Searching for Africa in Brazil

Power and Tradition in Candomblé

Nonfiction, History, Americas, South America, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Religion & Spirituality
Cover of the book Searching for Africa in Brazil by Stefania Capone Laffitte, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Stefania Capone Laffitte ISBN: 9780822392040
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: May 17, 2010
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Stefania Capone Laffitte
ISBN: 9780822392040
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: May 17, 2010
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Searching for Africa in Brazil is a learned exploration of tradition and change in Afro-Brazilian religions. Focusing on the convergence of anthropologists’ and religious leaders’ exegeses, Stefania Capone argues that twentieth-century anthropological research contributed to the construction of an ideal Afro-Brazilian religious orthodoxy identified with the Nagô (Yoruba) cult in the northeastern state of Bahia. In contrast to other researchers, Capone foregrounds the agency of Candomblé leaders. She demonstrates that they successfully imposed their vision of Candomblé on anthropologists, reshaping in their own interest narratives of Afro-Brazilian religious practice. The anthropological narratives were then taken as official accounts of religious orthodoxy by many practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions in Brazil. Capone draws on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork in Salvador de Bahia and Rio de Janeiro as she demonstrates that there is no pure or orthodox Afro-Brazilian religion.

Challenging the usual interpretations of Afro-Brazilian religions as fixed entities, completely independent of one another, Capone reveals these practices as parts of a unique religious continuum. She does so through an analysis of ritual variations as well as discursive practices. To illuminate the continuum of Afro-Brazilian religious practice and the tensions between exegetic discourses and ritual practices, Capone focuses on the figure of Exu, the sacred African trickster who allows communication between gods and men. Following Exu and his avatars, she discloses the centrality of notions of prestige and power—mystical and religious—in Afro-Brazilian religions. To explain how religious identity is constantly negotiated among social actors, Capone emphasizes the agency of practitioners and their political agendas in the “return to roots,” or re-Africanization, movement, an attempt to recover the original purity of a mythical and legitimizing Africa.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Searching for Africa in Brazil is a learned exploration of tradition and change in Afro-Brazilian religions. Focusing on the convergence of anthropologists’ and religious leaders’ exegeses, Stefania Capone argues that twentieth-century anthropological research contributed to the construction of an ideal Afro-Brazilian religious orthodoxy identified with the Nagô (Yoruba) cult in the northeastern state of Bahia. In contrast to other researchers, Capone foregrounds the agency of Candomblé leaders. She demonstrates that they successfully imposed their vision of Candomblé on anthropologists, reshaping in their own interest narratives of Afro-Brazilian religious practice. The anthropological narratives were then taken as official accounts of religious orthodoxy by many practitioners of Afro-Brazilian religions in Brazil. Capone draws on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork in Salvador de Bahia and Rio de Janeiro as she demonstrates that there is no pure or orthodox Afro-Brazilian religion.

Challenging the usual interpretations of Afro-Brazilian religions as fixed entities, completely independent of one another, Capone reveals these practices as parts of a unique religious continuum. She does so through an analysis of ritual variations as well as discursive practices. To illuminate the continuum of Afro-Brazilian religious practice and the tensions between exegetic discourses and ritual practices, Capone focuses on the figure of Exu, the sacred African trickster who allows communication between gods and men. Following Exu and his avatars, she discloses the centrality of notions of prestige and power—mystical and religious—in Afro-Brazilian religions. To explain how religious identity is constantly negotiated among social actors, Capone emphasizes the agency of practitioners and their political agendas in the “return to roots,” or re-Africanization, movement, an attempt to recover the original purity of a mythical and legitimizing Africa.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Fluid New York by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Gilles Deleuze's Time Machine by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book 36 Views of Mount Fuji by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Virtuous Vice by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Global/Local by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Warfare in the American Homeland by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Race Becomes Tomorrow by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Blood Narrative by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book The Hypersexuality of Race by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Captivating Technology by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Democracy's Body by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Between Two Fires by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Illegible Will by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book Tango Lessons by Stefania Capone Laffitte
Cover of the book The Revolutionary Imagination in the Americas and the Age of Development by Stefania Capone Laffitte
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy