Mulheres na umbanda: uma história da religião no Rio de Janeiro a partir da agência feminina

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyse how the process of institutionalizing umbanda, from the 1920s onwards, by aligning itself with the structures of dominant society, contributed to the marginalization of women, especially black women, in formal spaces and in the religion's literature. Although their presence in the practices and in the terreiros has been constant, their presence has been silenced in institutional records and in hegemonic narratives about the history of umbanda. In this sense, I propose to tell a version of the history of umbanda in Rio de Janeiro that recognizes the importance of black women, as well as the presence of different women, both in the practices that preceded its institutionalization and in the first decades of its formation as a religion. This research is part of the Science of Religion field, in dialog with gender, racial and social theories, seeking to understand the structural mechanisms that traverse the trajectory of women in Umbanda. The dissertation adopts a historical approach, based on the indicative method, combining documentary analysis, bibliography and various sources. The chapters first go through the historical roots of female subalternization in Brazil, passing through black and indigenous traditions prior to the institutionalization of Umbanda, through an analysis of the federations and congresses that shaped an official version of the religion, up to the presentation of paths of resistance led by Umbanda women. The work points out that the erasure of women is not circumstantial, but an expression of a broader process of institutional and structural marginalization, inherited from a patriarchal, colonial and racialized history. By bringing these silenced stories to light, this research contributes to a reinterpretation of the history of Umbanda and reaffirms the importance of women in sustaining and transmitting the religious tradition