Intenció i atzar en la historia del fetitxe

El problema del fetitxe, tal com es va configurar històricament en l'Atlàntic des de l'època dels descobriments, va ser central per definir la diferencia entre subjectes i objectes, religió i economia, Europa i Àfrica en el pensament occidental il·lustrat. En aquest article, repassarem la configuració històrica del problema del fetitxe, i les lectures antropològiques que se n'ha fet, especialment en els últims vint anys, des d'una perspectiva historicista diametralment oposada a les teories cognitives de la religió, que en gran mesura perpetuen el discurs il·lustrat del fetitxisme. En la segona part de l'article, parlarem amb més deteniment d'un cas particular, el de Candomblé, presentant alternatives a les interpretacions cognitives i fetitxistes d'aquesta religió

Què passa amb els sants? Imatges del sagrat a Cachoeira, Brasil

Aquest article proposa una aproximació a l’antropologia de les imatges basada en les propostes de Belting, Gell i Latour. Podem desenvolupar una antropologia de les imatges que analitzi les imatges no només com a textos sinó també com a persones? És a dir, no només com a fixacions de representacions col.lectives, o símbols, essencialment diferents dels actors socials, sinó també com a actors socials en si mateixes? El cas etnogràfic en que es basa l’argument de l’article es el Candomblé brasiler, en el context del camp religiós de la ciutat de Cachoeira, a Bahia. Paraules clau: antropologia de les imatges, Candomblé, religió popular, iconoclastia, pentecostalisme. Abstract This article develops an approach to the anthropology of images based on the work of Belting, Gell and Latour. Can we construct an anthropology of images which analyzes images not just as texts, but also as persons? That is to say, not just as a means of fixing collective representations or symbols understood as essentially different from social actors, but also as social actors in themselves? The ethnographic case on which the argument is based is Brazilian Candomblé, analyzed in the context of religious belief and practice in the city of Cachoeira, in the state of Bahia. Keywords: anthropology of images, Candomblé, popular religion, iconoclasm, Pentecostalism

Experimentaciones participantes en arte y antropología

The following article reflects on the two fundamental concepts dealt with in this section: the experimental and the collaborative dimensions. I shall approach each of these in turn, resorting, however, to a different perspective from the one proposed in the introduction, namely through art. From this angle, I shall offer more general considerations about experimental collaboration in anthropology.En las páginas que siguen voy a proponer una reflexión sobre los dos conceptos fundamentales que guían esta sección: lo experimental y la colaboración. Me aproximaré a estos conceptos de forma consecutiva, primero el uno y después el otro, desde un punto de vista diferente al propuesto en la introducción: a partir del arte. Desde este ángulo, propongo algunas consideraciones más generales sobre las colaboraciones experimentales en antropología

Sorcery in the Black Atlantic

Most scholarship on sorcery and witchcraft has narrowly focused on specific times and places, particularly early modern Europe and twentieth-century Africa. And much of that research interprets sorcery as merely a remnant of premodern traditions. Boldly challenging these views, Sorcery in the Black Atlantic takes a longer historical and broader geographical perspective, contending that sorcery is best understood as an Atlantic phenomenon that has significant connections to modernity and globalization. A distinguished group of contributors here examine sorcery in Brazil, Cuba, South Africa, Cameroon, and Angola. Their insightful essays reveal the way practices and accusations of witchcraft spread throughout the Atlantic world from the age of discovery up to the present, creating an indelible link between sorcery and the rise of global capitalism. Shedding new light on a topic of perennial interest, Sorcery in the Black Atlantic will be provocative, compelling reading for historians and anthropologists working in this growing field

Feitiço e fetiche no Atlântico moderno

Nesse artigo proponho descrever o processo histórico no qual o discurso da fetiçaria e o feitiço se transformou no discurso do fetichismo. Primeiro, vamos analisar o discurso da feitiçaria no mundo lusófono. Depois, vamos contrastar esse discurso com a formação da Mandinga, termo africano que gerou uma forma de feitiçaria extremamente popular no Atlântico lusófono no século XVIII. Depois veremos como o termo português feitiço se transformou no discurso do fetiche, e do fetichismo, na África Ocidental. Apresentando as transformações do discurso da feitiçaria no Atlântico, a minha proposta é tentar superar as descrições da história atlântica em termos de diáspora, separando a África como origem e lugar do passado, em oposição às Américas, ou ao Brasil, como lugar do presente e da recriação.In this paper I propose to describe the historical process through which the discourse of feitiçaria and feitiço became the discourse of fetishism. First, I will analyze the discourse of feitiçaria in the lusophone worlds. Then, I will compare this discourse to the formation of Mandinga, an African term that generated an extremely popular form of sorcery in the lusophone Atlantic in the XVIII century. After that, we will see how the Portuguese term feitiço became the discourse of the fetish, and fetishism, in West Africa. Describing the transformations of the discourse of fetishism in the Atlantic, my proposal is to overcome the descriptions in terms of Diaspora, separating Africa as a place of origin, in confrontation to the Americas or Brazil as a place of the present and re-creation

Dinheiro Vivo: Money and religion in Brazil

For decades, social scientists have seen money and religion in Brazil as two incompatible terms. In contrast, this article shows how money has always been present in Brazilian popular religion. This argument leads to a second point: a criticism of the interpretation of Brazilian Neo-Pentecostal churches as `money fetishists', religions of neoliberalism and globalization. Neo-Pentecostals in Brazil appropriate money not just for economic ends, but also with the political project of Christianizing the country. More generally, the article introduces a different perspective both from the classical discourse on money as an agent of globalization and modernity on the one hand, and a more recent literature on the personalization of money and alternative currencies, on the other. In both the discourses on modernity and personalization, nation-states are increasingly marginal. But the nation is still very much at the centre of the Brazilian Neo-Pentecostal project