Mothers in the Family of Saints: Gender and Race in the Making of Afro-Brazilian Heritage
Andreson, Jamie
2020
Abstract
Candomblé temples produce histories and subjectivities at the nexus of Africa and the Americas. The dissertation combines historical and ethnographic methods to show how Candomblé priestesses and “matriarchy” are constructed, ritually valued, and externally rewarded as key sources of African heritage in Brazil. The dissertation tacks between the concept of Black matriarchy as understood within the ritual family of saints and as appropriated in the public and political sphere. The convergence of the central symbol of gestation in the religion’s initiation process on one hand, and understandings of sex and kinship as defined by birth, on the other, make women especially respected because of their vital role in perpetuating both ritual and biological lineages of African descent. When biological and ritual notions of kinship align through the figure of “matriarchy,” claims to ancestral knowledge and African religious authority exert the strongest impact on the Brazilian public. Temples able to persuasively present the ideals of “African” matriarchy are therefore most successful in gaining recognition from the state as bona fide sites of cultural heritage. Popular and scholarly depictions of Candomblé have differentiated the nações (nations) by the gender of their leader, upholding the “matriarchal” status of the Yoruba, while portraying the Angolan nation as predominantly male-led, and less African, often placing Angolan temples at a disadvantage in the cultural heritage market. My research demonstrates that regardless of the temple’s ritual nation or the gender of their ‘official’ leader, Candomblé practitioners value Black Mothers as the most powerful cultivators and propagators of the African ancestral force in Brazil. Within the ritual family traditional notions of femininity as domestic motherhood restrict female-born initiates who must perform labor based on their biological sex. The reverence for Black Mothers specifically within the family of saints creates a hierarchy among the possible expressions of gender and sexuality, some of which are deemed more valuable and permissible in the ritual system than others. The ethnography demonstrates how femininity is a more accessible ritual category than masculinity, contributing to the prominence of the “effeminate male” figure in the family of saints. However, full expressions of gender non-conformity are restricted by biological understandings of sex, marginalizing masculine cisgender women, as well as transgender and travesti initiates. By revisiting the histories and contemporary roles of the Candomblé priestesses—the Mothers—in Brazil, the dissertation documents how select priestesses seek recognition from the state as official Afro-Brazilian “heritage,” for the stakes of financial resources and land titles. The state’s recognition of Candomblé as cultural heritage has mostly been contingent on the presence of Black female leadership, widely considered as a crucial “African” contribution to social organization in Brazil. The problem is that cultural heritage policies directed towards the Candomblé temples draw from tropes of Black women as key cultural figures without addressing structural inequalities, religious racism or the legacies of state persecution that continually affect Candomblé communities.Subjects
African Diaspora Religion Gender, sex and matriarchy Cultural heritage in the Americas
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