Ritual sacrifice in afro-brazilian religions: reflections on patrimonialization, memory and unarchived

Abstract

Introduction: This paper investigates how the ritual sacrifice of animals constitutes a place of memory of the Afro-Brazilian religions and the tensions that arise in the field of patrimony politics. Objective: As an unfolding of the problematic, it tries to understand the resonances involved in this symbolic universe and the web of elements that seems to support the strategy of forgetting cultural policies in relation to this traditional knowhow. Methodology: Starting from a brief analysis of the process of registration of the office of the Bahians of Acarajé, a comparative is drawn in order to try to understand the elements that interfere, directly or indirectly, in the election of what is worthy of being remembered and occupy the place of cultural patrimony which, in the last scale, represents the national identity itself. Results: It argues that although ritual sacrifice is a place of memory for Afro-Brazilian religions, the emptying of its importance as a cultural good and traditional knowledge is directly related to the negative external resonance of this practice, a consequence of what Yvonne Maggie called "fear of the spell", which populate the popular imagination and accompany the Afro-Brazilian religions still today. Conclusions: It shows how tensions contribute to the institution of "unarchived memories" in the field of Brazilian patrimonial policies and the fruitful intersections between information science and the field of cultural heritage.