Recreating Africa : Culture, Kinship, and Religion in the African-Portuguese World, 1441-1770

Exploring the cultural lives of African slaves in the early colonial Portuguese world, with an emphasis on the more than one million Central Africans who survived the journey to Brazil, James Sweet lifts a curtain on their lives as Africans rather than as incipient Brazilians. Focusing first on the cultures of Central Africa from which the slaves came--Ndembu, Imbangala, Kongo, and others--Sweet identifies specific cultural rites and beliefs that survived their transplantation to the African-Portuguese diaspora, arguing that they did not give way to immediate creolization in the New World but remained distinctly African for some time. Slaves transferred many cultural practices from their homelands to Brazil, including kinship structures, divination rituals, judicial ordeals, ritual burials, dietary restrictions, and secret societies. Sweet demonstrates that the structures of many of these practices remained constant during this early period, although the meanings of the rituals were often transformed as slaves coped with their new environment and status. Religious rituals in particular became potent forms of protest against the institution of slavery and its hardships. In addition, Sweet examines how certain African beliefs and customs challenged and ultimately influenced Brazilian Catholicism. Sweet's analysis sheds new light on African culture in Brazil's slave society while also enriching our understanding of the complex process of creolization and cultural survival. Contents 8 Maps, Tables, & Illustrations 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction 18 Notes 248 Part I. Living and Dying in the African-Portuguese Diaspora 28 1. Demography, Distribution, and Diasporic Streams 30 The Slave Trade in the Portuguese Colonial World, 1441–1770 32 The Creation of Slave Communities in Brazil: Origins and Ethnicities 39 Notes 249 2. Kinship, Family, and Household Formation 48 Rites of Passage: Adulthood, Marriage, and Childbirth 51 Same-Sex Relationships among African Slaves 67 Notes 253 3. Disease, Mortality, and Master Power 76 Disease, Malnutrition, and Mortality among Brazilian Slaves 77 The Impacts of Slavery on Children 83 Physical and Sexual Abuse and Its Effects on the Slave Family 89 Other Disruptions to Family and Community: Slave Sales and Manumission 94 Notes 257 Part II. African Religious Responses 102 4. Catholic vs. ‘‘Other’’ in the World of Believers 104 Islamic Jolof Slaves in Portugal 104 Testing the Bonds of Faith: Forced Conversions of Slaves to Islam 108 Africans and the Anglican Threat in the Portuguese World 113 Notes 263 5. Theory and Praxis in the Study of African Religions 120 Central African Cosmology 121 The Limitations of Western Outlooks on African Culture 123 African Culture and the Creolization School: A Critique 132 Notes 264 6. African Divination in the Diaspora 136 Central African Divinations in the Diaspora 137 Divination among Slaves fromWest Africa and the Mina Coast 145 African Creolization in Africa and the Diaspora 148 African Divination and Slave Resistance 151 Notes 267 7. Calundús, Curing, and Medicine in the Colonial World 156 Central African Forms of Human Possession: Calundús 161 Calundú and the Forging of Economic Passageways 169 Other Forms of Medicine and Curing 171 Notes 270 8. Witchcraft, Ritual, and Resistance in the African-Portuguese Diaspora 178 Witchcraft, Ritual, and Romance 188 Central African Rituals and Beliefs in Controlling Everyday Affairs 192 Bolsas, Mandingas, and Other Talismans from the ‘‘Guinea’’ Coast 196 Notes 273 Part III. Africans and the Catholic Church 206 9. African Catholicism in the Portuguese World 208 Becoming a Christian, Becoming a Slave: The African Background 208 The Catholic Ministry in Brazil 214 Christianity in the Diaspora 219 Blasphemy and Sacrilege among Slaves 227 Notes 278 10. The Impacts of African Religious Beliefs on Brazilian Catholicism 234 Notes 281 Conclusion 244 Notes 281 Notes 248 Bibliography 282 Index 304 A 304 B 305 C 306 D-F 307 G-K 308 L-M 309 N-P 310 Q-R 311 S 312 T-X 313

Exploring the cultural lives of African slaves in the early colonial Portuguese world, with an emphasis on the more than 1 million Central Africans who survived the journey to Brazil, James Sweet lifts a curtain on their lives as Africans rather than as incipient Brazilians. Focusing first on the cultures of Central Africa from which the slaves came—Ndembu, Imbangala, Kongo, and others—Sweet identifies specific cultural rites and beliefs that survived their transplantation to the African-Portuguese diaspora, arguing that they did not give way to immediate creolization in the New World but remained distinctly African for some time.

Slaves transferred many cultural practices from their homelands to Brazil, including kinship structures, divination rituals, judicial ordeals, ritual burials, dietary restrictions, and secret societies. Sweet demonstrates that the structures of many of these practices remained constant during this early period, although the meanings of the rituals were often transformed as slaves coped with their new environment and status. Religious rituals in particular became potent forms of protest against the institution of slavery and its hardships. In addition, Sweet examines how certain African beliefs and customs challenged and ultimately influenced Brazilian Catholicism.

Sweet's analysis sheds new light on African culture in Brazil's slave society while also enriching our understanding of the complex process of creolization and cultural survival.

Exploring the cultural lives of African slaves in the early colonial Portuguese world, with an emphasis on the more than one million Central Africans who survived the journey to Brazil, James Sweet lifts a curtain on their lives as Africans rather than as incipient Brazilians. Focusing first on the cultures of Central Africa from which the slaves came -- Ndembu, Imbangala, Kongo, and others -- Sweet identifies specific cultural rites and beliefs that survived their transplantation in the African-Portuguese diaspora, arguing that they did not give way to immediate creolization in the New World but remained distinctly African for some time.Slaves transferred many cultural practices from their homelands to Brazil, including kinship structures, divination rituals, judicial ordeals, ritual burials, dietary restrictions, and secret societies. Sweet demonstrates that the structures of many of these practices remained constant during this early period, although the meanings of the rituals were often transformed as slaves coped with their new environment and status. Religious rituals in particular became potent forms of protest against the institution of slavery and its hardships. In addition, Sweet examines how certain African beliefs and customs challenged and ultimately influenced Brazilian Catholicism.Sweet's analysis sheds new light on African culture in Brazil's slave society while also enriching our understanding of the complex process of creolization and cultural survival. Sweet Chronicles The Lives Of African Slaves Taken By Portuguese Traders From Central Africa To Portugal And Especially Brazil, One Of The Main Regions Of The African Diaspora. He Finds That Slaves Transferred Their African Cultural Practices To The New World And That Central African Cultural Forms Penetrated Deeply Into Brazilian Society And The New World. Part I. Living And Dying In The African-portuguese Diaspora -- Demography, Distribution, And Diasporic Streams -- Kinship, Family, And Household Formation -- Disease, Mortality, And Master Power -- Part Ii. African Religious Responses -- Catholic Vs. Other In The World Of Believers -- Theory And Praxis In The Study Of African Religions -- African Divination In The Diaspora -- Calundus, Curing, And Medicine In The Colonial World -- Witchcraft, Ritual, And Resistance In The African-portuguese Diaspora -- Part Iii. Africans And The Catholic Church -- African Catholicism In The Portuguese World -- The Impacts Of African Religious Beliefs On Brazilian Catholicism. James H. Sweet. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 265-285) And Index. Winner Of The 2004 Wesley-logan Prize.