A força dos que resistem e a sanha dos que atacam: casos de racismo religioso e intolerância contra candomblecistas em Fortaleza e Região Metropolitana

Abstract

The dissertation on screen focuses on discussing cases of religious racism and intolerance against Candomblecists in Fortaleza and the metropolitan region. It aims to investigate the symbolic and physical attacks on Candomblé supporters and their places os worship, but also their reactions to these attacks and their strategies for overcoming this violence in urban daily life. It is intended to discuss the concept of religious racism and how it relates to religious intolerance, in addition to bringing up other issues related to the theme such as the use of the law to persecute or protect followers of African-based religions (RMAs) and ethnic relationsracial. Furthermore, a history of the conceptual transition is made about the conflicts between followers of RMAs and neo-Pentecostals. Besides that, racism and intolerance are phenomena that contribute to the invisibility of the terreiros in the city, but that is not all that explains it. From the interlocutors’ narrative, a question arises that helps us to understand this invisibility, and it has already, been pointed out by other researches in other contexts in Brazil, but the field revealed an internal characteristic to Candomblé that contributes to this. As research methods, field diaries were produced, elaborated from participant observation and individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. The results point to divergences between the narratives of the interlocutors about the classification of the attacks, but there is a predominance of the idea of religious racism.