Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: RICKSON PEREIRA

African-based religiosities in the field of social psychology: a study of social representations

Religiosities of African origin; religious racism; social representations.

The present research project aims to examine the social representations that people have regarding religiosities of African origin, identifying how religious people and non-religious people configure religiosities of African origin. To achieve this objective, the aim is to have 120 people participate, so that they are divided equally into three groups, separating participants into: African-based religions, Christian religions and non-religiosities. Given this research structure, the structural approach of the theory of social representations will be used as the main theoretical reference, and content analysis will be used to interpret the results. Bearing in mind that during the process of enslavement of the black African population on Brazilian soil, the notion of race was the main device used to justify the supposed inferiority of black people in relation to white Europeans, it is assumed that this same element has influenced in the way in which religiosities of African origin are understood by the Brazilian population, considering that these religious practices, when initially reproduced by enslaved black people, and making reference to the black African population, ended up being considered inferior as well. Therefore, by proposing this study, the aim is to understand how religiosities continue to be represented in contemporary times.