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Religious transitions and border making in southeast Brazilian spiritual landscape – the encruzilhada (crossroads) perspective

2021; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 52; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0048721x.2021.2011084

1096-1151

Eleonora Lundell,

Urban and sociocultural dynamics

This article discusses religious transitions and border making in Southeast Brazil. The study is based on 11 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (2011–2015). The article navigates the Southeast Brazilian cross-religious spiritual landscape, shedding light on the knowledges and experiences of Umbanda and Candomblé leaders, devotees and clients, as well as my own experiences as a researcher crossing through different religious environments. The research results show that besides institutions and identities, the religious lines of association emerge via acknowledgement of spatial/territorial engagements with humans and other-than-humans (spirits, entities, orixás, egums). The study argues that beyond the conventional conceptualization of syncretism and hybridism, the concept of the encruzilhada (crossroads) allows a deeper understanding of the unexpected range of phenomena and ongoing transit, exchange and mutual influence in the epistemologically pluriversal spiritual landscape of Southeast Brazil.