Lines of reason: Tradition and plurality of the Umbanda in Pontal

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/psi.v21i2.48671

Keywords:

Umanda, ethnopsychology, Afro-Brazilian cults, cultural transmission

Abstract

This paper aims to comprehend the plurality of Umbanda, an Afro-Brazilian tradition, through a study about one leader’s biography and the transmission of knowledge. For this purpose, the researcher interacted with the community as a participant in the religious ceremonies in a terreiro in Pontal, in the countryside of São Paulo. The leadership was interviewed, field notes were registered and photos, videos, and audio were collected. It was found that the heterogeneity and the plurality of Umbanda, when analyzed from an ethnopsychological perspective, highlights that some academic categories used are not enough to understand those attributes, such as syncretism, hybridism, religious transit, convergence, and conversion. In this case, the multiple religious belonging, seen as a trace of modernity in opposition to tradition, seems to be in Umbanda the requirement to its traditionalism. Social and communitarian life are more decisive than the doctrine itself.

Author Biographies

Juliana Barros Brant Carvalho, Universidade de São Paulo - Ribeirão Preto

Psicóloga, Mestranda, Pesquisadora do Laboratório de Etnopsicologia

José Francisco Miguel Henriques Bairrão, Universidade de São Paulo - Ribeirão Preto

Professor Associado na Universidade de São Paulo; Coordenador do Laboratório de Etnopsicologia da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e letras de Ribeirão Preto

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Published

2017-08-29

How to Cite

Brant Carvalho, J. B., & Bairrão, J. F. M. H. (2017). Lines of reason: Tradition and plurality of the Umbanda in Pontal. Interação Em Psicologia, 21(2). https://doi.org/10.5380/psi.v21i2.48671

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 2 (2017)

Section

Research Reports

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