those found among rival Yoruba kingdoms in Nigeria. Throughout, the book argues for a theoretical perspective on culture as a field of potential strategies and "usuable pasts" that actors draw upon to craft new forms and identities – a perspective that will be invaluable to all students of the African Diaspora.

Implement Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) for secure network and application communications, exploring SASE services including SD-WAN, ZTF, and more with expert Jeremiah Ginn who helps CxO leaders achieve SASE successKey FeaturesMerge networking and security services into a single architecture to simplify network infrastructureExplore how zero trust network access (ZTNA) restricts access to provide native application segmentationFocus on a native, multitenant cloud architecture that scales dynamically with demandBook DescriptionThe SASE concept was coined by Gartner after seeing a pattern emerge in cloud and SD-WAN projects where full security integration was needed. The market behavior lately has sparked something like a "space race" for all technology manufacturers and cloud service providers to offer a "SASE" solution. The current training available in the market is minimal and manufacturer-oriented, with new services being released every few weeks. Professional architects and engineers trying to implement SASE need to take a manufacturer-neutral approach. This guide provides a foundation for understanding SASE, but it also has a lasting impact because it not only addresses the problems that existed at the time of publication, but also provides a continual learning approach to successfully lead in a market that evolves every few weeks. Technology teams need a tool that provides a model to keep up with new information as it becomes available and stay ahead of market hype. With this book, you'll learn about crucial models for SASE success in designing, building, deploying, and supporting operations to ensure the most positive user experience (UX). In addition to SASE, you'll gain insight into SD-WAN design, DevOps, zero trust, and next-generation technical education methods.What you will learnDevelop a comprehensive understanding of SASE from a market and technical perspectiveUnderstand SASE services and components included in SASE solutionsMove logically from prescriptive design to policy-based design and orchestrationUnderstand standard SASE use cases and how to integrate future componentsConvert from a legacy network design model to a secure DevOps model for future projectsUse a functional design overlay to eliminate inter-service competition for the control plane of the SASE serviceWho this book is forThis book is for technology and security leaders and specifically for any CTO, CSO, CISO, or CIO looking for an executive approach to SASE for their organization. Anyone implementing SD-WAN, SASE, and SASE services for cloud, network, and security infrastructure will also find this book helpful.

Originally published in 2003, The Light Inside is a ground-breaking study of an Afro-Cuban secret society, its sacred arts, and their role in modern Cuban cultural history. Enslaved Africans and creoles developed the Abakuá Society, a system of men’s fraternal lodges, in urban Cuba beginnings in 1836. Drawing on years of fieldwork in the country, the book’s novel approach builds on close readings of dazzling Abakuá altars, chalk-drawn signs, and hooded masquerades. It looks at the art history of Abakuá altars, not only tracing changing styles but also how they evolve through cycles of tradition and renovation. The Light Inside reflects the essence of the artists’ creativity and experience: through adornment, altars project the powerful spirituality of Abakuá practice, an aesthetic strategy. The book also traces a biography of Abakuá objects – their shifting forms and meanings – as they participated in successive periods of Cuban cultural history. The book constructs close rhetorical and visual analyses of changing representations of the Abakuá, spanning nineteenth-century arts and letters, modern ethnographic texts, museum displays, paintings, and late twentieth century commercial kitsch. This interdisciplinary work combines art history, African Diaspora, cultural studies and cultural anthropology with Latin American.

Ever since its emergence in colonial-era Cuba, Afro-Cuban Santería (or Lucumí) has displayed a complex dynamic of continuity and change in its institutions, rituals, and iconography. Originally published in 2003 Santería Enthroned combines art, history, cultural anthropology, and ethnohistory to show how Africans and their descendants have developed novel forms of religious practice in the face of relentless oppression. Focusing on the royal throne as a potent metaphor in Santería belief and practice it shows how negotiations among ideologically competing interests have shaped the religion’s symbols, rituals, and institutions from the nineteenth century to the present. Rich case studies of change in Cuba and the United States, including a New Jersey temple and South Carolina’s Oyotunji Village, reveal patterns of innovation similar to those found among rival Yoruba kingdoms in Nigeria. Throughout, the book argues for a theoretical perspective on culture as a field of potential strategies and "usuable pasts" that actors draw upon to craft new forms and identities – a perspective that will be invaluable to all students of the African Diaspora.

Anyone living in a gated community or in a condominium property knows there is an elected board of directors. They wield a lot of power and spend the residents' money - wisely or not. Acrimony often sets in. The board in this novel is no different. There is skullduggery, innocence, pathos, trust and mistrust. The president of the board is conflicted, and disappears. This introduces the subplot. All come together in an exciting way, but the ending is a surprise because there is not any hint of it. Readers may well identify with the fictitious board. The author and his wife live in two different residences that have condo boards. One in Florida is a house in a gated community. The other is an apartment in a high-rise building in a Washington, DC suburb. This unique novel was sparked by personal observation, plus comments from others who live in similar communities.

Anyone living in a gated community or in a condominium property knows there is an elected board of directors. They wield a lot of power and spend the residents' money - wisely or not. Acrimony often sets in. The board in this novel is no different. There is skullduggery, innocence, pathos, trust and mistrust. The president of the board is conflicted, and disappears. This introduces the subplot. All come together in an exciting way, but the ending is a surprise because there is not any hint of it. Readers may well identify with the fictitious board. The author and his wife live in two different residences that have condo boards. One in Florida is a house in a gated community. The other is an apartment in a high-rise building in a Washington, DC suburb. This unique novel was sparked by personal observation, plus comments from others who live in similar communities.