Blessed Anastacia

Women, Race and Popular Christianity in Brazil

John Burdick

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136044229
• Subtopic: Anthropology

The weakness of Brazil's black consciousness movement is commonly attributed to the fragility of Afro-Brazilian ethnic identity. In a major account, John Burdick challenges this view by revealing the many-layered reality of popular black consciousness and identity in an arena that is usually overlooked: that of popular Christianity.Blessed Anastacia describes how popular Christianity confronts everyday racism and contributes to the formation of racial identity. The author concludes that if organizers of the black consciousness movement were to recognize the profound racial meaning inherent in this area of popular religiosity, they might be more successful in bridging the gap with its poor and working-class constituency.

Index

Aaron (Biblical figure), 147

Acotirene (black heroine), 150

African cultural elements, 8–9, 57–65, 90–91, 117

African figures in the Bible, 146–147

Afro-Catholic theologians, 65

Afro-Reggae Cultural Group (GCAR), 4, 190–191, 194–196

Afro religions, 6, 9, 57–59, 63–65, 90, 105–112, 119, 147, 189

Agbara Dudu, 3

Agentes de Pastoral Negro (APN), 4, 55–56

AIDS, 150

Alencar, Jose de, 47

Alves, Castro, 172

Amado, Jorge, 30

Anastcia, Escrava: absence from pastoral negro, 151; beauty of, 70–71, 156–162; blue eyes of, 156; canonization movement, 71–73; color politics and, 149–180; devotees of, 65–77; face-iron of, 101–102, 163–166; and female body, 22–23, 156–162; forgiveness of, 170–173; in hair salons, 161–162, 176; and iconography of torture, 66–71, 102, 163–166; and movimento negro, 6–7, 21, 150–176, 178–180, 185–189; rituals for, 77–82; as slave, 70–74, 153–156, 162–173, 179; shrines to, 20–21, 66–68, 74–76, 78–82, 164; social action and, 176–178, 187; stories of, 68–73, 158–159, 174–176; as symbol of resistance, 164–170, 179–180, 187; in TV and radio series, 72–73, 75–76, 157–158, 163, 164; as victim, 162–163; and whitening aesthetic, 156–162; whites and, 171–174; vs. Zumbi, 71–72, 150, 162

“Anastácia Bikini,” 77

Anglin, Mary K., 183–184

Anthias, Floya, 91

anthropology, 181–182

antiracism, 21, 143–147, 152–156, 188–191, 197, 204–205...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface and Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• ONE The Everyday Wounds of Color
• TWO Spirited Languages
• THREE The Politics of Mystical Substance
• FOUR What is the Color of the Holy Spirit?
• FIVE The Eyes of Anastacia
• SIX The Politics of Ethnography
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index