Captivity and cure: religious experiences of Atlantic slavery in Luzia Pinta's calundus, 17th-18th century

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the meanings associated to the pratice of calundus, which is the generic denomination of magical-religious rituals with curative and divinatory purposes performed by Africans in the Portuguese American from the 16th to the 17th century. The analysis will focus the individual history of Luzia Pinta, "forra" of Angolan origin who lived in Sabará (Minas Gerais) and was formally charged of witchcraft in 1742 by the Portuguese Inquisition. Through a micro-history-inspired analysis, I intend to understand the multiple meanings associated to calundus for different agents throughout the institutional and geographical spheres of the Portuguese Empire.I will attempt to evince how the calundus came to be a phenomenon through which African slaves, members of the clergy and Euro-American settlers symbolically negotiated the conversion of Africans to the catholic religion, as well as their placement in a cultural and social world organized by slavery. From an Atlantic perspective, I will try to grasp the articulation and interrelation of the attitudes manifested by various historical agents, stressing the roles of the enslaved Africans, the catholic missionaries in Africa, and the officials of the Portuguese Inquisition. I am especially interested in perceiving how African religious practices became a strategic resource for Africans to express their understanding e their perspectives regarding the role they played in the world of Atlantic slavery. (AU)