Identidades étnicas e práticas religiosas: repensando algumas abordagens científicas

Abstract

The paper presents some results of an anthropological research on religious practices that develop the black citizens of Porto Alegre, who are often participants in an Evangelical Church. We trace some trajectories of these citizens, built from their narratives and from a dialogue built on their life history, their religious beliefs and practices. The motivation for investigating the issue came from the perception of a lack of approaches that relates their ethnic and religious practices, usually attributed to the predominance of black citizens belonging to African-Brazilian religions. But in the twenty-first century, can we keep saying that the so called African-Brazilian religions are the main symbols of black identity, or are there also different religious practices to which people resort in order to self-definite? These are some questions for whichwe intend to contribute, in order to reflect on scientific constructions about ethnic identities and religious practices in Latin America.