Preto velho: resistance, redemption, and engendered representations of slavery in a Brazilian possession‐trance religion
- 1 May 1997
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in American Ethnologist
- Vol. 24 (2) , 392-414
- https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1997.24.2.392
Abstract
The old‐slave spirits (pretos velhos) of the Brazilian Umbanda religion have historically been dismissed as stereotypes supporting racist ideologies. While this appears to be true in many cases, old‐slave spirits also offer searing indictments of racism and penetrating, critical explorations of the articulations of race, gender, morality, and power in Brazilian society. I argue that, through these spirits, Umbanda mediums embody conflicting representations of the moral dimensions of Brazilian history that relate to their contemporary concerns with self and national identity.This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
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