Submitted by Oliveira Santos Dilzaná (dilznana@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-11-04T14:59:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dário Ribeiro de Sales Júnior.pdf: 848404 bytes, checksum: b5aabb553c60d611eebb9f7560a5022c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Portela (anapoli@ufba.br) on 2013-11-18T17:13:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dário Ribeiro de Sales Júnior.pdf: 848404 bytes, checksum: b5aabb553c60d611eebb9f7560a5022c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-11-18T17:13:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dário Ribeiro de Sales Júnior.pdf: 848404 bytes, checksum: b5aabb553c60d611eebb9f7560a5022c (MD5) / FAPESB / O objetivo geral desta dissertação é propor uma alternativa teórica para a compreensão dos processos de aprendizagem, tendo como ponto de partida a observação e análise de como as crianças candomblecistas aprendem a lidar com as demandas implicadas no pertencimento religioso. Entenda-se por demandas: (1) as habilidades que as suas posições na hierarquia sacerdotal solicitam, bem como (2) as relações que são estabelecidas com as entidades espirituais e com outros membros do grupo religioso e (3) o enfrentamento de episódios de intolerância religiosa. Durante aproximadamente quatorze meses eu desenvolvi pesquisa etnográfica junto a nove crianças em dois terreiros de Candomblé da região metropolitana de Salvador, Bahia. A partir da análise das relações que as crianças estabelecem com outros membros mais habilidosos e com o ambiente no qual elas habitam, busquei compreender o que as crianças querem dizer quando afirmam que aprendem olhando. Defendo que, para elas, obervar alguém é o mesmo que participar de uma atividade. Observar é o mesmo que seguir os passos de outros seres humanos e não-humanos e, portanto, não pode ser definido como uma atitude meramente passiva. Aponto que as brincadeiras infantis que envolvem aspectos religiosos são fundamentais para o desenvolvimento de um habitus. Além disso, as cerimônias públicas do Candomblé constituem excelentes oportunidades para que as crianças possam desenvolver e refinar algumas de suas habilidades. Conclui que as crianças aprendem a partir de seu envolvimento diário nas dinâmicas do terreiro e o que elas aprendem são disposições corporificadas para agir e não representações acerca do mundo. Esse tipo de aprendizado está assentado em um senso de familiaridade que precede o processo formal de iniciação religiosa. Por fim, procuro evidenciar como o engajamento religoso e sua consequente objetificação do sujeito implica ter que lidar com episódios de intolerância religiosa na infância. Dados etnográficos e o paradigma da corporeidade neo-fenomenológico alicerçam e guiam as reflexões aqui esboçadas. This thesis’ main aim is to propose an theorical alternative for understanding the religious learning processes, taking as its starting point the observation and analysis of how children who follow the Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion, handle the demands of their religion. By demands I mean: (1) the skills that are required by their positions in the sacerdotal hierarchy of that religion, (2) the relationships that are established with spiritual entities and other members of the religious group and (3) dealing with episodes of religious intolerance. During almost fourteen months I carried on an ethnographic research in two terreiros (cult house) of Candomblé in the metropolitan area of Salvador, the capital of the State of Bahia, Brazil. Based on analysis of the relations that the children establish with others more skilled Candomblé practitioners and the environment they dwell in, I sought to understand what the children mean when they say that they learn by observing other people’s actions. I claim that for them to look at someone is a synonym for taking part in an activity, it means to follow other (human and non-human) beings’ paths and, therefore, cannot be defined as a simple passive attitude. I point out that the children’s games which involve some religious aspect are fundamental to the development of a habitus. Besides, the public rituals of Candomblé are notably opportunities for kids to develop and refine some of their skills. I conclude that the children learn through their daily engagement in the terreiros’ dynamic and what they learn are embodied dispositions to act and not representations about the world. This kind of learning is grounded on a sense of familiarity which precedes the formal process of initiation in the religion. Finally, I intend to demonstrate how the religious engagement and its consequent objectivizing of the subject implies learning how to struggle against religious intolerance in the childhood. Ethnographic data, the theory of practice and a neo-phenomenological embodiment paradigm ground and guide the reflections here outlined.

The status, roles, and interactions of three dominant African ethnic groups and their descendants in Cuba significantly influenced the island’s cubanidad (national identity): the Lucumís (Yoruba), the Congos (Bantú speakers from Central West Africa), and the Carabalís (from the region of Calabar). These three groups, enslaved on the island, coexisted, each group confronting obstacles that threatened their way of life and cultural identities. Through covert resistance, cultural appropriation, and accommodation, all three, but especially the Lucumís, laid deep roots in the nineteenth century that came to fruition in the twentieth. During the early 1900s, Cuba confronted numerous pressures, internal and external. Under the pretense of a quest for national identity and modernity, Afro-Cubans and African cultures and religion came under political, social, and intellectual attack. Race was an undeniable element in these conflicts. While all three groups were oppressed equally, only the Lucumís fought back, contesting accusations of backwardness, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and brujería (witchcraft), exaggerated by the sensationalistic media, often with the police’s and legal system’s complicity. Unlike the covert character of earlier epochs’ responses to oppression, in the twentieth century Lucumí resistance was overt and outspoken, publically refuting the accusations levied against African religions. Although these struggles had unintended consequences for the Lucumís, they gave birth to cubanidad’s African component. With the help of Fernando Ortiz, the Lucumí were situated at the pinnacle of a hierarchical pyramid, stratifying African religious complexes based on civilizational advancement, but at a costly price. Social ascent denigrated Lucumí religion to the status of folklore, depriving it of its status as a bona fide religious complex. To the present, Lucumí religious descendants, in Cuba and, after 1959, in many other areas of the world, are still contesting this contradiction in terms: an elevated downgrade.