Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T00:29:43.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What Is the Color of the Holy Spirit? Pentecostalism and Black Identity in Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

John Burdick
John Burdick*
Affiliation:
Syracuse University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

For the past twenty years, the organized black consciousness movement in Brazil has argued that Protestant Christianity is a highly assimilationist religion that pushes black converts to abandon their racial identity and seek incorporation into dominant white culture. The present study, based on a year of ethnographic fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro, challenges this view. By analyzing how Pentecostal churches address the issues of appearance, color, courtship, and womanhood, this research note argues that although evangelical Christianity involves a variety of beliefs that are incompatible with a strong ethnic identity, this religion also includes a range of ideas and practices that nourish rather than corrode black identity. The essay concludes by exploring the historic potential of several churches that have made the intersection of faith and race an explicit part of their agenda.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , 1999 , pp. 109 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Ruth Silva and Marcia Pinheiro for their skill and enthusiasm as my research assistants. Thanks go as well to Peter Fry, Yvonne Maggie, Olivia Cunha, Clara Mafra, Cecilia Mariz, Maria das Dores, Marcia Contins, and Patricia Birman for being such excellent interlocutors.

References

Abreu, Alice Rangel De Paiva, Jorge, Angela Filgueiras, AND Sorj, Bila 1994 “Desigualdade de gênero e raça: O informal no Brasil em 1990.” Estudos Feministas 2, no. 2:153–78.Google Scholar
Almada, Sandra 1995 Damas negras: Sucesso, lutas, discriminação. Rio de Janeiro: Mauad.Google Scholar
Bastide, Roger 1989 As religiões africanas no Brasil (originally published in 1960).Google Scholar
Bento, Maria Aparecida Silva 1992 “Resgatando a minha bisavô: Discriminação racial e resistência nas vozes dos trabalhadores negros.” Ph.D. diss., Pontifícia Universidade Católica-São Paulo.Google Scholar
Bento, Maria Aparecida Silva 1995 “A mulher negra no mercado de trabalho.” Estudos Feministas 3, no. 2:479–88.Google Scholar
Berriel, Maria M. De Oliveira 1988 “A identidade fragmentada: As muitas maneiras de ser negro.” Ph.D. diss., Universidade de São Paulo.Google Scholar
Berquo, Elsa 1987 Nupcialidade da população negra no Brasil. Campinas: Universidade de Campinas.Google Scholar
Berquo, Elsa 1988 “Demografia da desigualdade: Algumas considerações sobre os negros no Brasil.” Novos Estudos CEBRAP 24:74–84.Google Scholar
Berquo, Elsa 1990 “Como se casam negros e brancos no Brasil.” CEDEPLAR in-house document, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.Google Scholar
Borges Pereira, JoÃO Batista 1983 “Negro e cultura negra no Brasil atual.” Revista de Antropologia 26:93–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brusco, Elizabeth 1995 The Reformation of Machismo: Evangelical Conversion and Gender in Colombia. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Burdick, John 1989 “A queda do profeta negro: O significado ambivalente de raça no pentecostalismo.” Comunicações do ISER 33:43–63.Google Scholar
Burdick, John 1990 “Gossip and Secrecy: The Articulation of Domestic Conflict in Three Religions of Urban Brazil.” Sociological Analysis, nos. 51–52 (Summer): 153–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burdick, John 1993 Looking for God in Brazil: The Progressive Catholic Church in Urban Brazil's Religious Arena. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cleary, Edward L., AND Stewart-Gambino, Hannah W., EDS. 1997 Power, Politics, and Pentecostals in Latin America. Boulder, Colo.: Westview.Google Scholar
Comaroff, Jean 1985 Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Contins, Marcia 1992 Narrativas pentecostais: Estudos antropológicos de grupos de pentecostais negros nos Estados Unidos. Papeis Avulsos no. 39. Rio de Janeiro: Centro Interdisciplinar de Estudos Culturais.Google Scholar
Contins, Marcia 1995 “Tornando-se pentecostal: Um estudo comparativo sobre pentecostais negros nos Estados Unidos e Brasil.” Ph.D. diss., Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar
Cox, Harvey 1995 Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Csordas, Thomas 1992 “Religion and the World System: The Pentecostal Ethic and the Spirit of Monopoly Capital.” Dialectical Anthropology 17:3–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cucchiari, Salvatore 1988 “Between Shame and Sanctification.” American Ethnologist 17, no. 4:687–708.Google Scholar
Cunha, Olivia Maria Gomes Da 1993 “Fazendo a coisa certa: Reggae, rasta e pentecostais em Salvador.” Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais 8, no. 23 (Oct.):120–37.Google Scholar
Cunha, Olivia Maria Gomes Da 1996 “Depois da festa: Movimentos negros, culturas e ‘políticas de identidade.‘” Manuscript.Google Scholar
Cunha, Olivia Maria Gomes Da 1998 “Black Movements and the ‘Politics of Identity’ in Brazil.” In Cultures of Politics, Politics of Cultures, edited by Sonia Alvarez, Evelina Dagnino, and Escobar, Arturo, 220–51. Boulder, Colo.: Westview.Google Scholar
Damasceno, Caetana 1990 “Cantando para subir.” Master's thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar
Dandara, Casa 1992 O triunfo da ideologia do embanquecimento: O homem negro e a rejeição da mulher negra. Belo Horizonte: Projeto Cidadania do Povo.Google Scholar
DATAFOLHA 1995 Racismo cordial. São Paulo: Atica.Google Scholar
Dohlnikoff, Miriam, Peixoto, Fernando, AND Thomaz, Omar Ribeiro 1995 “Raça e política: Entrevista de Benedita da Silva.” Novos Estudos CEBRAP 43 (Nov.):8–25.Google Scholar
Figueiredo, Angela 1994 “O mercado da boa aparência: As cabelereiras negras.” Bahia Análise e Dados 3, no. 4(Mar.):33–36.Google Scholar
Fontaine, Pierre-Michel, ED. 1985 Race, Class, and Power in Brazil. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies, University of California.Google Scholar
Freston, Paul 1993 “Protestantes e política no Brasil: Da Constituinte ao impeachment.” Ph.D. diss., Universidade Estadual de Campinas.Google Scholar
Garcia Castro, Mary 1991 “A alquimia das categorias sociais—gênero, raça e geração—na produção de sujeitos políticos: O caso de líderes do Sindicato de Trabalhadores Domésticos em Salvador.” Paper presented to the Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Sociais (ANPOCS), Caxambú, Minas Gerais, October.Google Scholar
Garrard-Burnett, Virginia 1986 “A History of Protestantism in Guatemala.” Ph.D. diss., Tulane University.Google Scholar
Genovese, Eugene 1969 The World the Slaveowners Made. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Giacomini, Sonia 1992 “Profissão mulata.” Master's thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar
Giacomini, Sonia 1994 “Beleza mulata e beleza negra.” Estudos Feministas 2, no. 2:217–27.Google Scholar
Gill, Leslie 1990 “Like a Veil to Cover Them: Women and the Pentecostal Movement in La Paz.” American Ethnologist 17, no. 4:708–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, Leslie 1993 “Religious Mobility and the Many Words of God in La Paz, Bolivia.” In STOLL AND GARRARD-BURNETT 1993.Google Scholar
Gilliam, Angela, AND Gilliam, Onik'A 1995 “Negociando a subjetividade de mulata no Brasil.” Estudos Feministas 3, no. 2:525–43.Google Scholar
GonÇAlves Da Silva, Maria Auxiliadora 1994 Encontros e desencontros de um movimento negro. Brasília: Fundação Cultural Palmares.Google Scholar
Gramsci, Antonio 1971 Selections from the Prison Notebooks. Edited and translated by Hoare, Quintin and Smith, Geoffrey Nowell. New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar
GuimarÃEs, Antonio Sergio Alfredo 1996 “O recente anti-racismo brasileiro: O que dizem os jornais diários.” Revista USP 28 (Dec.–Feb.):85–95.Google Scholar
Hasenbalg, Carlos 1979 Discriminações e desigualdades raciais no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Graal.Google Scholar
Hasenbalg, Carlos 1985 “Race and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Brazil.” In FONTAINE 1985, 25–41.Google Scholar
Hasenbalg, Carlos, AND Silva, Nelson Do Valle 1992 Relações raciais no Brasil contemporâneo. Rio de Janeiro: Rio Fundo.Google Scholar
Hoornaert, Eduardo, COORD. 1978 Formação do Catolicismo brasileiro, 1500–1800. Petrópolis: Vozes.Google Scholar
Ireland, Rowan 1993 Kingdoms Come: Religion and Politics in Brazil. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Ireland, Rowan 1997 “Pentecostalism, Conversions, and Politics in Brazil.” In CLEARY AND STEWART-GAMBINO 1997, 123–38.Google Scholar
ISER (INSTITUTO DE ESTUDOS DE RELIGIÃO) 1996 Novo nascimento: Os evangélicos em casa, na igreja e na política. Rio de Janeiro: ISER.Google Scholar
Johannesen, Stanley 1988 “The Holy Ghost in Sunset Park.” Historical Reflections 15, no. 3:556–63.Google Scholar
Machado, Maria Das Dores 1994 “Adesão religiosa e seus efeitos na esfera privada: Um estudo comparativo dos carismáticos e pentecostais do Rio de Janeiro.” Ph.D. diss., Instituto Universitário de Pesquisas Econômicas do Rio de Janeiro (IUPERJ).Google Scholar
Mariz, Cecilia 1993 Coping with Poverty in Brazil. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Mariz, Cecilia, AND Machado, Maria Das Dores 1994 “Sincretismo e trânsito religioso: Comparando pentecostais e carismáticos.” Comunicações do ISER 45:24–34.Google Scholar
Moura, Clovis 1994 Dialética radical do Brasil negro. São Paulo: Anita.Google Scholar
MOVIMENTO TERREIRO E CIDADANIA 1996 “Plenária nacional.” In-house document, Movimento Terreiro e Cidadania.Google Scholar
Muratorio, Blanca 1980 “Protestantism and Capitalism Revisited in the Rural Highlands of Ecuador.” Journal of Peasant Studies 8, no. 1:37–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novaes, Regina 1985 Os escolhidos de Deus. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto de Estudios de Religião.Google Scholar
Novaes, Regina, AND Floriano, Maria Da GraÇA 1985 O negro evangélico. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto de Estudios de Religião.Google Scholar
Passos, Walter De Oliveira 1995 Teologia negra. Salvador: Independente.Google Scholar
Rappaport, Joanne 1984 “Las misiones protestantes y la resistencia indígena en el sur de Colombia.” América Indígena 44, no. 1 (Jan.–Mar.):111–26.Google Scholar
Rolim, Francisco Cartaxo 1985 Os pentecostais no Brasil. Petrópolis: Vozes.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Fulvia, Pinto, Regina Pahim, De Oliveira, Eliana, Silveira, Edith, AND Piza, Pompeu 1995 “A classificação de cor no Brasil.” Paper presented to the Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Sociais, Caxambú, Minas Gerais, October.Google Scholar
Roswith, Gerloff 1975 “Black Power and Pentecostalism.” In Pentecost and Politics, edited by Kami, Peter, 11–14. Bristol, Engl.: Student Christian Movement Publications.Google Scholar
Rufino, Joel 1993 “A luta organizada contra o racismo.” In Atrás do Muro da Noite, 89–146. Brasília: Fundação Cultural Palmares.Google Scholar
Sanchis, Pierre 1994 “O rapto pentecostal à cultura católico-brasileiro.” Revista de Antropologia 37:145–82.Google Scholar
Scalon, Maria Celia Ramos Da Cruz 1992 “Cor e seletividade conjugal no Brasil.” Estudos Afro-Asiáticos 23 (Dec.):17–36.Google Scholar
Scotchmer, David G. 1991 “Symbols of Salvation: Interpreting Highland Maya Protestantism in Context.” Ph.D. diss., State University of New York at Albany.Google Scholar
Silva, Maria Aparecida Da 1995 “O rap das meninas.” Estudos Feministas 3, no. 2:515–24.Google Scholar
Silva, Nelson Do Valle 1985 “The High Cost of Not Being White in Brazil.” In FONTAINE 1985, 42–55.Google Scholar
Stoll, David, AND Garrard-Burnett, Virginia, EDS. 1993 Rethinking Protestantism in Latin America. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Telles, Edward 1992 “Residential Segregation by Skin Color in Brazil.” American Sociological Review 57:186–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Theodoro, Helena 1996 Mito e espiritualidade: Mulheres negras. Rio de Janeiro: Pallas.Google Scholar
Twine, Francine Winddance 1996 “O hiato de gênero nas percepções de racismo: O caso dos afro-brasileiros socialmente ascendentes.” Estudos Afro-Asiáticos 29:37–54.Google Scholar
Valente, Ana Lucia E. F. 1983 Política e relações raciais: Os negros e as eleições paulistas de 1982. São Paulo: Faculdade Fluminense de Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH).Google Scholar
Valente, Ana Lucia E. F. 1994 O negro e a Igreja Católica: O espaço concedido, um espaço reivindicado. Ph.D. diss., Faculdade Fluminense de Letras e Ciências Humanas (FLCCH), Universidade de São Paulo.Google Scholar
Verger, Pierre 1992 Os libertos: Sete caminhos na liberdade de escravos da Bahia no século XIX. São Paulo: Corrupio.Google Scholar
Wedenoja, William 1978 “Religion and Adaptation in Rural Jamaica.” Ph.D. diss., University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Willems, Emilio 1967 Followers of a New Faith. Knoxville: University of Tennessee.Google Scholar
Winant, Howard 1994 Racial Conditions. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar