‘Wij zijn geen folklore, wij zijn een religie!’
Religie & Samenleving December 18, 2024 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.54195/rs.13121 via DOAJ
Summary
Priests of candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian spirit possession cult, increasingly demand recognition as a full-fledged religion. This push is part of a political project to assert their voice in Salvador, Bahia's public sphere and counter appropriation of their myths, symbols, and aesthetics by cultural entrepreneurs and tourist organizations. However, this demand comes at a price: 'religion' is a thoroughly Christian format, and any creed claiming that status must refashion itself along Christian lines.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The demand by candomblé priests to be recognized as a 'religion' requires them to refashion their creed along a Christian model, which is not a neutral term. |
Abstract
‘An increasing number of priests from candomblé – an Afro-Brazilian spirit possession cult – publicly demand that their creed is recognized as a full-fledged ‘religion’. In this article I discuss how this demand is part of a larger political project whereby candomblé priests seek to assert their voice in the public sphere of Salvador, Bahia, thus to counter the all out appropriation of candomblé myths, symbols and aesthetics by cultural entrepreneurs, tourist organizations and other outsiders. While candomblé has proven quite successful in these attempts, I show that the demand to be recognized as a ‘religion’ comes at a price: far from being a neutral term, ‘religion’ is a thoroughly Christian format. All creeds that make a public claim to be a ‘religion’ thus require to refashion themselves along this Christian model.