Convince

Convince is a term used for a branch of African religion found in the Americas, namely in Jamaica and the southern United States. It denotes a uniquely African diasporan form of African religion that takes the spiritual elements most closely associated with transformation into the culture of the African Americans. Where some of the mythology that relates to the specific African context may be changed or modified, most of the concepts that may be called spiritual are used in the new American context. This relationship to Africa is a cosmological connection based on the memory of ancient African ideals.

Indeed, the diversity of African expressions in the Americas attests to the strength of African cultural forms in religion. One sees Convince in Jamaica and the southern United States, but related forms of African religion may be found throughout the Americas. One of the reasons that Convince has become so prominent in some communities is because it responds to the existential condition of Africans fighting against the legacies of slavery. It provides the believer with the power to overcome all adversity.

When one examines the persistence of African religions in the Americas, it becomes clear that they are all similar, have characteristics that might be seen as the same as those of Convince, and are deeply dependent on the spiritual activities of invisible forces. This is true whether it is Santeria in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico; Vodun in Haiti; Shango in Trinidad and Grenada; Candomble and Umbanda in Brazil; Convince and Cumina in Jamaica; Big Drum Dance in Carriacou (Grenada); Kele in St. Lucia; Maria Lionza in Venezuela; Espiritismo in Puerto Rico; and Rastafarianism in Jamaica.

In Jamaica, Convince is a nontextual religion that bases most of its worship and spiritual access on the deities of Africa as they have been transformed in the Americas. It highlights possession, ritual dancing, and healing services. Similar to most other forms of African religion, Convince practitioners seek harmony and balance in life through appeals to the ancestors and spirits.

Because Convince is experienced as an African form with particular powers against established religions of the West, it has been, along with other African religious expressions, persecuted. In Jamaica, there were legal regulations to control Convince as early as 1781, and later in 1784, 1788, 1808, 1816, 1826, and 1827, there were restrictions placed on Obeah, another Jamaican version of the African religion. Since the 20th century, the Rastafari have come under similar attacks by the authorities in several nations. Although Convince has been subjected to persecution, it has remained a strong influence in the rural area and in some urban areas of Jamaica.