Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-01-04T16:22:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 deniseadeliavieiraprata.pdf: 3407351 bytes, checksum: 51f8ebc36557d550af4bfce67b53e40b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Diamantino Mayra (mayra.diamantino@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-01-31T10:33:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 deniseadeliavieiraprata.pdf: 3407351 bytes, checksum: 51f8ebc36557d550af4bfce67b53e40b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-31T10:33:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 deniseadeliavieiraprata.pdf: 3407351 bytes, checksum: 51f8ebc36557d550af4bfce67b53e40b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-28 / O presente trabalho imprime um olhar histórico sobre as produções literárias mediúnicas representadas pelas poesias e romances. Pretende recuperar as discussões, debates e polêmicas que se materializaram em torno dessas modalidades, desde a Codificação da Doutrina Espírita por Allan Kardec, na França, até e após o surgimento do médium Chico Xavier, no cenário espírita brasileiro. Para tanto, foram utilizadas fontes bibliográficas, tais como a Revista Espírita, fundada por Kardec e as edições da revista Reformador, órgão de comunicação oficial da Federação Espírita Brasileira, dentre outras. O trabalho, ao destacar Allan Kardec e Chico Xavier como os pilares para uma reconstituição histórica a que nos propusemos, oferece uma releitura singular da trajetória da literatura mediúnica, desde a França até o Brasil. As discussões levantadas na tese, em virtude da eclosão da literatura mediúnica, pretendem contribuir para a disseminação do tema, uma vez que são poucos os estudos existentes a respeito deste tipo de literatura. Procuramos destacar as discussões, controvérsias e polêmicas em torno da literatura dita de além-túmulo, a fim de referendar essa literatura como um objeto passível de estudo pela academia. / This paper prints a historical look on mediumship literary productions represented by poems and novels. It wants to retrieve the discussions, debates and controversies that materialized around these forms from the Codification of Spiritism by Allan Kardec, in France, until the emergence of medium Chico Xavier in the Brazilian spiritualist scenario. Therefore, bibliographic sources have been used such as the Spiritist Magazine, founded by Kardec and the issues of the Reformador magazine, the official communication organ of the Brazilian Spiritist Federation, among others. The work, by highlighting Allan Kardec and Chico Xavier as the pillars for a historical reconstruction we set, offers a unique reinterpretation of the history of mediumship literature, from France to Brazil. The discussions raised in the thesis, because of the outbreak of mediumship literature, intend to contribute to the spread of the theme, since there are few existing studies about this type of literature. We seek out the discussions, disputes and controversies around the literature from beyond the grave in order to ratify this literature as a subject of study by the academy.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-01-26T13:09:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 marcelogulaopimentel.pdf: 4121758 bytes, checksum: 9fc871e04dce7183f9b0078fcceb7359 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-01-27T11:02:39Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 marcelogulaopimentel.pdf: 4121758 bytes, checksum: 9fc871e04dce7183f9b0078fcceb7359 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-27T11:02:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 marcelogulaopimentel.pdf: 4121758 bytes, checksum: 9fc871e04dce7183f9b0078fcceb7359 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-25 / Contexto: Ao longo do século XIX, investigações sobre a natureza de fenômenos psíquicos/espirituais como transes e supostas aquisições de informações indisponíveis aos canais sensoriais normais geraram grande debate, mobilizando médicos, cientistas e intelectuais. O professor francês Allan Kardec (1804-1869) foi um dos primeiros pesquisadores a propor uma investigação científica dos fenômenos mediúnicos, tornando-se um influente intelectual na Europa durante a segunda metade daquele século e no Brasil a partir do século XX. Todavia, seu método de investigação é amplamente desconhecido ou mal interpretado. Objetivos: Identificar e analisar o método de investigação empregado por Allan Kardec em suas investigações das experiências mediúnicas. Método: A pesquisa se concentrou na leitura e na análise, no idioma original, de toda obra publicada por Kardec: seus livros e os doze volumes da Revue Spirite: Journal d'Études Psychologiques. Foram obtidos e analisados documentos originais inéditos de Kardec. Fontes secundárias foram utilizadas como ferramentas de interpretação e de contextualização do trabalho de Kardec. Resultados: Kardec levantou e testou diversas hipóteses para explicar os fenômenos mediúnicos: fraude, alucinação, forças físicas, sonambulismo, inconsciente, clarividênica, transferência de pensamentos (telepatia) e espíritos desencarnados. Concluiu que todas estas hipóteses eram necessárias para explicar a totalidade das experiências chamadas de mediúnicas. Todavia, por concentrar sua atenção naquelas experiências que ele considerava envolver a comunicação de personalidades desencarnadas (espíritos), buscou desenvolver um método para obter informações úteis e confiáveis sobre a dimensão espiritual do universo. O objetivo de Kardec era naturalizar o domínio espiritual, fazendo dele um objeto de investigação racional e empírica para identificar as leis naturais que regeriam as supostas relações entre espíritos desencarnados e a humanidade encarnada. Por meio do estudo dos processos de investigação e de elaboração das teorias de Allan Kardec para os casos específicos das chamadas sensações dos espíritos logo após o desencarne e para o caso da possessão, percebe-se a busca de uma ampla e diversificada base empírica, bem como a construção progressiva e a reformulação de teorias explicativas. Conclusão: As investigações sobre os fenômenos psíquicos e mediúnicos preenchem uma importante lacuna, ainda negligenciada, da história da ciência e da medicina. Allan Kardec foi um dos pioneiros desses estudos ao propor a naturalização da dimensão espiritual e sua subsequente investigação empírica e racional. Uma melhor compreensão de seus métodos pode expandir nosso conhecimento sobre as relações entre ciência e espiritualidade no século XIX, bem como oferecer contribuições para os estudos atuais sobre o tema. / Background: During the nineteenth century, investigations on the nature of psychic / spiritual phenomena such as trances and supposed acquisition of information not available through conventional sensory channels generated intense debates which mobilized physicians, scientists and intellectuals. French educator Allan Kardec (1804-1869) was one of the first researchers to propose a scientific investigation on psychic phenomena, thus becoming an influential scholar in Europe during the second half of that century and in Brazil in the twentieth century. However, his method of investigation is largely unknown or misunderstood. Objectives: To identify and analyze the method employed by Allan Kardec in his investigations on psychic experiences. Method: Our research focused on the reading and analysis of his complete works – books and twelve volumes of the Revue Spirite: Journal d'Études Psychologiques – all of them examined in the original language. We have also obtained and analyzed unpublished and original documents which belonged to Kardec. Secondary sources were used as tools for interpretation and contextualization of his works. Results: Kardec formulated and tested several hypotheses in order to explain mediumistic phenomena, among them, fraud, hallucinations, physical forces, somnambulism, unconscious clairvoyance, thought transfer (telepathy) and disembodied spirits. He concluded that all of them were necessary to explain the totality of experiences called mediumistic. However, by concentrating his attention on those experiences that he considered involving the communication of disembodied personalities (spirits), he sought to develop a method to obtain useful and reliable information about the spiritual dimension of the universe. Kardec’s goal was to naturalize the spirit realm, regarding it as an object of rational and empirical scrutiny in order to identify natural laws that would govern relations between alleged disembodied spirits and the embodied humanity. Through the examination of his research processes and the development of his theories such as on the sensations of the spirits soon after disembodiment as well as on possession, we have come to realize that his work was grounded on a broad and diverse empirical basis and that the formulation and reformulation of his explanatory theories were continuous and progressive. Conclusion: Investigations on psychic and mediumistic phenomena fill an important gap, still neglected, in the history of science and medicine. Kardec was one of the pioneers of these studies when he proposed the naturalization of a spiritual dimension and its subsequent empirical and rational inquiry. A better understanding of his methods may expand our knowledge about the relationship between science and spirituality in the nineteenth century as well as provide input to current studies on the subject.

Parmi la multitude de manifestations de nature religieuse et spirituelle qui animent présentement la société occidentale contemporaine, une attire notre attention par son mode d’action et l’intérêt grandissant qu’elle exerce sur le public. Elle est mise en place, organisée et administrée par un nombre d’individus prétendant posséder des capacités spéciales, résultat d’une relation particulière entretenue avec un pouvoir qualifié par la plupart de spirituel. Ces personnages sont généralement nommés « médiums », mais peuvent aussi être appelés suivant le nom de leur pratique qu’ils développent. Ainsi, celui qui prétend pouvoir « voir » le passé et l’avenir d’une personne est appelé « voyant » et sa pratique est appelée la « voyance ». Celui qui se réclame de la capacité de guérir des maladies et d’identifier leur cause par un contact privilégié avec son pouvoir spirituel est appelé guérisseur et sa pratique est appelée guérison. Ceux qui peuvent se mettre en contact avec les âmes des personnes décédées, chasser des esprits qui tourmentent des individus ou hantent des maisons et des lieux sont appelés médiums ou « médiums exorcistes » et leur pratique est l’exorcisme. Nous regroupons toutes ces manifestations en termes de « pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies » vu la caractéristique sous-tendant son expression : elle se produit en dehors d’un cadre institutionnel . À la suite des entrevues menées auprès d’un certain nombre de médiums, clients et individus ayant entendu des récits d’expériences de séance médiumnique, nous nous proposons de comprendre la manière dont cet univers de pratiques fonctionne. Nous cherchons également à déterminer comment il est possible de parler de l’émergence d’une expression inédite de pratique médiumnique selon la modalité qui la structure et la manière dont elle approfondit sa dimension croyante et idéologique. Nous séparons notre travail en trois parties distinctes. Dans la première, nous nous proposons de survoler la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies à partir des témoignages des médiums qui ont participé à notre étude. La seconde partie de notre travail révèle l’image de cette pratique à partir du point de vue des clients qui ont fait appel aux services des médiums et ceux qui sont entrés en contact avec des récits décrivant des expériences vécues en séance médiumnique. La troisième partie est vouée à l’analyse de la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies. Nous concevons cette dernière en deux temps. Le premier fait la lecture de plusieurs expressions médiumniques réparties dans le temps et l’espace afin de cerner différentes constantes régissant ces manifestations. Nos conclusions se confrontent à celles sur la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies. Dans un second temps, nous analysons la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies à partir des données fournies par les trois groupes de personnes interviewées afin d’en comprendre le mode de fonctionnement. Nous concevons le fonctionnement de cette pratique en trois étapes qui seront analysées à l’aide des travaux de plusieurs auteurs. L’étape précédant la séance et le rôle qu’elle joue pour la pratique médiumnique est analysée sous l’angle de la réflexion de l’anthropologue Jeanne Favret-Saada. La séance médiumnique, son mode d’implémentation et son efficacité sont analysés grâce à la réflexion de l’anthropologue Marc-Antoine Berthod sur le travail des voyants. La dernière partie de la pratique médiumnique, l’après-séance, sera analysée à l’aide de la dynamique entre « croire » et « savoir », et entre « instituant » et « institué » telle qu’élaborée par le théologien philosophe et historien français Michel de Certeau. Notre étude nous permet d’arriver aux conclusions générales suivantes : la pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies n’est pas l’expression d’une valorisation institutionnelle. Elle est l’expression de manifestations individuelles mises en place par ses représentants médiums. Chaque étape qui la compose est représentée par une série des stratégies capables, par leurs actions concertées, d’assurer sa pérennité. L’acte de croire participe activement à chacune de ces étapes, mais d’une manière sélective selon le parcours de chaque client. La pratique médiumnique manifestée en marge des institutions établies incarne par ses spécificités une nouvelle expression du phénomène médiumnique. / Among the myriad forms of religious or spiritual practices stirring contemporary Western society right now, one attracts our attention by its mode of operation and mounting public interest in this phenomenon. It is set up, organized and managed by a number of individuals claiming to have special abilities due to their unique relationship with a power qualified by most as spiritual. These individuals are usually known as "mediums" but may also be referred to by the name of their particular practice. Someone who claims to be able to "see" a person's past and future is called a "psychic" and their practice is called "clairvoyance." A person who claims the ability to heal illnesses and identify their cause through a special contact with their spiritual power is called a healer and their practice, healing. Those who can make contact with the souls of the deceased, cast out spirits that torment individuals or haunt homes and places are called mediums or "exorcist mediums" and their practice is exorcism. We describe these practices as "a mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions" since they happen outside the institutional framework. Based on interviews with mediums, clients, and individuals who have heard accounts of mediumistic séances, we seek to more fully understand the approach employed by practitioners in this domain. We also hope to determine whether, based on its structural modality, we are seeing the emergence of a new expression of mediumistic practice, and how this reinforces the associated faith and ideology. Our work is grouped into three distinct parts. In the first part, we conduct an overview of mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions based on the personal accounts of mediums who are taking part in our study. The second part of the research portrays this practice from the perspective of clients who have requested the services of mediums and people who have heard stories describing others’ experiences of mediumistic séances. The third part consists in an analysis of mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions. This last part is conducted in two phases. In the first phase, we interpret various mediumistic practices as they occurred over time and place to identify any constants. Our conclusions are set against those concerning mediumistic practices conducted on the margins of the established institutions. In the second phase, we analyze mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of the established institutions based on data provided by our three groups of interviewees with a view to obtaining an understanding of its functioning. We conceive three stages of functioning and draw on the works of several authors to aid us in analyzing them. The stage preceding the session and the role it plays for mediumistic practice is analyzed from the perspective of the anthropologist Jeanne Favret-Saada. The mediumistic session, its implementation method and its effectiveness are analyzed using the anthropologist Marc-Antoine Berthod’s reflections on the work of psychics. For the last stage of the mediumistic practice, the after-session, our analysis refers to the dynamic between "believing" and "knowing" and between "instituting" and "instituted" as the French theologian-philosopher and historian Michel de Certeau elaborated. Our study leads us to the following general conclusions: mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions is not an expression of institutional valorization. It is the expression of individual manifestations enacted by its psychic representatives. Each stage of the process is represented by a series of strategies capable, through their concerted actions, of ensuring its continuity. The act of believing is an active element in each of these stages, but in a selective way, associated with the path of each client. Mediumistic practice conducted on the margins of established institutions embodies by its specificities a new expression of the mediumistic phenomenon.

O presente trabalho pretende unir-se aos estudos que tratam da experiência mediúnica a partir de uma compreensão propriamente psicológica, tendo como propósito a compreensão das vivências dos médiuns em três grupos religiosos Espiritismo Kardecista, Umbanda e Vale do Amanhecer. Por meio do método etnográfico e da observação participante ativa, tendo por base entrevistas semi-estruturadas e diários de campo, buscou-se compreender a relação do médium com os alegados espíritos e entidades e analisar a repercussão da vivência mediúnica na identidade e na vida do médium, identificando as características semelhantes e divergentes entre essas diferentes práticas sem desconsiderar seu contexto de ocorrência. Um total de quatro indivíduos homens e mulheres com pelo menos dezoito anos de idade por grupo religioso com pelo menos três anos de vinculação foram entrevistados. Tendo como apoio à interpretação mais livre do dado etnográfico, apresentou-se um modelo interpretativo baseado na Identidade Psicossocial, visando aliar a perspectiva da identidade social de H. Tajfel e J. C. Turner com aportes da Psicologia de C. G. Jung acerca da personalidade dos médiuns / This work aims to join the studies about the mediumistic experience from a strictly psychological perspective, with the purpose of understanding the experiences of mediums in three religious groups - Kardecist Spiritism, Umbanda and Vale do Amanhecer (Dawn of the Valley). Through the ethnographic method and active participant observation, based on semi-structured interviews and field diaries, it seeks to comprehend the medium\'s relationship with the alleged spirits and entities and to establish the role of possession on the identity of the medium by identifying the similar and differing aspects between these different religious practices without disregarding their occurrence context. Four individuals - men and women with at least eighteen years of age - by religious group with at least three years engaged on the specific religion were interviewed. In support of a freer interpretation of ethnographic data, it presents an interpretative model based on psychosocial identity (Paiva, 2007), aiming to combine the H. Tajfels and J. C. Turners social identity perspective with contributions of C. G. Jungs Analytical Psychologys on the personality of mediums

O presente trabalho pretende unir-se aos estudos que tratam da experiência mediúnica a partir de uma compreensão propriamente psicológica, tendo como propósito a compreensão das vivências dos médiuns em três grupos religiosos Espiritismo Kardecista, Umbanda e Vale do Amanhecer. Por meio do método etnográfico e da observação participante ativa, tendo por base entrevistas semi-estruturadas e diários de campo, buscou-se compreender a relação do médium com os alegados espíritos e entidades e analisar a repercussão da vivência mediúnica na identidade e na vida do médium, identificando as características semelhantes e divergentes entre essas diferentes práticas sem desconsiderar seu contexto de ocorrência. Um total de quatro indivíduos homens e mulheres com pelo menos dezoito anos de idade por grupo religioso com pelo menos três anos de vinculação foram entrevistados. Tendo como apoio à interpretação mais livre do dado etnográfico, apresentou-se um modelo interpretativo baseado na Identidade Psicossocial, visando aliar a perspectiva da identidade social de H. Tajfel e J. C. Turner com aportes da Psicologia de C. G. Jung acerca da personalidade dos médiuns / This work aims to join the studies about the mediumistic experience from a strictly psychological perspective, with the purpose of understanding the experiences of mediums in three religious groups - Kardecist Spiritism, Umbanda and Vale do Amanhecer (Dawn of the Valley). Through the ethnographic method and active participant observation, based on semi-structured interviews and field diaries, it seeks to comprehend the medium\'s relationship with the alleged spirits and entities and to establish the role of possession on the identity of the medium by identifying the similar and differing aspects between these different religious practices without disregarding their occurrence context. Four individuals - men and women with at least eighteen years of age - by religious group with at least three years engaged on the specific religion were interviewed. In support of a freer interpretation of ethnographic data, it presents an interpretative model based on psychosocial identity (Paiva, 2007), aiming to combine the H. Tajfels and J. C. Turners social identity perspective with contributions of C. G. Jungs Analytical Psychologys on the personality of mediums

Ce travail propose une analyse des pratiques de bénédiction et des relations de proximité dans une ville du centre-ouest brésilien. L’ethnographie dans les quartiers de Goiás permet d’interroger tout à la fois un univers mu par des formes de religiosité désignées par le terme de caseiras, et la notion de proximité telle que le quotidien des habitants la révèle. Favorisant une approche sensible des pratiques de bénédiction et des relations de proximité, la photographie est mobilisée comme outil de terrain, dispositif analytique et mode de connaissance, pour souligner la particularité des expériences ethnographiques autour du regard et des images et élaborer un récit ethnographique articulant texte et images. Sont ainsi privilégiés dans cette thèse le contenu anthropologique et les aspects esthétiques et émotionnels de la bénédiction. Ces pratiques permettent d’appréhender les relations de solidarité, conflictuelles et intergénérationnelles, qui participent à l’élaboration du lien social entre proches. Impliquant aussi des processus de transmission entre femmes, les relations de proximité sont dynamisées par des ambiguïtés affectives faites à la fois de complicités et de rivalités. Les troubles qu’elles provoquent trouvent leurs formes d’expression et de résolution à partir des religiosités caseiras, les pratiques de bénédiction étant un moyen de réguler les conflits du quotidien, du fait qu’elles prennent en charge les maux du corps et de l’esprit qui en découlent. Ces éléments d’analyse ratifient que le rapport au proche n’est pas toujours harmonieux, et valorisent des modes de connaissance et des pratiques thérapeutico-religieuses non officialisées bien que centrales pour des groupes sociaux entiers, donnant ainsi une autre image de la société goiane et donc de la société brésilienne, à partir des marges du savoir / This work presents an analysis of blessing practices and “close” relationships in a city of central-western Brazil. Ethnography in the neighbourhoods of Goiás allows to question forms of religiosity designated by the term caseiras and the notion of closeness in the everyday life of Goiás inhabitants. Promoting a sensible approach of blessing practices and of “close” relationships, photography is mobilized as a tool for fieldwork, but also an analytical device and as a form of knowledge, to emphasize the particularity of ethnographic experiences of the sight and images. It also allows to develop an ethnographic narrative articulating text and images. Anthropological content as well as aesthetic and emotional aspects of blessing practices are privileged in this research. To focus on the blessing practices allows to grasp relations of solidarity, of conflict and intergenerational relations, which participate in the development of social ties between “close” people. As they also involve transmission between women, “close” relationships are driven by emotional ambiguities based on both complicity and rivalry. The disorders such relationships can cause find forms of expression and resolution into caseiras religiosities, as blessing practices are a way to regulate conflicts of everyday life by working on body and mind illnesses resulting from such conflicts. This work demonstrates how “close” relationship is not always harmonious. It also intends to show how unofficial forms of knowledge and therapeutic-religious practices, although central for entire social groups, can give a fresher look of the goiana society and of the brazilian society from the angle of the margins of institutional knowledge.

Sickness and healing expenence is universal, but the context in which both are perceived and dealt with is particular. Culture and the individual constitute the universal context. The social structures, values, beliefs, the symbol system of a culture and the tendency of the individual to act upon his existence within cultural parameters, inform the particular context. The relationship that exists between culture and the individual is best described as dialectic. The concept of dialect is the theoretical tool to analytically show how this relationship works out in real life. At the base of this relationship operates conflict. Sickness, or permanent ill health since early childhood as shown in an in-depth case study, triggers conflict on at least two levels: the personal-psychological and the socio­ cultural level. To effectively deal with sickness and the inner conflicts caused by it, is to channel the motivation to resolve them by way of employing a symbolic idiom, a cultural symbol that attains personal meaning. G. Chewe P. of Bemba ethnicity, the main actor of this thesis, demonstrates how his life experience of sickness made various symbols become operational, how he filled them with personal meaning, and that there was no hiatus between the public and private domain. Healing requires more than medical aid. Cultural symbols that become personal symbols are often tied into religious experience of some kind. Individuals who successfully employ personal symbols eventually achieve healing because the symbolic idiom helps them to resolve intrapsychic conflict. Missiology cannot escape from two realities: culture and the individual. If anything, missiology must be interested in culture and the individual. Missiology, in the role of aide-de-camps of the Christian Mission, shows the history of how individuals connect to God, and how God transforms them in their cultural environment. To be able to achieve both goals, the issues of context and conflict must be addressed. This thesis seeks to account for the dialectic between culture and the individual, how context and conflict shaped the person and the Christian G. Chewe P. of Bemba ethnicity, and how he acted upon this context to resolve his travail. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th (Missiology)

Les pratiques religieuses dans les pays de l’Atlantique Nord se transforment et on observe pour une partie de leur population le passage d’un « croire institutionnalisé » à une spiritualité influencée par diverses traditions, dont certaines ont fait leur apparition sur ce territoire au milieu du 20e siècle. Le présent mémoire vise à mettre en lumière une des facettes de la diversité religieuse contemporaine; suite aux questionnements qui ont surgi au long du travail, il aborde aussi certains enjeux sous-jacents à l’analyse d’un groupe religieux en anthropologie, notamment comment aborder le terrain et comment considérer un tel groupe. J’ai choisi pour ce faire de décrire un groupe religieux québécois qui est lié à un culte afro-brésilien – l’umbanda– et qui est membre d’un réseau transnational de temples. J’examinerai d’abord comment l’umbanda s’est développée au Brésil, car cela fournira des indications pertinentes sur, entre autres choses, l’éventuelle perméabilité de cette tradition, une fois le groupe implanté dans un pays de l’Atlantique Nord. J’examinerai ensuite le type de transnationalisation qui a présidé à la naissance du temple à Montréal, car cette analyse offre des indices permettant de déterminer comment un tel groupe s’insère dans le paysage religieux de divers pays. Enfin, en me penchant sur les pratiques religieuses des membres du groupe, je tenterai de dégager certaines particularités locales. / Religious practices in North Atlantic countries are evolving, and there are particular cases where one can observe a changeover from institutional beliefs towards forms of spirituality issuing from a variety of traditions, many of which appeared on the scene towards the middle of the 20th century. The present thesis aims to shed some light on one facet of contemporary religious diversity; following up on questions which arose in the course of this exploration, it also addresses issues underlying the anthropological analysis of religious groups, for instance how to approach fieldwork, and how to consider such a group. To this end I have chosen to describe a religious group in Quebec which is linked to an Afro-Brazilian cult named Umbanda, and which is part of a transnational network of Umbanda temples. I shall begin by setting out how Umbanda developed in Brazil, since this informs us as to, for instance, the likelihood of permeability of such a tradition once it is “planted” in Northern soil. I will then analyse the type of transnationalisation that was at work when the Montreal group was set up, since this provides relevant indicators allowing us to determine how the group settles into the religious landscape of different countries. Finally, by examining the religious practices of members of the group, I shall attempt to elucidate a number of distinctive local features.

Les pratiques religieuses dans les pays de l’Atlantique Nord se transforment et on observe pour une partie de leur population le passage d’un « croire institutionnalisé » à une spiritualité influencée par diverses traditions, dont certaines ont fait leur apparition sur ce territoire au milieu du 20e siècle. Le présent mémoire vise à mettre en lumière une des facettes de la diversité religieuse contemporaine; suite aux questionnements qui ont surgi au long du travail, il aborde aussi certains enjeux sous-jacents à l’analyse d’un groupe religieux en anthropologie, notamment comment aborder le terrain et comment considérer un tel groupe. J’ai choisi pour ce faire de décrire un groupe religieux québécois qui est lié à un culte afro-brésilien – l’umbanda– et qui est membre d’un réseau transnational de temples. J’examinerai d’abord comment l’umbanda s’est développée au Brésil, car cela fournira des indications pertinentes sur, entre autres choses, l’éventuelle perméabilité de cette tradition, une fois le groupe implanté dans un pays de l’Atlantique Nord. J’examinerai ensuite le type de transnationalisation qui a présidé à la naissance du temple à Montréal, car cette analyse offre des indices permettant de déterminer comment un tel groupe s’insère dans le paysage religieux de divers pays. Enfin, en me penchant sur les pratiques religieuses des membres du groupe, je tenterai de dégager certaines particularités locales. / Religious practices in North Atlantic countries are evolving, and there are particular cases where one can observe a changeover from institutional beliefs towards forms of spirituality issuing from a variety of traditions, many of which appeared on the scene towards the middle of the 20th century. The present thesis aims to shed some light on one facet of contemporary religious diversity; following up on questions which arose in the course of this exploration, it also addresses issues underlying the anthropological analysis of religious groups, for instance how to approach fieldwork, and how to consider such a group. To this end I have chosen to describe a religious group in Quebec which is linked to an Afro-Brazilian cult named Umbanda, and which is part of a transnational network of Umbanda temples. I shall begin by setting out how Umbanda developed in Brazil, since this informs us as to, for instance, the likelihood of permeability of such a tradition once it is “planted” in Northern soil. I will then analyse the type of transnationalisation that was at work when the Montreal group was set up, since this provides relevant indicators allowing us to determine how the group settles into the religious landscape of different countries. Finally, by examining the religious practices of members of the group, I shall attempt to elucidate a number of distinctive local features.

Sickness and healing expenence is universal, but the context in which both are perceived and dealt with is particular. Culture and the individual constitute the universal context. The social structures, values, beliefs, the symbol system of a culture and the tendency of the individual to act upon his existence within cultural parameters, inform the particular context. The relationship that exists between culture and the individual is best described as dialectic. The concept of dialect is the theoretical tool to analytically show how this relationship works out in real life. At the base of this relationship operates conflict. Sickness, or permanent ill health since early childhood as shown in an in-depth case study, triggers conflict on at least two levels: the personal-psychological and the socio­ cultural level. To effectively deal with sickness and the inner conflicts caused by it, is to channel the motivation to resolve them by way of employing a symbolic idiom, a cultural symbol that attains personal meaning. G. Chewe P. of Bemba ethnicity, the main actor of this thesis, demonstrates how his life experience of sickness made various symbols become operational, how he filled them with personal meaning, and that there was no hiatus between the public and private domain. Healing requires more than medical aid. Cultural symbols that become personal symbols are often tied into religious experience of some kind. Individuals who successfully employ personal symbols eventually achieve healing because the symbolic idiom helps them to resolve intrapsychic conflict. Missiology cannot escape from two realities: culture and the individual. If anything, missiology must be interested in culture and the individual. Missiology, in the role of aide-de-camps of the Christian Mission, shows the history of how individuals connect to God, and how God transforms them in their cultural environment. To be able to achieve both goals, the issues of context and conflict must be addressed. This thesis seeks to account for the dialectic between culture and the individual, how context and conflict shaped the person and the Christian G. Chewe P. of Bemba ethnicity, and how he acted upon this context to resolve his travail. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th (Missiology)