The “Other” embracing the “Othered”: Afro-Brazilian Religious Circles Forging a
Collective Identity around Vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS
Jonathan Garcia
The incentives for political activism are affected largely by collective
constructions of identities and how these intersect with political strategies for
mobilization, often with the ultimate goals of policy change and cultural contestation of
stigma. Activism during the democratization of Brazil in the late 1970s and 1980s was
characterized by a sentiment of solidariedade (solidarity), and the construction of
cidadania (citizenship) since democratization has been influenced by cultural framings of
identities and the vindication of individual and collective rights. In the case of the right
to universal healthcare, the consolidation of this constitutional mandate has encountered
barriers due to health disparities caused by poverty, as well as by stigma and
discrimination related to race, gender and sexuality.
In this presentation, emerge similar discourses and ideals that have guided
“cognitive,” cultural, and political frameworks for AIDS activism in Afro-Brazilian
religious communities. Afro-Brazilian religious groups have suffered from stigma and
discrimination based on religion, as well as because of their acolhimento (inclusion and
care) of socio-culturally and economically marginalized groups, such as gays and women
with HIV. Thus, the identities of the poor, blacks, women, and non-heterosexuals have
been salient in the discourses of solidarity of Afro-Brazilian responses to AIDS. The
tension between solidarity and mobilization based on identity have been negotiated in
movements that bring back issues related to class domination in addressing health
inequalities.
The culture of politics come through in the narratives of Afro-Brazilian religious
leaders (including priestesses/priests and members of these religious communities) who
have been involved in politics during democratization, who work for the Ministry of
Health, and who have worked with secular and religious NGOs on projects related to
AIDS—many times engaged in community mobilization as a form of resistance against
stigma and discrimination. In studying resistance and AIDS activism in Afro-Brazilian
religious communities, oral narratives are useful in capturing the complexities in the
formation of collective identities and in unpacking some of the incentives for
mobilization due to their concern for marginalized and impoverished people who
encounter a synergy of vulnerabilities. The ways in which ideologies related to race,
gender, and sexuality are constructed in Afro-Brazilian discourses create cultural
frameworks and emotional narratives that mobilize around AIDS as part of an array of
social problems that cut across the poor, black population, especially affecting women.
Racial vulnerabilities and collective identity
The narratives of Afro-Brazilian leaders reveal that solidarity underlies the manner in
which they have responded to AIDS—due to the desire to preserve African heritage in
Brazil, seeing the AIDS epidemic and the stigma attached to it as threats. Candomblé
1
and other Afro-Brazilian religions represent what could be considered a marginalized
“African nation” within Brazil, with its ancestral history characterized by the
particularities of its culture of resistance as well as its kinship-like and tribal local
organization. Afro-Brazilian religious leaders have played a key role in the black
movement in Brazil. Racial identity has been politicized, drawing attention to the
“vulnerabilities” of blacks, especially in the areas of education and health.
As priests and priestesses of Afro-Brazilian religions aim to make institutional
changes that benefit the health of the “black population” in Brazil, this sense of an
“African” nation foments a collective identity. This identity is negotiated to the extent
that discussions and organized debates about access to health and HIV invite the
participation of public health officials from the Ministry of Health, academics, the press,
as well as religious leaders. This creates a space for cultural expression where a common
cause (the health of “black” Brazilians) is presented to “outsiders” from civil society and
the state to create discussions about how health issues particular to blacks can be made
problems owned by society more broadly.
Gender and sexuality
The role of the mãe de santo (priestess) has been prominent in the Afro-Brazilian
response to HIV, especially when it is related to violence against women and particular
inequalities faced by black women. This is due in part to the historical role of women in
Afro-Brazilian religions, many which have had the status of matriarchs of significant
terreiros that created spaces for resistance in the transition away from slavery in the late
1890s. The power that women have in Afro-Brazilian religions and in the preservation of
an “African” identity is the expression of a continued resistance to hegemonic LusoBrazilian culture.
Contemporary interpretations of gender as socially constructed and different from
biological sex have been highlighted in the discourses of Afro-Brazilian religious leaders.
This discourse must be contextualized by the fact that it inspires solidarity—not
necessarily representing how Afro-Brazilian religious female-male relationships are
structured on a daily basis, but how they ought to be structured in a more egalitarian
fashion. This way of displacing gender creates space through which health can be the
focus rather than static constructions of masculinity and femininity.
Moreover, women’s involvement in the AIDS social movement has responded to
the increasing numbers of women with HIV in poor communities, suffering from a great
deal of stigma and violence. Mães de santo who are members of Criola, a black feminist
NGO (where the directors of the institutions are all mães de santo) in Rio de Janeiro,
have worked closely with leaders in their communities to address HIV in women.
Although some of their discourses try to bridge differences between gender roles, there
are several factions in the Afro-Brazilian movement. While gays and other nonheterosexuals are generally accepted by Afro-Brazilian religious leaders, there are issues
particular to the lived experiences of black women living with HIV and AIDS that create
emotional and cultural divides. This does not mean that black women are not sympathetic
2
to the problems faced by gay men with HIV—but that there exist needs that create
vulnerabilities particular to women in poor areas, such as mandatory testing by drug
lords.
The views of Afro-Brazilian religious leaders are mostly very open to sexual
diversity and freedoms, although the “responsibility” of taking care of one’s body and
health in sexual encounters is part of how religious leaders delimit autonomy. The
religious temple or terreiros (especially in the case of Candomblé religion) is a space
where homosexual men have freedom to fraternize, and many have taken a lead role in
the AIDS social movements along with matriarchs in the religion. This space and the fact
that homosexual men are able to be open about their sexuality make it possible to forge a
collective identity. My narrators invoke the concept of acolhimento (inclusion and care)
as a way to welcome persons with AIDS, including homosexuals and women that are
socio-economically and culturally marginalized. While “particularities” or factions exist,
can we still say that a collective identity based on a discourse of solidarity can be forged
within the Afro-Brazilian religious responses to HIV and AIDS? “Solidarity” is
constructed, much like a jig-saw puzzle with pieces that come together with properties
that emerge from unity if there is willingness for collaboration in the name of increasing
the “universality” of the healthcare system.
From acolhimento to resistance
According to one Afro-Brazilian priest, “those who perceive themselves as excluded
accept the excluded.” Here we see a form of solidarity between excluded groups – the
“other” accepting the “othered”. In the cases of gender and sexuality there is a high level
of support for women’s rights and for sexual diversity within Afro-Brazilian religious
leaders, especially in those involved in AIDS prevention, peer educator programs, or
have links to AIDS NGOs. Marginalization—cultural, social, economic, and political—
has mobilized communities, uniting persons from neighborhoods in urban peripheries and
located in pockets of poverty in Rio de Janeiro. The links made between activists from
“vulnerable” populations can be explained by the concept of acolhimento as a way in
which the logic of solidarity is negotiated. It seems as though by valuing the concept of
acolhimento Afro-Brazilian religious leaders can resolve (or make sense out of) these
differences in status, class or identity and act on behalf of people living with AIDS.
The fact that the arms of the state do not reach poor and marginalized
communities where Afro-Brazilian religious institutions are found points to a potential
way in which mobilization can improve access to health in these communities: through
the formation of identities used to counteract their position and transform the social
structure of domination (Castells, 2004). In the current stages of decentralization of the
National AIDS Program, priestesses and priests of Afro-Brazilian religions are playing a
key role in reaching blacks, women, and homosexuals in poor areas in the urban
periphery of Rio de Janeiro.
Castells, M. (2004). The Power of Identity, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture
Vol. II (2nd Edition). Cambridge, MA; Oxford, UK, Blackwell
3