Representações das religiões afro-brasileiras em João do Rio: uma análise das “Religiões no Rio”

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the representations of Afro-Brazilian religious and cultural practices in the work As Religiões no Rio (1904), by the chronicler João do Rio. The analytical focus is centered on the chapter No Mundo dos Feitiços (In the World of Spells), establishing specific counterpoints that highlight the religious racism and narrative disparity employed by the author regarding the internal logics of Afro-Brazilian religious practices. Situated within the context of the urban and social transformations of the Carioca Belle Époque, the study examines how this discourse contributed to the construction of social imaginaries that stigmatized religions of African origin. The methodology is grounded in Roger Chartier’s concept of representation, articulated with Sidnei Nogueira’s category of religious racism, to deconstruct the narrative mechanisms used by the author. The research reconstructs the historical trajectory of repression and resistance surrounding these practices since the colonial period, analyzes the representation of Black subjects in Brazilian literature, and conducts a critical reading of João do Rio's journalistic chronicles. The findings demonstrate that, while the work is fundamental for understanding the Afro-Brazilian religious-cultural past, the author constructs a racialized discourse based on an ontological differentiation, establishing a clear religious and cultural narrative hierarchy through stereotypes. It is concluded that the work operates as an instrument of symbolic violence that legitimizes the exclusionary civilizing project of the elite of that period, naturalizing stigmas directed at the Black origins of these cults and contributing to their social and historical marginalization.