Banca de DEFESA: ARTUR DA SILVA BARBOSA

RELIGIOUS RACISM AS A PRODUCER OF TERRITORIES: An analysis of attacks on Candomblé temples in Duque de Caxias/RJ.

RELIGIOUS RACISM; TERRITORY; DUQUE DE CAXIAS; TERREIRO; CANDOMBLÉ

Debates regarding raciality and territorial disputes are advancing in academic spaces.
With a view to adding to the trenches against colonialism that sought to territorialize
consciences and lands, we use the historical digression, in chapter 1, to shed light on
what is hidden in the darkness of centuries. Thus, in this first part, the means taken were
bibliographical research. Continuing, in Chapter 2, we have an overview of some
religious conflicts that occurred in Duque de Caxias/RJ and in neighboring
municipalities. To this end, interviews were carried out with a Candomblé leader,
namely Ogã Leonardo, from Terreiro Ile Ase Omiojuaro. Finally, in Chapter 3, we have
a study closer to our spatial focus, that is, the attack directed at Terreiro Kwe Ceja Gbé,
in the neighborhood of Imabiê, in the aforementioned municipality, at this point, two
interviews were carried out with the priestess of this temple, as well as trips to the
countryside. In short, this dissertation aims, in a broader sense, to present the potential
that Religious Racism has to build territories. In this sense points out, the city of Duque
de Caxias, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, had the highest rate of religious prejudice in
Baixada Fluminense in the year in question, We chose a terreiro in this municipality to
base our statement on a practical reality, namely that religious racism builds territories.
To this end, exploratory research, combined with bibliographies that guided our
academic work, was combined with semi-structured interviews, applied in the field.
However, throughout the text, not only the attack that occurred in this terreiro, that is,
the Kwe Ceja Gbé, of the priestess Conceição de Olissa, but a plot from the colonial
period, in a succinct way, is revealed throughout the textual body, where a process of
epistemicide against black ancestral knowledge is undertaken until we reach the attacks
we see on Candomblé terreiros. The results we arrived at do not end the debate, but
rather broaden the discussion, as we truly conclude that the colonial process led to a
consciousness that demonized Candomblé practices, which remain true quilombos, that
is, spaces of resistance of black culture.