O AMBIENTE SAGRADO DO CANDOMBLÉ EM SÃO LUÍS-MARANHÃO: Alterações da paisagem e resiliência comunitária

Abstract

This research was developed through a bibliographic study and experiences in a Candomblé terreiro in the city of São Luís – MA, with the aim of identifying the impacts of environmental degradation on the continuity of the Candomblé traditions of Maranhão, an Afro-Brazilian cult of Bahian-Pernambucan origin that arrived in the city in the 1980s. The work addresses theoretical aspects of the formation of AfroBrazilian religions, focusing on Candomblé from Bahia, Pernambuco, and Maranhão, using authors such as Carneiro (2019), Sérgio Ferretti (2009), Cossard Binon (2006), Silveira (2006), Mundicarmo Ferretti (2000), Siqueira (1998), Santos (1988), Pai Euclides (1984; 1990), and Verger (1981). A literature review is conducted on concepts such as coloniality, structural racism, environmental and religious racism, using works by Ferdinand (2023), Bueno (2021), Nogueira (2020), Kilomba (2019), Almeida (2019), Acserald, Mello, and Bezerra (2009), Quijano (2005), Gonzalez (1982), and Hasenbalg (1982). Finally, interviews with Mãe Kabeca de Xangô (2024) and Mãe Venina de Ogum (2024) will be analyzed, making a subsumption of what was reported by the priestesses and the available literature regarding environmental degradation in São Luís and its impacts on the daily life of Candomblé practitioners, in order to report traditional Candomblé customs from Maranhão that have been lost due to the city’s unchecked growth and the destruction of natural spaces. The research is interdisciplinary and is linked to the research line "expressions and sociocultural processes" of the Graduate Program in Culture and Society at UFMA.