M.P.J. van de Port

Chupar frutas in Salvador da Bahia: a case of practice-specific alterities

In this article we interfere with the naturalization of ‘eating’ by comparing two modes of engaging with fruits in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. One of these is comer, which translates as ‘to eat’. The other is chupar, ‘to suck’. In comer, a piece of fruit crosses distinct bodily boundaries and gets swallowed; in chupar, juices spill over hands, while stones or fibres that have made it into a mouth are taken out again. Some fruits, like apples, compel a person to comer; others, like mangoes, invite chupar. But fruits do not decide by themselves how they will be handled: at a dinner table, in public, or in places that need to stay clean, comer is advisable; chupar fits backyards and more intimate company. And then there are gratifications: comer may come with the pride of being educated; chupar offers such pleasures as overflowing juices and childhood memories. All in all, our comparison reveals that ‘eating’ is not a given precedent, but that comer and chupar evoke different worlds, populated by different entities (bodies, fruits), and coloured by different pleasures. One might say that the ontologies involved are different, but that is not quite strong enough, as the relevant alterities also include activities and normativities, while the boundaries between the worlds of comer and chupar are markedly fluid and shot through with partial connections.

'Don’t ask questions, just observe!’ Boundary politics in Bahian Candomblé

When I got stuck in a traffic jam in Sâo Goncalo do Retiro, a peripheral neighborhood in Salvador in which the terreiro (temple) called Ile Axe Opo Afonja is situated, I began to realize that my assumptions about the upcoming event had been wrong. From what I had read in the announcement, the Semana Cultural da Heranca Africana na Bahia (Cultural Week of the African Heritage in Bahia), was going to be yet another one of these rather boring meetings of Salvador’s Candomble elite, who organize a never ending cycle of (often highly self-congratulatory) seminars, debates, fairs, and homenagems. However, judging from what I saw through the window of my car things might well be different this time. Hundreds of cars were trying to make it to the opening night of the Cultural Week, impatiently honking their horns, clutching up ill-lit roads, and floodlighting the street vendors who ran from one car to the next to sell their cashew nuts and beer and silicone bra strings. Policemen were all around, trying to control the traffic and monitor the crowds, who, in a steady stream, entered the central square of the terreiro’s compound.

Bed and throne: the “museumification” of the living quarters of a candomblé priestess

ABSTRACT This article discusses the way in which the living quarters of a famous priestess from the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé were turned into a heritage site. The Memorial de Mãe Menininha do Gantois shows that the form of the museum might be understood as a particular “language” of status and prestige. The site therefore allows us to discuss what happens when new actors in the public sphere pick up, appropriate, and transform this language of “museumification.” Although the profane dimensions of “museumification” are hard to miss, we argue that in the case of the memorial this language does not at all diminish the sacred nature of this site, but actually articulates it in a new way.

Inhabitants of the screen: celebrity and the production of religious authority in Bahian Candomblé

In Bahia, Brazil, the public articulation of religious authority comes to depend more and more on celebrity discourses. This article takes the Afro-Brazilian spirit possession cult Candomble as an example to show how in media-saturated societies religious and media imaginaries become inextricably entangled. In their struggle to be publicly recognized as a proper ‘religion’, Candomble priests nd themselves overcoming their media-shyness. Televisual fame is a value understood by the public at large, and its acquisition adds weight to the status and prestige of Candomble priests in ways that religious criteria for priestly authority cannot accomplish.