Religião e contrassenso: elementos rituais de matriz africana em igrejas neopentecostais de Manaus

Abstract

This dissertation aims to investigate the socio-cultural manifestations of African-derived religions within neopentecostal churches in Manaus, AM. The research focuses on the Pentecostal Biblical Church Plenitude of God (IPBPD), analyzing the appropriation and use of ritual elements of African origin in its ceremonial practices, as well as the persecutory denial of the legitimacy of Afro-Brazilian religions. This phenomenon results in a disturbing paradox between empowerment and the erasure of Black identity in the Amazon. A significant feature of racial interactions in Brazilian society is the denial of African cultural aspects, particularly afro-brazilian religions. The historical prohibition of black religious practices and the subsequent appropriation of their ritual elements by many neopentecostal churches have emerged through numerous discriminatory and exclusionary mechanisms. Consequently, various expressions and knowledge systems occupying significant social spaces have been systematically silenced. In recent decades, substantial ritualistic transformations have occurred within the neopentecostal scene in Manaus, particularly in the context of this study. The IPBPD has incorporated elements from Traditional Afro-Brazilian Communities (CTTro/Comunidades Tradicionais de Terreiro, in Portuguese) into its services to enhance their dynamism and attract new followers, thereby increasing its visibility within the Amazonian religious landscape. The research findings reveal a harmful paradox: while the IPBPD appropriates elements from Candomblé, Umbanda, and their branches, it simultaneously wages an aggressive campaign against their practitioners and worldviews. Beyond appropriating these elements and denying the fundamental ancestry of these religions, the church also creates new causal and lexical connections with the borrowed aspects, assigning them new meanings and sacred attributions. By doing so, neopentecostalism contributes to the negative resignification of black identity within its institutions, distorting the ancestry and cosmology of Candomblé, Umbanda, and related traditions. These religions are imposed with negative connotations and associated with the Devil/Satan. This dynamic establishes an environment of intolerance rooted in religious racism, specifically targeting African-derived religions. By using ritual elements from religions they label as “diabolical” “opposed” or “enemies” and resignifying them, neopentecostal congregations engage in a socio-cultural epistemicide. This practice is not exclusive to the IPBPD but is also observed in similar neo-Pentecostal institutions in Manaus, a reality that urgently calls for academic discussion and broader societal debate within the Amazon region.