Priests and Stars
Candomble, Celebrity Discourses, and the Authentication of Religious Authority in Bahia's Public Sphere
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v1i2_3.301Keywords:
Bahia, Candomble, ritual, media and religionAbstract
This article discusses the inextricable entanglement of religious and media imaginar¬ies by pointing out how, in a thoroughly mediatized society such as Bahia (Brazil), the public articulation of religious authority comes to depend more and more on celebrity discourses. Candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian spirit possession cult on which this article focuses, is an intriguing example of this trend. The cult has become the main “symbol bank” of the Bahian state, and groups have increasingly sought access to its rich arse¬nal of images, sounds, myths, and aesthetics. Disconcerted by this development, Candomblé priests have sought to publicly assert themselves as the only authentic representatives of the cult. Whereas within the temples, their religious authority is ?rmly rooted in the performance of ritual practice and constantly recon?rmed in the rigid and minute prescriptions as to how the different ranks in the temple hierarchy should interact, the public sphere requires the mobilization of other resources to back up claims of religious authority. The author argues that Candomblé priests are very successful in “colonizing” the tremendous appeal of celebrity discourses. Exploiting the society-wide interest in Candomblé, they create media events that allow them to dis¬play their contacts and af?nities with the stars. They thus ?nd their religious leader¬¬ship authorized in terms that are well understood by the consumers of modern mass media.
References
———. “Does It Breathe? Motion, Pneuma and Embodiment.” Paper presented at a workshop on Mediating Religion and Film in a Post-Secular World, University of Amsterdam, June 16–17, 2005.
Ackerman, Luciana. “Brasil é a bola da vez na moda.” Istoé. http://www.terra.com.br/istoe/Reportagens/fashion.htm (accessed August 10, 2005).
Amorim, Claudia. “Augusto César, Pai-de-santo grifado.” Revista Oi. http://www.revistaoi.com.br/nova/augusto_cesar.asp (accessed August 10, 2005).
Bastide, Roger. O Candomblé da Bahia: Rito Nagô. São Paulo: Editora Schwarcz, 2000 (1958).
Braga, Julio. A Cadeira de Ogã e outro ensaios. Rio de Janeiro: Pallas, 1999.
Carneiro, Edison. Candomblés da Bahia. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2000 (1958).
Castillo, Lisa Earl. “Entre a oralidade e a escrita: percepções e usos do discurso etnográfico no candomblé da Bahia.” Ph.D. diss., Instituto de Letras, Universidade Federal da Bahia, 2005.
Certeau, Michel de. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
Lima, Vivaldo da Costa. A Família de Santo: Nos Candomblés Jejes-Nagôs da Bahioa: Um Estudo de Relações Intragrupais. Salvador: Corrupio, 2003.
Dantas, Beatriz Góis. Vovó Nagô e Papai Branco. Usos e Abusos da África no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Graal, 1988.
Hirschkind, Charles. “The Ethics of Listening: Cassette-Sermon Audition in Contemporary Cairo.” American Ethnologist 28 (2001): 623–49.
Landes, Ruth. The City of Women. New York: MacMillan, 1947.
Maggie, Yvonne. Medo do Feitiço: Relações entre magia e poder no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Arquivo Nacional, 1992.
Meyer, Birgit. “‘Praise the Lord….’: Popular Cinema and Pentecostalite Style in Ghana’s New Public Sphere.” American Ethnologist 31 (2004): 92–110.
Montes, Maria Lucia. “As Figuras do Sagrado: Entre o Público e o Privado.” In História da Vida Privada no Brasil. Contrastes da Intimidade Contemporânea, ed. Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, 63–173. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1998.
Port, Mattijs van de. “Candomblé in Pink, Green and Black: Re-scripting the Afro-Brazilian Religious Heritage in the Public Sphere of Salvador, Bahia.” Social Anthropology 13 (2005): 3–26.
Ramos, Arthur. O Negro brasileiro. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco/Editora Massangana, 1988.
Rodrigues, Nino. O animismo fetichista dos negros baianos. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1935 (1900).
Sa, Xico. Divina Comédia da Fama: Purgatório, paraíso e inferno de quem sonha ser uma celebridade. Rio de Janeiro: Objectiva, 2004.
Sansi-Roca, Roger. Art, Religion and the Public Sphere in Bahia, Brazil. Working Papers Series WPS-010, 2001. Chicago: Center for Latin American Studies, University of Chicago, 2001.
Santos, Jocélio Teles dos. “Menininha do Gantois: a sacralização do poder.” In Caminhos da Alma: Memória afro-brasileira, ed. Vagner Gonçalves da Silva, 133–53. São Paulo: Selo Negro, 1998.
———. O poder da cultura e a cultura no poder: A disputa simbólica da herança cultural negra no Brasil. Salvador: Edufba, 2005.
Santos, Maria Stella de Azevedo. Meu Tempo é Agora. São Paulo: Editora Oduduwa, 1993.
Segato, Rita Laura. “A tradição Afro-Brasileira frente à Televisão ou duas mortes entre a ficção e realidade.” Religião e Sociedade 16, no. 3 (1994): 50–63.
Silva, Ana Beatriz Barbosa, and Eduardo Mello. Sorria, você esta sendo filmado. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Gente, 2004.
Silveiro, Renato da. “Pragmatismo e milagres de fé no Extremo Ocidente.” In Escravidão e Invenção da Liberdade: Estudos sobre o Negro no Brasil, ed. Jõao José Reis, 166–97. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Brasiliense, 1988.
Vries, Hent de. “In Media Res: Global Religion, Public Spheres, and the Task of Contemporary Comparative Religious Studies.” In Religion and Media, ed. Hent de Vries and Samuel Weber, 3–42. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
Zito, Angela. “What is Religion: Vocabularies, Temporalities, Comparabilities.” Keynote address on Falun Gong at the International Conference on The Future of the Religious Past, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Amsterdam, Beurs van Berlage, 2–4 June 2005.
