John Burdick

Why is the Black Evangelical Movement Growing in Brazil

In the struggle against racism in Brazil there is a new political actor on the scene: the evangelical black movement. Since the mid-1990s, groups committed to uniting black identity, anti-racism and evangelical theology have rapidly proliferated. This article, applying the analytical terms of political process theory, identifies several key social and political forces that have combined in the past decade to help foster the growth of the movement. The article concludes that the movement has risen on the back of deep and enduring social forces, and argues that it will therefore be increasingly important in the years to come to pay attention to the role evangelical activists play in anti-racist politics in Brazil.

Gossip and Secrecy: Women's Articulation of Domestic Conflict in Three Religions of Urban Brazil

In this paper I discuss how women in a Brazilian working-class town choose among the Catholic Church, pentecostalism, and Afro-Brazilian umbanda when seeking religious help in coping with domestic conflict. I argue that umbanda and pentecostalism, as cults of affliction in which blame for domestic conflict may be safely articulated and projected onto spiritual Others, limit the possibilities for gossip and increase those of secrecy. They are thus more attractive to women than is the Catholic Church, which places blame for domestic conflict on human agents and, as a local cult that recruits on the basis of prior social identity rather than affliction, makes womens efforts to speak about their domestic problems vulnerable to gossip.

The Singing Voice and Racial Politics on the Brazilian Evangelical Music Scene

In São Paulo, Brazil, the musical genre of Black gospel reinforces the thematic power of Black voice, while gospel rap does not. In consequence, Black gospel artists embrace diasporic and Biblical history, which stimulates commitment to collective Black projects. In contrast, gospel rappers, socialized to de-center Black voice, do not develop a notion of Black voice as fulfiling Biblical prophecy, and do not develop a correlative Black politics. The article contributes to the growing literature on the possibility of an evangelical racial politics in Brazil, while identifying impediments to such politics.

Class, Place And Blackness In São Paulo's Gospel Music Scene

As public discussion of racial politics and affirmative action heats up in Brazil, it becomes increasingly important to ask what black Evangelical Protestants have to contribute to the debate. This paper argues that two recent variants of black music increasingly performed in São Paulos Evangelical churches–black gospel and gospel rap–exert a significant influence over how their artists think about their own blackness. Black gospel, by placing their musicians’ racial and class experience into the context of North American black churches, encourages a strong collective black identity; while gospel rap, in placing race and class experience into the context of Brazils poor peripheral neighborhoods, dilutes the racial content of subjectivity, replacing it with a strong class identity.

Looking for God in Brazil: The Progressive Catholic Church in Urban Brazil's Religious Arena.

For a generation, the Catholic Church in Brazil has enjoyed international renown as one of the most progressive social forces in Latin America. The Churchs creation of Christian Base Communities (CEBs), groups of Catholics who learn to read the Bible as a call for social justice, has been widely hailed. Still, in recent years it has become increasingly clear that the CEBs are lagging far behind the explosive growth of Brazils two other major national religious movements--Pentacostalism and Afro-Brazilian Umbanda. On the basis of his extensive fieldwork in Rio di Janeiro, including detailed life histories of women, blacks, youths, and the marginal poor, John Burdick offers the first in-depth explanation of why the radical Catholic Church is losing, and Pentecostalism and Umbanda winning, the battle for souls in urban Brazil.