Overview

One hundred years ago in Brazil the rituals of Candomble were feared as sorcery and persecuted as crime. Its cult objects were fearsome fetishes. Nowadays, they are Afro-Brazilian cultural works of art, objects of museum display and public monuments. Focusing on the particular histories of objects, images, spaces and persons who embodied it, this book portrays the historical journey from weapons of sorcery looted by the police, to hidden living stones, to public works of art attacked by religious fanatics that see them as images of the Devil, former sorcerers who have become artists, writers, and philosophers. Addressing this history as a journey of objectification and appropriation, the author offers a fresh, unconventional, and illuminating look at questions of syncretism, hybridity and cultural resistance in Brazil and in the Black Atlantic in general.

Full Product Details

Author:   Roger Sansi
Publisher:   Berghahn Books
Imprint:   Berghahn Books
Volume:   6
Weight:   0.445kg
ISBN:  

9781845453633

ISBN 10:   1845453638
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   01 December 2007
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: Culture and Objectification in the Black Rome Chapter 1. 'Making the Saint': Spirits, Shrines and Syncretism in Candomble Chapter 2. From Sorcery to Civilisation: The Objectification of Afro-Brazilian Culture Chapter 3. From Informants to Scholars: Appropriating Afro-Brazilian Culture Chapter 4. From Weapons of Crime to Jewels of the Crown: Candomble in Museums Chapter 5. From the Shanties to the Mansions: Candomble as National Heritage Chapter 6. Modern Art and Afro-Brazilian Culture in Bahia Chapter 7. Authenticity and Commodification in Afro-Brazilian Art Chapter 8. Candomble as Public Art: The Orixas of Tororo Chapter 9. Re-appropriations of Afro-Brazilian Culture Bibliography Index

Reviews

In all, this is an exciting study on a consolidated historiographic and anthropological theme such as Afro-Brazilian culture, since it does not take for granted the established truths, or the political practices and though, that both history and anthropology have set out to support in twentieth-century Brazil.A * Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire - the impressive research and sensitive analyses - make this book an important and original contribution to the cultural history of the region. Anthropologists and historians interested in the development of Candomble - and in the processes of objectification and appropriation of everyday practices and things as symbols of collective identity, will certainly find much of interest in Sansi's work.A * Journal of Latin American Studies This book - brings a new level of analytical rigor to the artistic study of African-American religious objects - Sansi's economical prose allows him to make complex theoretical, historical, ethnographic, and aesthetic arguments succinctly. Its clarity and brevity makes it attractive for course adoption especially in African-Diaspora studies, museum studies and 'non-western' art history courses.A * The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology Sansi's book raises important questions about objectification, appropriation, syncretism, and cultural change in Brazil - the result is a lucid analysis of change over time in light of the political and social history of Brazil and the changes within Candomble values and beliefs.A * JRAI A sensitive, well-written, fine analysis of a cultyure undergoing multiple transitions, without a certain future. Highly recommended. * Choice

Author Information

Roger Sansi is a Lecturer in Anthropology at Goldsmith's College, London .He has conducted research on Afro-Brazilian art and culture in Brazil. Recently he has worked on the history of the term fetish in the Lusophone Black Atlantic.

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