Afro-brazilian religions in the Social Sciences

a conference, a bibliography

Abstract

In the opening conference o f the eleventh Latin-American Congress on Religion and E thnicity prom oted by the Latin-American Association for Religion Studies (.Aler), in São Bernardo do C am po, from the 3rc^ to the 7r^ o f July 2006, the author dealt w ith bibliogra­phy th at had been produced by the Social Sciences on Afro-Brazilian religions in the past 35 years. This paper also discusses themes and matters that have com e up along the tim e, points o ut new authors and studies, and calls attention to different institutional initiatives th at have helped in consolidating the Social Sciences on religion in Brazil. Being a sociologist, the au­th o r signalizes fundam ental aspects in the process o f b oth constitution and change o f Afro- Brazilian religions facing the other ones. H e indicates research guidelines the have marked dif­ferent m om ents and denotes unresolved m atters the Social Sciences should face as it deals w ith the subject. It com prehends a list o f authors and studies, listed in the bibliography, re­garded as basic for the study o f Afro-Brazilian religions on different sociological, anthropolo­gical, and historical aspects.