Sociologia & Antropologia (Apr 2015)
No Underskirts in Africa: Edison Carneiro and the "Lineages" of Afro-Brazilian Religious Anthropology
Abstract
The article presents the folklorist, essayist, journalist and anthropologist Edison Carneiro (1912-1972) and situates him among the “lineages” or intellectual affiliations in the context of studies on Afro-Brazilian religious groups. Describing the life of Edison Carneiro, his relationship with American anthropologist Ruth Landes and his participation in the folkloric movement, I look to situate Carneiro among the various intellectual trends found within the study of Afro-Brazilian religions. I argue that the author occupied an ambiguous position in terms of the African presence in the constitution of Afro-Brazilian religions, showing close proximities to Ruth Landes, Franklin Frazier, Ruth Benedict, Donald Pierson and Robert Park on the one hand, and Melville Herskovitz, Roger Bastide and Arthur Ramos on the other. Carneiro’s studies of Candomblé de Caboclo express this double bind.
