This qualitative study examines the social, spiritual and political role the Black Oneness Churches play in Black communities. It also provides an anti-colonial examination of the Afro-Caribbean Oneness churches to understand how it functioned in the formation and defense of the emerging Black communities for the period 1960-1980. This project is based on qualitative interviews and focus groups conducted with Black Clergy and Black women in the Oneness church of the Greater Toronto area. This study is based on the following four objectives: 1. Understanding the central importance of the Black Oneness Pentecostal Church post 1960 to Black communities. 2. Providing a voice for those of the Black Church that are currently underrepresented in academic scholarship. 3. Examining how the Black Church responds to allegations of its own complicities in colonial practices. 4. Engage spirituality as a legitimate location and space from which to know and resist colonization. The study also introduces an emerging framework entitled: Whiteness as Theology. This framework is a critique of the theological discourse of Whiteness and the enduring relevance of the Black Church in a pluralistic Afro-Christian culture. The data collected reveal that while the Black Church operated as a social welfare institution that assisted thousands of new black immigrants, the inception of the church was political and in protest to racism. Hence, the Black Church is a product of white racism, migration and colonization. The paradox of the Black Church lies in its complicity in colonization while also creating religious forms of resistance. For example, the inception of the Afro-Caribbean Oneness Church was an anti-colonial response to the racism in the White Church. But 40 years later, the insidious nature of colonization has weaved through the church and “prosperity theology” as an impetus of colonialism has reshaped the social justice role of Black Churches.

This qualitative study examines the social, spiritual and political role the Black Oneness Churches play in Black communities. It also provides an anti-colonial examination of the Afro-Caribbean Oneness churches to understand how it functioned in the formation and defense of the emerging Black communities for the period 1960-1980. This project is based on qualitative interviews and focus groups conducted with Black Clergy and Black women in the Oneness church of the Greater Toronto area. This study is based on the following four objectives: 1. Understanding the central importance of the Black Oneness Pentecostal Church post 1960 to Black communities. 2. Providing a voice for those of the Black Church that are currently underrepresented in academic scholarship. 3. Examining how the Black Church responds to allegations of its own complicities in colonial practices. 4. Engage spirituality as a legitimate location and space from which to know and resist colonization. The study also introduces an emerging framework entitled: Whiteness as Theology. This framework is a critique of the theological discourse of Whiteness and the enduring relevance of the Black Church in a pluralistic Afro-Christian culture. The data collected reveal that while the Black Church operated as a social welfare institution that assisted thousands of new black immigrants, the inception of the church was political and in protest to racism. Hence, the Black Church is a product of white racism, migration and colonization. The paradox of the Black Church lies in its complicity in colonization while also creating religious forms of resistance. For example, the inception of the Afro-Caribbean Oneness Church was an anti-colonial response to the racism in the White Church. But 40 years later, the insidious nature of colonization has weaved through the church and “prosperity theology” as an impetus of colonialism has reshaped the social justice role of Black Churches.

As Irmandades de Homens Pretos de Goiana se apresentam como núcleos de devoção e resistência das tradições religiosas e culturais africanas. O presente trabalho acadêmico procura considerá-las sob três perspectivas: das diversas formas de representações coletivas e manifestações do sagrado; das táticas de controle social das autoridades católicas e civis e do sincretismo enquanto estratégia de resistência mítico-simbólica. Nessa nossa reconstrução histórico-religiosa, as Irmandades de Homens Pretos são nichos de manifestações do sagrado e das reminiscências culturais dos negros, cuja expressão é evidenciada nas festas, procissões e nos enterros por elas promovidos. O forte controle exercido pela Igreja e o Estado sobre essas Irmandades obrigou o negro a criar, a partir das representações coletivas, dispositivos de organização em que pudessem se incorporar, preservando seu ethos, ao mesmo tempo em que permitiu a elaboração de um território sócio-cultural de resistência e demarcador de identidades. Nessa perspectiva, o sincretismo vivenciado nas Irmandades de homens de cor foi uma presença marcante na manutenção das tradições africanas / The Black Brotherhoods of Goiana were advocates of devotion and defenders of religious and african cultural traditions. This study considers them under three perspectives: as diverse forms of collective representations and expressions of the sacred; as a technique in societal control by catholic authorities; and, as syncretism while simultaneously being a mythical-symbolical strategy of resistance. In this historical reconstruction, the Black Brotherhoods reveal their sacred and black cultural reminiscences in their feasts, processions and funerals. The strong control exercised by both Church and State over the Brotherhoods forced the black man to create collective representations, ways to organize so that he could preserve his ethos. This happened at the same time when it was possible for him to affirm his identity in a social and cultural space as resistance. In this perspective, syncretism, as lived in the Black Brotherhoods, was a significant force in maintaining african traditions

Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-01T18:12:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissetacao_maria_jesus.pdf: 1230235 bytes, checksum: 8d1183a8e0a05f0bfeddd7c42b56259a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-01-14 / The Black Brotherhoods of Goiana were advocates of devotion and defenders of religious and african cultural traditions. This study considers them under three perspectives: as diverse forms of collective representations and expressions of the sacred; as a technique in societal control by catholic authorities; and, as syncretism while simultaneously being a mythical-symbolical strategy of resistance. In this historical reconstruction, the Black Brotherhoods reveal their sacred and black cultural reminiscences in their feasts, processions and funerals. The strong control exercised by both Church and State over the Brotherhoods forced the black man to create collective representations, ways to organize so that he could preserve his ethos. This happened at the same time when it was possible for him to affirm his identity in a social and cultural space as resistance. In this perspective, syncretism, as lived in the Black Brotherhoods, was a significant force in maintaining african traditions / As Irmandades de Homens Pretos de Goiana se apresentam como núcleos de devoção e resistência das tradições religiosas e culturais africanas. O presente trabalho acadêmico procura considerá-las sob três perspectivas: das diversas formas de representações coletivas e manifestações do sagrado; das táticas de controle social das autoridades católicas e civis e do sincretismo enquanto estratégia de resistência mítico-simbólica. Nessa nossa reconstrução histórico-religiosa, as Irmandades de Homens Pretos são nichos de manifestações do sagrado e das reminiscências culturais dos negros, cuja expressão é evidenciada nas festas, procissões e nos enterros por elas promovidos. O forte controle exercido pela Igreja e o Estado sobre essas Irmandades obrigou o negro a criar, a partir das representações coletivas, dispositivos de organização em que pudessem se incorporar, preservando seu ethos, ao mesmo tempo em que permitiu a elaboração de um território sócio-cultural de resistência e demarcador de identidades. Nessa perspectiva, o sincretismo vivenciado nas Irmandades de homens de cor foi uma presença marcante na manutenção das tradições africanas

[pt] Esta pesquisa compreende como a religião afro-brasileira Candomblé se relaciona com o espaço físico em que acontece no mundo. Este lugar é chamado, carinhosamente, Roça. Estabelecendo a relação entre a cultura negra afrodiaspórica e a Arquitetura, revela-se uma forma muito particular de habitar. A religião, culturalmente, é um campo fértil de simbologias dessa existência, e contém aspectos cheios de significados do homem, do divino e do lugar. Dentre as religiões afrosiaspóricas, o Candomblé tem importância fundamental. Uma comunidade de resistência e de produção cultural, moldada pela mutabilidade, movimento e hibridação da diáspora negra. Buscou-se compreender os significados, os sentidos e as definições de cada elemento que compõe o universo da Roça de Candomblé: os elementos pré-existentes, construídos, naturais e as relações destes com a comunidade religiosa que compõe, com os deuses e ancestrais, os habitantes deste espaço metafísico afro-brasileiro. A dissertação foi desenvolvida através de grande revisão bibliográfica, e a pesquisa de campo etnográfica, com o processo de iniciação do autor no terreiro de Candomblé Ilê Axé Icimimó Aganju Didê, na cidade de Cachoeira, Bahia. Esse fato abre uma comunicação específica com a comunidade religiosa do Icimimó. A ideia é fazer da participação, um instrumento de conhecimento, despedaçando a dicotomia observador-objeto de observação. Neste processo são produzidos desenhos, plantas, arquivos fotográficos e entrevistas. Tecendo esta grande teia de referências se revela um novo Habitar no mundo. / [en] This research seeks to understand how the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé relates to the physical space in which it takes place in the world. This place is affectionately called Roça. Establishing the relationship between Afro-Diasporic black culture and Architecture, a very particular way of inhabiting is revealed. Religion, culturally, is a fertile field of symbology of this existence, and contains aspects full of meanings of man, the divine, and the place. Among black religions, Candomblé is of fundamental importance. A community of resistance and cultural production, shaped by the mutability, movement, and hybridization of the black diaspora. We sought to understand the meanings, senses, and definitions of each element that makes up the universe of Roça of Candomblé: the pre-existing, built, natural elements and their relationships with the religious community that composes, together with the gods and the ancestors, the inhabitants of this Afro-Brazilian metaphysical space. The dissertation was developed through a major bibliographic review, and ethnographic field research, with the author s initiation process in the terreiro of Candomblé Ilê Axé Icimimó Aganju Didê, in the city of Cachoeira, Bahia. This fact opens a specific communication with the religious community of Icimimó. The idea is to make participation an instrument of knowledge, breaking the observer-observation dichotomy. In this process, drawings, plans, photographic files and interviews are produced. Weaving this great web of references reveals a new Dwelling in the world.

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