Abstract

NOGUEIRA, Guilherme Dantas  and  ALMEIDA, Tânia Mara Campos de. The Transgressive Centrality of Women in Terreiro Communities. Latinoamérica [online]. 2023, n.77, pp.185-211.  Epub Apr 19, 2024. ISSN 2448-6914.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cialc.24486914e.2023.77.57546.

We aim to dialogue with classical and recent bibliography on Mothers of Saint and terreiro women, emphasizing their historical role in the Brazilian Afro-religious formation, which is reflected in the present. This is done from a bibliographic survey on their leadership and strong presence in terreiro communities, in dialogue with ethnographic and experiential field work, that updates the bibliography. Thus, we argue for the historical centrality of the role and leadership of women in terreiros in Brazil and abroad, particularly in Candomblé. We reaffirm the subversive feminine position to the status quo of the Western colonial-modern order, highlighted by spiritual entities and Mothers of Saint in their own terms. In addition, contemporary nuances of this relatively old issue in the Social Sciences are brought to light and now recovered, from the places of these interlocutors as authorities, legitimate agents of praxis and artifacts of their sociocultural reality.

Keywords : Calundu; Candomblé; Afro Religiosity; Mothers of Saint; Religious Communities.

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