Paul Christopher Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150582
- eISBN:
- 9780199834358
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150589.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This book is about secrecy in religion and the process by which traditionally secretive religions become public, taking as its case the Afro‐Brazilian religion of Candomblé. The book argues that ...
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This book is about secrecy in religion and the process by which traditionally secretive religions become public, taking as its case the Afro‐Brazilian religion of Candomblé. The book argues that Candomblé's entrance to the national public sphere of Brazil entails a two‐part process: (1) Practitioners become active participants in the dissemination of knowledge about the religion, including protected knowledge or secrets, and thus choose to enter the public sphere; and (2) the metropole turns toward indigenous religions like Candomblé as a source of exotic fascination and a set of religious practices from which outsiders may selectively appropriate. The result is religion innovation that nonetheless evokes strident discourses of traditional continuity – here in the form of claims to authenticity, depth, and secret knowledge.The book explores secrecy as a form of social boundary making and the social processes through which such boundaries are both ritually and discursively forged. The book coins and explicates the neologism of secretism. If secrecy is the act of restricting information and the establishment of sanctions against the uncontrolled flow of information, secretism is, contrariwise, a dissemination or placing into circulation the reputation of secrets and claims of their possession and location. The contemporary meanings of secrecy and secretism become legible when read against the historical stages of Candomblé's relation to the nation of Brazil as a whole and the purposes secrecy served during successive historical stages: (1) the secrecy of African hermeneutics carried by slaves to the shores of Brazil; (2) the secrecy‐as‐resistance to the slave colony and kingdom of Brazil; (3) the secrecy of hidden affiliations with the newly formed Afro‐Brazilian religion under the First Republic; (4) the gradual replacement of secrets by secretism, the discourse of “depth” and “foundation” after Brazilian Candomblé became known and “national” under the Second Republic; and finally, (5) the layering of these uses of secrets and secretism to adjudicate religious meanings, orders, and privileges in contemporary practice.The book argues that as Candomblé has become a national and public religion during the last decades through radically augmented forms of disclosure, freely circulated discourses of secret, African knowledge have begun to eclipse ritual practices and locales formerly regarded as traditional, generating new modes of religious affiliation.Less
This book is about secrecy in religion and the process by which traditionally secretive religions become public, taking as its case the Afro‐Brazilian religion of Candomblé. The book argues that Candomblé's entrance to the national public sphere of Brazil entails a two‐part process: (1) Practitioners become active participants in the dissemination of knowledge about the religion, including protected knowledge or secrets, and thus choose to enter the public sphere; and (2) the metropole turns toward indigenous religions like Candomblé as a source of exotic fascination and a set of religious practices from which outsiders may selectively appropriate. The result is religion innovation that nonetheless evokes strident discourses of traditional continuity – here in the form of claims to authenticity, depth, and secret knowledge.
The book explores secrecy as a form of social boundary making and the social processes through which such boundaries are both ritually and discursively forged. The book coins and explicates the neologism of secretism. If secrecy is the act of restricting information and the establishment of sanctions against the uncontrolled flow of information, secretism is, contrariwise, a dissemination or placing into circulation the reputation of secrets and claims of their possession and location. The contemporary meanings of secrecy and secretism become legible when read against the historical stages of Candomblé's relation to the nation of Brazil as a whole and the purposes secrecy served during successive historical stages: (1) the secrecy of African hermeneutics carried by slaves to the shores of Brazil; (2) the secrecy‐as‐resistance to the slave colony and kingdom of Brazil; (3) the secrecy of hidden affiliations with the newly formed Afro‐Brazilian religion under the First Republic; (4) the gradual replacement of secrets by secretism, the discourse of “depth” and “foundation” after Brazilian Candomblé became known and “national” under the Second Republic; and finally, (5) the layering of these uses of secrets and secretism to adjudicate religious meanings, orders, and privileges in contemporary practice.
The book argues that as Candomblé has become a national and public religion during the last decades through radically augmented forms of disclosure, freely circulated discourses of secret, African knowledge have begun to eclipse ritual practices and locales formerly regarded as traditional, generating new modes of religious affiliation.
Paul Christopher Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150582
- eISBN:
- 9780199834358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150589.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The introduction presents the concept of secretism and its relevance for the study of Brazilian Candomblé. Secretism is framed as a key issue brokering relations between indigenous religions and ...
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The introduction presents the concept of secretism and its relevance for the study of Brazilian Candomblé. Secretism is framed as a key issue brokering relations between indigenous religions and their host nation states. The overall strategy of the book is proffered, along with salient methodological notes and an introduction to the primary research sites.Less
The introduction presents the concept of secretism and its relevance for the study of Brazilian Candomblé. Secretism is framed as a key issue brokering relations between indigenous religions and their host nation states. The overall strategy of the book is proffered, along with salient methodological notes and an introduction to the primary research sites.
Paul Christopher Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150582
- eISBN:
- 9780199834358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150589.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Presents a point of departure for the study of secrecy through a close examination of Georg Simmel's seminal 1906 essay and offers a preliminary examination of secrets and secretism in Candomblé ...
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Presents a point of departure for the study of secrecy through a close examination of Georg Simmel's seminal 1906 essay and offers a preliminary examination of secrets and secretism in Candomblé discourse. The chapter explores the meaning of the assertion that “a secret religion becomes public.” The chapter suggests that though there are no consensual secrets uniting the religion of Candomblé as a whole, there are “local secrets” that mark grades of status within each temple. Secrecy is theorized as a technique for the construction of social boundaries; it is a boundary without specific content marking reclusion from the public sphere.Less
Presents a point of departure for the study of secrecy through a close examination of Georg Simmel's seminal 1906 essay and offers a preliminary examination of secrets and secretism in Candomblé discourse. The chapter explores the meaning of the assertion that “a secret religion becomes public.” The chapter suggests that though there are no consensual secrets uniting the religion of Candomblé as a whole, there are “local secrets” that mark grades of status within each temple. Secrecy is theorized as a technique for the construction of social boundaries; it is a boundary without specific content marking reclusion from the public sphere.
Paul Christopher Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150582
- eISBN:
- 9780199834358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150589.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Here, the religion of Candomblé is described. Candomblé is presented as a relatively stable system of meanings and practices. Johnson maps out the contour lines along which variations occur, the ...
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Here, the religion of Candomblé is described. Candomblé is presented as a relatively stable system of meanings and practices. Johnson maps out the contour lines along which variations occur, the semiotic system linking historically disparate groups of practice. The key vectors of signification described include: (1) the orixás (orishas) and the digestive metaphor of exchange, (2) Africa, “Africa” and Afro‐Brazil, (3) gender and spirit possession, (4) axé and the terreiro, and (5) Candomblé in the context of a broader Brazilian religious field of spirit‐possession religions.Less
Here, the religion of Candomblé is described. Candomblé is presented as a relatively stable system of meanings and practices. Johnson maps out the contour lines along which variations occur, the semiotic system linking historically disparate groups of practice. The key vectors of signification described include: (1) the orixás (orishas) and the digestive metaphor of exchange, (2) Africa, “Africa” and Afro‐Brazil, (3) gender and spirit possession, (4) axé and the terreiro, and (5) Candomblé in the context of a broader Brazilian religious field of spirit‐possession religions.
Paul Christopher Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150582
- eISBN:
- 9780199834358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150589.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Presents conceptions of secrecy West Africans brought with them to Brazil: the interpretive separation of superficial appearance from “deep knowledge,” the face presented in public (ori ode) versus ...
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Presents conceptions of secrecy West Africans brought with them to Brazil: the interpretive separation of superficial appearance from “deep knowledge,” the face presented in public (ori ode) versus the inner head (ori inu), the layered nature of knowledge, which is ultimately bottomless, and the secret society of the Ogboni earth cult among the Yoruba. Additionally, the chapter recounts the nineteenth‐century context and motivations for a second historical layer of secrecy generated in response to repressive slave laws and policing, and the construal of Candomblé as illegal sorcery. Candomblé is interpreted as a secret society that was both built upon West African ideals of secrecy and constructed in Brazil as a religion that was seen, but not penetrated, and whose members concealed their affiliations with the orixás. Finally, in a third use of secrecy, the chapter demonstrates how masters with reason to fear it attributed extraordinary powers to exotic Candomblé.Less
Presents conceptions of secrecy West Africans brought with them to Brazil: the interpretive separation of superficial appearance from “deep knowledge,” the face presented in public (ori ode) versus the inner head (ori inu), the layered nature of knowledge, which is ultimately bottomless, and the secret society of the Ogboni earth cult among the Yoruba. Additionally, the chapter recounts the nineteenth‐century context and motivations for a second historical layer of secrecy generated in response to repressive slave laws and policing, and the construal of Candomblé as illegal sorcery. Candomblé is interpreted as a secret society that was both built upon West African ideals of secrecy and constructed in Brazil as a religion that was seen, but not penetrated, and whose members concealed their affiliations with the orixás. Finally, in a third use of secrecy, the chapter demonstrates how masters with reason to fear it attributed extraordinary powers to exotic Candomblé.
Paul Christopher Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150582
- eISBN:
- 9780199834358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150589.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Describes the sociopolitical context of the new republican public order of Brazil between 1889 and 1930 that uncovered a third historical layer of the practice of secrecy, now as resistance to the ...
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Describes the sociopolitical context of the new republican public order of Brazil between 1889 and 1930 that uncovered a third historical layer of the practice of secrecy, now as resistance to the republic.The problem of the classification of Candomblé in the Brazilian public sphere began in 1888 with abolition. It is precisely at this juncture that the relation of Afro‐Brazilians and their religions to Brazilian national identity became a pressing concern. With the advent of abolition and the inchoateness of Afro‐Brazilians’ new social position, their provisional status as “Brazilians” shifted in the eyes of white élites back to that of “Africans” and therefore, foreigners – a dangerous and polluting presence. The liberty of freed slaves to perform religious ceremonies involving drumming, sacrifice, and possession dance was an obvious site of contestation since it was in such ritual performances that difference – the “non‐Brazilian” identity – was most radically marked.Less
Describes the sociopolitical context of the new republican public order of Brazil between 1889 and 1930 that uncovered a third historical layer of the practice of secrecy, now as resistance to the republic.
The problem of the classification of Candomblé in the Brazilian public sphere began in 1888 with abolition. It is precisely at this juncture that the relation of Afro‐Brazilians and their religions to Brazilian national identity became a pressing concern. With the advent of abolition and the inchoateness of Afro‐Brazilians’ new social position, their provisional status as “Brazilians” shifted in the eyes of white élites back to that of “Africans” and therefore, foreigners – a dangerous and polluting presence. The liberty of freed slaves to perform religious ceremonies involving drumming, sacrifice, and possession dance was an obvious site of contestation since it was in such ritual performances that difference – the “non‐Brazilian” identity – was most radically marked.
Paul Christopher Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150582
- eISBN:
- 9780199834358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150589.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Candomblé's expansion beyond ethnic markers and beyond the bounds of the traditional sites of ritual practice is described and analyzed under the rubric of public Candomblé. The chapter interprets ...
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Candomblé's expansion beyond ethnic markers and beyond the bounds of the traditional sites of ritual practice is described and analyzed under the rubric of public Candomblé. The chapter interprets the shift from the traditional form of secrecy, the initiation of contained bodies within the inner chamber, to secretism, the circulation of discourse on the street about secrets. Public Candomblé is under construction through bureaucratic institutionalizing efforts, published information about Candomblé, television broadcasts, film representations, and sites devoted to Candomblé on the Web.The second half of the chapter assesses the feedback loop between public Candomblé and traditional practice within the terreiros, schematized as a “protestant” effect – the condensation of ritual practice and concomitant elaboration of discourse.Less
Candomblé's expansion beyond ethnic markers and beyond the bounds of the traditional sites of ritual practice is described and analyzed under the rubric of public Candomblé. The chapter interprets the shift from the traditional form of secrecy, the initiation of contained bodies within the inner chamber, to secretism, the circulation of discourse on the street about secrets. Public Candomblé is under construction through bureaucratic institutionalizing efforts, published information about Candomblé, television broadcasts, film representations, and sites devoted to Candomblé on the Web.
The second half of the chapter assesses the feedback loop between public Candomblé and traditional practice within the terreiros, schematized as a “protestant” effect – the condensation of ritual practice and concomitant elaboration of discourse.
Paul Christopher Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150582
- eISBN:
- 9780199834358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150589.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Explains the rise of secretism by summarizing three related arguments: First, Candomblé had no option to remain silent about the religion, only to either be represented or to take part in the control ...
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Explains the rise of secretism by summarizing three related arguments: First, Candomblé had no option to remain silent about the religion, only to either be represented or to take part in the control and production of those representations. Here, secretism follows the pattern of the incitement to discourse theorized by Foucault, as part and parcel of the creation and required administration of the public sphere. Second, claims to secrets are now circulated as a system of intrareligious prestige, a competition for limited rewards. In this competitive context, claims to deep secrets (secretism) are stimulated, compared to their former relative stability in traditional ritual practice. Third, secretism attempts to resecure the locative identity of Candomblé by discursively constructing boundaries for the experience of place, the ritual ideal of acquiring “foundation.” Secretism has therefore grown in direct proportion to Candomblé's publicization.Less
Explains the rise of secretism by summarizing three related arguments: First, Candomblé had no option to remain silent about the religion, only to either be represented or to take part in the control and production of those representations. Here, secretism follows the pattern of the incitement to discourse theorized by Foucault, as part and parcel of the creation and required administration of the public sphere. Second, claims to secrets are now circulated as a system of intrareligious prestige, a competition for limited rewards. In this competitive context, claims to deep secrets (secretism) are stimulated, compared to their former relative stability in traditional ritual practice. Third, secretism attempts to resecure the locative identity of Candomblé by discursively constructing boundaries for the experience of place, the ritual ideal of acquiring “foundation.” Secretism has therefore grown in direct proportion to Candomblé's publicization.
Stephen Selka
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813031712
- eISBN:
- 9780813039572
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813031712.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Brazilians of African descent draw upon both Christian and African diasporic religions to construct their racial identities in a variety of intriguing ways. Focusing on the Recôncavo region of ...
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Brazilians of African descent draw upon both Christian and African diasporic religions to construct their racial identities in a variety of intriguing ways. Focusing on the Recôncavo region of north-eastern Brazil—known for its rich Afro-Brazilian traditions and as a center of racial consciousness in the country—this book provides an ethnography that examines what it means to be black in Brazil. It examines how Evangelical Protestantism, Candomblé (traditional Afro-Brazilian religion), and Catholicism—especially progressive Catholicism—are deployed in discursive struggles concerning racism and identity. In the process, the book provides a model of wedding abstract theory with concrete details of everyday life. Revealing the complexity and sometimes contradictory aspects of Afro-Brazilian religious practices and racial identity, the book brings a balanced perspective to polarized discussions of Brazilian racial politics.Less
Brazilians of African descent draw upon both Christian and African diasporic religions to construct their racial identities in a variety of intriguing ways. Focusing on the Recôncavo region of north-eastern Brazil—known for its rich Afro-Brazilian traditions and as a center of racial consciousness in the country—this book provides an ethnography that examines what it means to be black in Brazil. It examines how Evangelical Protestantism, Candomblé (traditional Afro-Brazilian religion), and Catholicism—especially progressive Catholicism—are deployed in discursive struggles concerning racism and identity. In the process, the book provides a model of wedding abstract theory with concrete details of everyday life. Revealing the complexity and sometimes contradictory aspects of Afro-Brazilian religious practices and racial identity, the book brings a balanced perspective to polarized discussions of Brazilian racial politics.
Lindsay Hale
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195149180
- eISBN:
- 9780199835386
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195149181.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The ritual aesthetics of Afrobrazilian religions such as Umbanda and Candomblé exhibit a great range of diversity. This chapter explores the possibility that the diverse aesthetics of Afrobrazilian ...
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The ritual aesthetics of Afrobrazilian religions such as Umbanda and Candomblé exhibit a great range of diversity. This chapter explores the possibility that the diverse aesthetics of Afrobrazilian religion reflect and express divergent stances toward contested issues of race and identity in Brazil, while constituting markedly different experiences of spirituality and the sacred. The chapter suggests that we approach Afrobrazilian religious aesthetics through a “politics of the senses.”Less
The ritual aesthetics of Afrobrazilian religions such as Umbanda and Candomblé exhibit a great range of diversity. This chapter explores the possibility that the diverse aesthetics of Afrobrazilian religion reflect and express divergent stances toward contested issues of race and identity in Brazil, while constituting markedly different experiences of spirituality and the sacred. The chapter suggests that we approach Afrobrazilian religious aesthetics through a “politics of the senses.”
Andrew Apter
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226506388
- eISBN:
- 9780226506555
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226506555.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
This book challenges the seasoned trend of disavowing Africa in the Black Atlantic, showing how Yoruba cultural frameworks from West Africa remade black kingdoms and communities in the Americas. ...
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This book challenges the seasoned trend of disavowing Africa in the Black Atlantic, showing how Yoruba cultural frameworks from West Africa remade black kingdoms and communities in the Americas. Highlighting revisionary strategies and regenerative schemes that are grounded in the dialectics of ritual renewal, it revisits classic topoi in Afro-American studies such as Herskovits’s syncretic paradigm, the petwo paradox in Haitian Vodou, the historical conditions of orisha cult clustering, re-mappings of gender in plantation societies, and the rise of Lucumí and Nagô houses in Cuba and Brazil, in each case offering new interpretations based on cognate dynamics in Yorubaland. The book thereby argues for a critically reformulated culture concept, in this case distinctively “Yoruba,” which designates something real, somewhat knowable, eminently historical, and even indispensable for locating Africa in the Black Atlantic.Less
This book challenges the seasoned trend of disavowing Africa in the Black Atlantic, showing how Yoruba cultural frameworks from West Africa remade black kingdoms and communities in the Americas. Highlighting revisionary strategies and regenerative schemes that are grounded in the dialectics of ritual renewal, it revisits classic topoi in Afro-American studies such as Herskovits’s syncretic paradigm, the petwo paradox in Haitian Vodou, the historical conditions of orisha cult clustering, re-mappings of gender in plantation societies, and the rise of Lucumí and Nagô houses in Cuba and Brazil, in each case offering new interpretations based on cognate dynamics in Yorubaland. The book thereby argues for a critically reformulated culture concept, in this case distinctively “Yoruba,” which designates something real, somewhat knowable, eminently historical, and even indispensable for locating Africa in the Black Atlantic.
Stephen Selka
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813031712
- eISBN:
- 9780813039572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813031712.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This chapter discusses Candomblé, Afro-Brazilian culture and anti-racism within the context of the several diverse African-derived religions in Salvador and other Afro-Brazilian communities. This ...
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This chapter discusses Candomblé, Afro-Brazilian culture and anti-racism within the context of the several diverse African-derived religions in Salvador and other Afro-Brazilian communities. This chapter focuses on Salvador which is home to the oldest and most famous Candomblé terreiros in Bahia wherein several of these terrieros date back to the nineteenth century and were favored by some of Bahia's most prominent politicians and entertainers. The chapter also discusses the changes that have catapulted the Salvador Candomblé terreiros into less legitimate, less authentic, commercialized and folklorized version of Candomblé. The chapter also closely examines the concept of syncretism versus re-Africanization and anti-syncretism. Re-Africanization is the movement that aims to return to authentic African traditions to establish Candomblé as a religion of its own right. Anti-syncretism on the other hand aims to eliminate Catholic elements from Candomblé practices including the negative effects of the commercialization of the African-derived religion. The chapter also tackles the political involvement of the members of the African-derived religion on the issues of racism. This chapter illustrates the rather individualistic stance on anti-racism and anti-syncretism rather than the presumed collective political opinion represented by the terreiros.Less
This chapter discusses Candomblé, Afro-Brazilian culture and anti-racism within the context of the several diverse African-derived religions in Salvador and other Afro-Brazilian communities. This chapter focuses on Salvador which is home to the oldest and most famous Candomblé terreiros in Bahia wherein several of these terrieros date back to the nineteenth century and were favored by some of Bahia's most prominent politicians and entertainers. The chapter also discusses the changes that have catapulted the Salvador Candomblé terreiros into less legitimate, less authentic, commercialized and folklorized version of Candomblé. The chapter also closely examines the concept of syncretism versus re-Africanization and anti-syncretism. Re-Africanization is the movement that aims to return to authentic African traditions to establish Candomblé as a religion of its own right. Anti-syncretism on the other hand aims to eliminate Catholic elements from Candomblé practices including the negative effects of the commercialization of the African-derived religion. The chapter also tackles the political involvement of the members of the African-derived religion on the issues of racism. This chapter illustrates the rather individualistic stance on anti-racism and anti-syncretism rather than the presumed collective political opinion represented by the terreiros.
Clarence Bernard Henry
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604730821
- eISBN:
- 9781604733341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604730821.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter examines Candomblé musical performance, the role of drummers in Candomblé, and the influence of Candomblé musicians as popular music icons in their communities. It explains that the role ...
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This chapter examines Candomblé musical performance, the role of drummers in Candomblé, and the influence of Candomblé musicians as popular music icons in their communities. It explains that the role and significance assigned to the drum in the African and African diasporic experience reflects various types of beliefs, social and cultural practices, and religions within diverse historical contexts. The chapter also suggests that Candomblé musicians have “performative power,” are catalysts for axé music, and can be considered as major players in a dramatization of the spiritual world.Less
This chapter examines Candomblé musical performance, the role of drummers in Candomblé, and the influence of Candomblé musicians as popular music icons in their communities. It explains that the role and significance assigned to the drum in the African and African diasporic experience reflects various types of beliefs, social and cultural practices, and religions within diverse historical contexts. The chapter also suggests that Candomblé musicians have “performative power,” are catalysts for axé music, and can be considered as major players in a dramatization of the spiritual world.
Stephen Selka
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813031712
- eISBN:
- 9780813039572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813031712.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This book focuses on Brazilians of African descent. Focus is particularly directed on their Catholicism and their influences from African-derived religions in constructing their racial identities. ...
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This book focuses on Brazilians of African descent. Focus is particularly directed on their Catholicism and their influences from African-derived religions in constructing their racial identities. This book examines the Recôncavo region of Brazil which is home to Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions and to racial consciousness in the country. It examines how the religions of Evangelical Protestantism, Candomblé, and Catholicism have shaped and influenced the discursive struggles on racism and Afro-Brazilian identity. By revealing the multiplicity and sometimes contradictory features of the Afro-Brazilian religious practices and racial identity, the book aims to bring equilibrium to an otherwise polarized and opposing stand on Brazilian racial politics.Less
This book focuses on Brazilians of African descent. Focus is particularly directed on their Catholicism and their influences from African-derived religions in constructing their racial identities. This book examines the Recôncavo region of Brazil which is home to Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions and to racial consciousness in the country. It examines how the religions of Evangelical Protestantism, Candomblé, and Catholicism have shaped and influenced the discursive struggles on racism and Afro-Brazilian identity. By revealing the multiplicity and sometimes contradictory features of the Afro-Brazilian religious practices and racial identity, the book aims to bring equilibrium to an otherwise polarized and opposing stand on Brazilian racial politics.
Stephen Selka
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813031712
- eISBN:
- 9780813039572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813031712.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Brazil is often cited as the world's most Catholic country however in reality Brazil is a plethora of religions. While Catholicism is still the primary religion of the majority of Brazilians, there ...
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Brazil is often cited as the world's most Catholic country however in reality Brazil is a plethora of religions. While Catholicism is still the primary religion of the majority of Brazilians, there are significant numbers of Brazilians who frequent Protestant Churches, African-derived religions and Buddhist temples. This chapter discusses how the people of African descent involved in Catholic, Evangelical Christian, and Candomblé organizations have engaged in issues concerning Afro-Brazilian identity and struggled against racism in Brazil. Brazil is hailed as a racial democratic country devoid of de jure segregation and racial hostility due to its widespread racial mixture and cultural syncretism however, since the 1970s, there was an increasing recognition of the existence of racial discrimination in the life chances of white and black Brazilians. Racial discrimination was especially prevalent in the state of Bahia where Afro-Brazilian descent involved in the black movement used religious symbols to strengthen their Afro-Brazilian identity and to mobilize people to stand up against racism. This chapter focuses on the poor state of Bahia where the most concentrated Afro-Brazilian community can be found, the Recôncavo.Less
Brazil is often cited as the world's most Catholic country however in reality Brazil is a plethora of religions. While Catholicism is still the primary religion of the majority of Brazilians, there are significant numbers of Brazilians who frequent Protestant Churches, African-derived religions and Buddhist temples. This chapter discusses how the people of African descent involved in Catholic, Evangelical Christian, and Candomblé organizations have engaged in issues concerning Afro-Brazilian identity and struggled against racism in Brazil. Brazil is hailed as a racial democratic country devoid of de jure segregation and racial hostility due to its widespread racial mixture and cultural syncretism however, since the 1970s, there was an increasing recognition of the existence of racial discrimination in the life chances of white and black Brazilians. Racial discrimination was especially prevalent in the state of Bahia where Afro-Brazilian descent involved in the black movement used religious symbols to strengthen their Afro-Brazilian identity and to mobilize people to stand up against racism. This chapter focuses on the poor state of Bahia where the most concentrated Afro-Brazilian community can be found, the Recôncavo.
Stephen Selka
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813031712
- eISBN:
- 9780813039572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813031712.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Much of the discourse on Afro-Brazilian identity is pegged on Candomblé although the religion is not evenly practiced in Afro-Brazilian communities. Debates on syncretism, double belonging, and ...
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Much of the discourse on Afro-Brazilian identity is pegged on Candomblé although the religion is not evenly practiced in Afro-Brazilian communities. Debates on syncretism, double belonging, and anti-syncretism all pinpoint the existing relationship between Candomblé and Catholicism. Furthermore, emphasis on Candomblé shows a rather religious pluralism within African communities. This chapter discusses the political underpinnings that can be found in the relationship between Candomblé and Catholicism. More than just a religious rivalry, the constrained relationship between these two relationships exhibits a politics of race relations and racism. This chapter focuses on the distinctive ways in which evangelicals of African-descent engage religious discourses and practices as they construct their identities and struggle against racism. Through the black progressive evangelicals' emphasis on electoral politics and cultural approaches to mobilization, they have given much contribution to the debate and discourse about existing racism in Brazil. The chapter also discusses the increasingly blurred lines between Christians and the condomblecistas wherein although evangelical Christian communities generally are conservative and eschew the African-derived religion, a significant number of these evangelicals are reaching religious lines as they mobilize and forward a movement against racism.Less
Much of the discourse on Afro-Brazilian identity is pegged on Candomblé although the religion is not evenly practiced in Afro-Brazilian communities. Debates on syncretism, double belonging, and anti-syncretism all pinpoint the existing relationship between Candomblé and Catholicism. Furthermore, emphasis on Candomblé shows a rather religious pluralism within African communities. This chapter discusses the political underpinnings that can be found in the relationship between Candomblé and Catholicism. More than just a religious rivalry, the constrained relationship between these two relationships exhibits a politics of race relations and racism. This chapter focuses on the distinctive ways in which evangelicals of African-descent engage religious discourses and practices as they construct their identities and struggle against racism. Through the black progressive evangelicals' emphasis on electoral politics and cultural approaches to mobilization, they have given much contribution to the debate and discourse about existing racism in Brazil. The chapter also discusses the increasingly blurred lines between Christians and the condomblecistas wherein although evangelical Christian communities generally are conservative and eschew the African-derived religion, a significant number of these evangelicals are reaching religious lines as they mobilize and forward a movement against racism.
Stephen Selka
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813031712
- eISBN:
- 9780813039572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813031712.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This chapter discusses the complex and contested ways in which religion is enmeshed with the politics of Afro-Brazilian identity. As shown in the previous chapters of the book, religion and ...
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This chapter discusses the complex and contested ways in which religion is enmeshed with the politics of Afro-Brazilian identity. As shown in the previous chapters of the book, religion and Afro-Brazilian identity shared a complex relationship. Although Candomblé served as an emblem of Afro-Brazilian identity, the relationship between the religion and blackness is more than a simple and straightforward type of connectedness. This chapter attempts to address the issues surrounding the multiplicity and complexity of Afro-Brazilian identity and racial politics wherein a shared common identity and a shared political agenda were foreign concepts to people of African descent. Three major themes are discussed in this chapter that aim to address the issues of the rather varied stand on Afro-Brazilian identity and the approaches to racial politics. This chapter begins with a discussion on the relationship between religion and identity. The succeeding discussion draws on theoretical approaches to provide a better understanding of the connections between collective identities and power relations. The chapter concludes with the macropolitical questions concerning the politics of identity and the black movement in Brazil.Less
This chapter discusses the complex and contested ways in which religion is enmeshed with the politics of Afro-Brazilian identity. As shown in the previous chapters of the book, religion and Afro-Brazilian identity shared a complex relationship. Although Candomblé served as an emblem of Afro-Brazilian identity, the relationship between the religion and blackness is more than a simple and straightforward type of connectedness. This chapter attempts to address the issues surrounding the multiplicity and complexity of Afro-Brazilian identity and racial politics wherein a shared common identity and a shared political agenda were foreign concepts to people of African descent. Three major themes are discussed in this chapter that aim to address the issues of the rather varied stand on Afro-Brazilian identity and the approaches to racial politics. This chapter begins with a discussion on the relationship between religion and identity. The succeeding discussion draws on theoretical approaches to provide a better understanding of the connections between collective identities and power relations. The chapter concludes with the macropolitical questions concerning the politics of identity and the black movement in Brazil.
Clarence Bernard Henry
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604730821
- eISBN:
- 9781604733341
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604730821.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This book is the culmination of several years of field research on sacred and secular influences of àsé, the West African Yoruba concept that spread to Brazil and throughout the African Diaspora. Àsé ...
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This book is the culmination of several years of field research on sacred and secular influences of àsé, the West African Yoruba concept that spread to Brazil and throughout the African Diaspora. Àsé is imagined as power and creative energy bestowed upon human beings by ancestral spirits acting as guardians. In Brazil, the West African Yoruba concept of àsé is known as axé and has been reinvented, transmitted, and nurtured in Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion that is practiced in Salvador, Bahia. The author examines how the concepts of axé and Candomblé religion have been appropriated and reinvented in Brazilian popular music and culture. Featuring interviews with practitioners and local musicians, the book explains how many Brazilian popular music styles such as samba, bossa nova, samba-reggae, ijexá, and axé have musical and stylistic elements that stem from Afro-Brazilian religion. It also discusses how young Afro-Brazilians combine Candomblé religious music with African American music such as blues, jazz, gospel, soul, funk, and rap. The author argues for the importance of axé as a unifying force tying together the secular and sacred Afro-Brazilian musical landscape.Less
This book is the culmination of several years of field research on sacred and secular influences of àsé, the West African Yoruba concept that spread to Brazil and throughout the African Diaspora. Àsé is imagined as power and creative energy bestowed upon human beings by ancestral spirits acting as guardians. In Brazil, the West African Yoruba concept of àsé is known as axé and has been reinvented, transmitted, and nurtured in Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion that is practiced in Salvador, Bahia. The author examines how the concepts of axé and Candomblé religion have been appropriated and reinvented in Brazilian popular music and culture. Featuring interviews with practitioners and local musicians, the book explains how many Brazilian popular music styles such as samba, bossa nova, samba-reggae, ijexá, and axé have musical and stylistic elements that stem from Afro-Brazilian religion. It also discusses how young Afro-Brazilians combine Candomblé religious music with African American music such as blues, jazz, gospel, soul, funk, and rap. The author argues for the importance of axé as a unifying force tying together the secular and sacred Afro-Brazilian musical landscape.
Scott Ickes
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813044781
- eISBN:
- 9780813046433
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044781.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
A close study of six major public religious festivals, including carnival, African-Brazilian Culture and Regional Identity in Bahia, Brazil, explores the cultural politics of regional identity in the ...
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A close study of six major public religious festivals, including carnival, African-Brazilian Culture and Regional Identity in Bahia, Brazil, explores the cultural politics of regional identity in the state of Bahia in northeast Brazil. The author shows how, after 1930, the festivals provided a platform for African-Bahians and their allies to re-formulate Bahian regional identity to allow for a greater degree of cultural inclusion for Bahians of African descent. The book emphasizes the agency of African-Bahians as samba, capoeira, and Candomblé ritual were performed during the festivals and describes how politicians, journalists, song writers, and public intellectuals came to celebrate African-Bahian culture as a defining feature of what it meant to be Bahian. The nature of this cultural inclusion, however, was such that, although it was an improvement on the prejudice and persecution of the 1920s, it led to very little, if any, improvement in the political and economic position of working-class people of African descent. As such, the book explores the possibilities and limitations of cross-class alliances based around cultural inclusion in a specific historical setting and the potential of cultural politics for the social inclusion of people of African descent in multi-racial, multi-cultural communities within Brazil and the African diaspora.Less
A close study of six major public religious festivals, including carnival, African-Brazilian Culture and Regional Identity in Bahia, Brazil, explores the cultural politics of regional identity in the state of Bahia in northeast Brazil. The author shows how, after 1930, the festivals provided a platform for African-Bahians and their allies to re-formulate Bahian regional identity to allow for a greater degree of cultural inclusion for Bahians of African descent. The book emphasizes the agency of African-Bahians as samba, capoeira, and Candomblé ritual were performed during the festivals and describes how politicians, journalists, song writers, and public intellectuals came to celebrate African-Bahian culture as a defining feature of what it meant to be Bahian. The nature of this cultural inclusion, however, was such that, although it was an improvement on the prejudice and persecution of the 1920s, it led to very little, if any, improvement in the political and economic position of working-class people of African descent. As such, the book explores the possibilities and limitations of cross-class alliances based around cultural inclusion in a specific historical setting and the potential of cultural politics for the social inclusion of people of African descent in multi-racial, multi-cultural communities within Brazil and the African diaspora.
Kwame Dixon
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813062617
- eISBN:
- 9780813055985
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813062617.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Chapter one provides a brief discussion of the cultural history of Salvador da Bahia; the social landscape and demographic profile of contemporary Salvador, and reviews key Afro-Bahian cultural ...
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Chapter one provides a brief discussion of the cultural history of Salvador da Bahia; the social landscape and demographic profile of contemporary Salvador, and reviews key Afro-Bahian cultural formations (Candomblé, Capoeira) and other identity platforms, and the rise of cultural and formal politics in Brazil and Salvador. This section highlights Salvador—one of the oldest cities in the Americas and the third-largest city in Brazil—as a vibrant city, home to one of the largest, most politically active and diverse Black populations in the Americas.Less
Chapter one provides a brief discussion of the cultural history of Salvador da Bahia; the social landscape and demographic profile of contemporary Salvador, and reviews key Afro-Bahian cultural formations (Candomblé, Capoeira) and other identity platforms, and the rise of cultural and formal politics in Brazil and Salvador. This section highlights Salvador—one of the oldest cities in the Americas and the third-largest city in Brazil—as a vibrant city, home to one of the largest, most politically active and diverse Black populations in the Americas.
