Relocating the Sacred: African Divinities and Brazilian Cultural Hybridities by Niyi Afolabi (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Relocating the Sacred: African Divinities and Brazilian Cultural Hybridities by Niyi Afolabi Domnita Dumitrescu and Steven Byrd Afolabi, Niyi. Relocating the Sacred: African Divinities and Brazilian Cultural Hybridities. State U of New York P, 2022. Pp. 356. ISBN 9781438490717. Afro-Brazilian identity and culture, notes Niyi Afolabi in his new book, Relocating the Sacred: African Divinities and Brazilian Cultural Hybridities, is one “plagued” with “the brutal reality of colonization, slavery, and modernization” (20). Within this difficult sociohistorical context, asserting Afro-Brazilian cultural identity has been a long, arduous process, one involving specifically the reclaiming of civil rights and the pursuit of socioeconomic independence. To achieve such ends, Afolabi argues, Afro-Brazilians have sought forms of “cultural hybridity” in which the “sacred” (e.g., their traditional and spiritual realm) has been wedded with the “profane” (e.g., capitalism and tourism). It is within this vein that the present book examines this concept of Afro-Brazilian “cultural hybridity,” focusing largely on the role of identity and cultural manifestations originating from the State of Bahia. The book is divided into three parts. Part I, “Mapping the Sacred,” examines the importance of the Yoruba diaspora in Bahia, where African cultural values have been preserved through a process of “hybridization,” either before or after the abolition of slavery in Brazil, which occurred in 1888. Afolabi argues that sacred and secular festivities in Bahia have proven to be culturally, politically, and economically potent for Afro-Brazilian culture there. He next examines the complex intricacies of cultural heritage for anthropological studies, focusing on the Pierre Verger Foundation of Salvador: in particular, how this Foundation, which was created by a French national, both exploits and highlights Afro-Brazilian culture. The first part closes with discussion and analyses of creative works of Afro-Brazilian “matriarchs” who write about the history and mythology of Candomblé. Part II, “The Sacred in Literary Manifestations,” examines a variety of literary expressions regarding Afro-Brazilian identity and experience. Works by Jorge Amado, Vasconcelos Maia, Abdias Nascimento, Nelson Rodrigues, Zora Seljan, Dias Gomes, Raul Longo, [End Page 495] Robson Pinheiro, Cléo Martins, and Chynae are analyzed, showing the triumphs and pitfalls of Afro-Brazilian culture and identity in those authors’ works. Part III, “Hybridities in Afro-Brazilian Culture,” examines how Afro-Brazilian community organizations, such as Filhos de Gandi and Cortejo Afro, have provided models of building social capital and societal transformation. Interestingly, as Afolabi notes, cultural manifestations that have often become associated with Afro-Brazilians, such as carnivalesque parades, are both exploitative and celebratory in their essence: that is, both “sacred” and “profane.” But these ironically garner needed promotion and funding for their socio-cultural projects. Lastly, Afolabi closes the work with a fascinating chapter on the role of acarajé (e.g., the Brazilian recreation of a Yoruba beancake) as an “ancestral food” or “(sacred) daily bread,” which has become an integral part of Afro-Brazilian identity and culture across Brazil. Overall, the book provides a thorough scholarly analysis, particularly in terms of literature. It is extensively researched, documented, and annotated—the endnotes alone comprise another chapter in and of itself. It also contains some rather interesting personal anecdotes, which read at times like a memoir from someone encountering “a home away from home” in Brazil, and what it feels like to live in and navigate around Brazil as a person of African descent. However, the book’s shortcomings are twofold: first, outside of students of Brazilian Studies and/or African Diaspora Studies generally, the work may feel tedious, even arcane, to general readership. As a remedy, a glossary of Afro-Brazilian terms used in the book would have been helpful. Secondly (and relatedly to the first point), while the book’s major focus is Bahia, it doesn’t explain well that this is not the only State with significant populations of Afro-Brazilians or of Afro-Brazilian cultural manifestations. That is, States such as Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, São Paulo, for example, also have significant populations of African origin, and where Afro-Brazilian traditions have rooted and are still practiced to some extent. Bahia, by contrast, is in a unique position with its higher per capita Afro...