(Ebook) Religion and the Politics of Ethnic Identity in Bahia, Brazil by Stephen Selka ISBN 9780813031712, 0813031710

(Ebook) Religion and the Politics of Ethnic Identity in Bahia, Brazil by Stephen Selka ISBN 9780813031712, 0813031710

Brazilians of African descent draw upon both Christian and African diasporic religions to construct their racial identities in a variety of intriguing ways. Focusing on the Reconcavo region of northeastern Brazil--known for its rich Afro-Brazilian traditions and as a center of racial consciousness in the country--Stephen Selka provides a nuanced and sophisticated ethnography that examines what it means to be black in Brazil. Selka examines how Evangelical Protestantism, Candomblé (traditional Afro-Brazilian religion), and Catholicism--especially progressive Catholicism--are deployed in discursive struggles concerning racism and identity. In the process, he provides a model of wedding abstract theory with concrete details of everyday life. Revealing the complexity and sometimes contradictory aspects of Afro-Brazilian religious practices and racial identity, Selka brings a balanced perspective to polarized discussions of Brazilian racial politics.