Entre a Casa Grande e a Senzala: a formação da religiosidade brasileira na perspectiva de Gilberto Freyre

Abstract

Grounded in perspective by Gilberto Freyre, in his work The Masters and the Slaves, this research seeks to clarify the process of formation of Brazilian religiosity, through literature that involves not only the above work, but also the study of theoreticals influencing the worldview by the referred author. To achieve the goal of the study, we initially draw an overview of the religious and intellectual influences received by Freyre, from his childhood to youth, following the approach of the production process and publication of The Masters and the Slaves, ending with the presentation of criticism made by Freyre’s contemporary intellectuals. After this first step, the study goes to another stage, which aims to shed light on the root of the three ethnic groups present in the Brazilian colonial period - indigenous, African and Portuguese - with emphasis on their religious beliefs and practices. From that depth, it becomes possible to detect the religious interpenetration held, responsible for the formation of the hybridity, the main characteristic of Brazilian religiosity, according to Gilberto Freyre.