FAQ

Benzedeiras: Lights and Shadows of the Religious Healing Practice in Brazilian Folk Catholicism

Publication date: 05.11.2019

Studia Religiologica, 2019, Volume 52, Issue 3, pp. 191 - 204

https://doi.org/10.4467/20844077SR.19.014.11373

Authors

Renata Siuda-Ambroziak
Pontifical University of São Paulo
, Brazil
University of Warsaw
, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6594-0058 Orcid
Contact with author
All publications →

Titles

Benzedeiras: Lights and Shadows of the Religious Healing Practice in Brazilian Folk Catholicism

Abstract

This article presents field research-based reflections on the socio-cultural contexts of religious healing practices in Brazilian folk Catholicism performed by traditional local blessing-givers (bendezeiras). Recognizing both illness and healing as socio-cultural processes and religion as an important key to understanding Brazilian culture and society, I concentrate on depicting important characteristics of the benzedeiras’ practice, concentrating on “lights” (positive aspects) and “shadows” – adverse factors limiting the possibilities of intergenerational transmission in spite of the continuing popularity and symbolic effectiveness of benzedeiras’ religious healing in Brazil.

References

Bensoussan A., Complementary Medicine Where Lies Its Appeal?”, “The Medical Journal of Australia” 1999, vol. 170, no.6, pp. 259–262.

Benza Deus! Benzedeiras em Curitiba: modernidade e tradição, V.A.G. Silva, J.C. Reinhardt (eds.), Curitiba 2009.

Brandão C.R., Fronteira da alguns sistemas de sentido, crenças e religiões no Brasil de hoje”, “Estudos Avançados” 2004, vol. 18, no. 52, pp. 261–288.

O’Connor B.B., Hufford D.J., Understanding Folk Medicine, [in:] Healing Logics: Culture and Medicine in Modern Health Belief Systems, E. Brady (ed.), Boulder 2001, pp. 13–36.

Cannon W.B., Voodoo  Death,  “American Anthropologist” 1942,  April–June, vol.  44,  no.  2, pp. 169–181.

Coutler I.D., Willis E.M., The Rise and Rise of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A Sociological Perspective, “The Medical Journal of Australia” 2004, vol. 180 (11), pp. 587–589.

Csordas T.J. The Rhetoric of Transformation in Ritual Healing, “Culture, Religion and Psychiatry 1983, December, vol. 7, issue 4, pp. 333–375.

Csordas T.J., Kleinman A., The Therapeutic Process, [in:] Medical Anthropology. Contemporary Theory and Method, T.M. Johnson, C.F. Sargent (eds.), New York–Westport–Connecticut–London 1990, pp. 11–25.

Dossey L., Prayer Is Good Medicine: How to Reap the Healing Benefits of Prayer, New York 1997.

Frank J., Persuasion and Healing: A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy, Baltimore, MD, 1973.

Fry P.H., Howe G.N., Duas respostas à aflição: umbanda e pentecostalismo, “Debate e Crítica” 1975, 1975, no. 6, São Paulo-HUCITEC, pp. 75–94.

Grisotti M., Sistemas médicos: Percepção e comportamento em relação ao processo saúde-doença em uma comunidade de Florianópolis (SC), “Política e Trabalho. Revista de Ciências Sociais” 2004, abril, no. 20, pp. 117–139.

Hall D., Religious Attendance More Cost-effective than Lipitor?, “Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine” 2006, no. 19, pp. 130–109.

Janzen J.M., Therapy Management: Concept, Reality, Process, “Medical Anthropology Quarterly. International Journal for the Analysis of Health” 1987, March, vol. 1, issue 1, pp. 68–84.

Joralemon, D., Altar Symbolism in Peruvian Ritual Healing, “Journal of Latin American Lore” 1985, no. 11, pp. 3–29.

Labov, W., Fanshel D., Therapeutic Discourse, New York 1977.

Langdon E.J.M., A doença como experiência: a construção da doença e seu desafio para a prática médica, Florianópolis 2009.

Lévi-Strauss, C., Antropologia Estrutural, São Paulo 2008.

Lewith G.T. Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Educational, Attitudinal and Research Challenge, “The Medical Journal of Australia” 2000, March, no. 172(3), pp. 102–103.

Mueller P.S., Plevak D.J., Rummans T.A., Zaangażowanie religijne i duchowość a medycyna –sugestie dla praktyki klinicznej, Rehabilitacja Medyczna” 2002, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 57–66.

Ngubane H. Body and Mind in Zulu Medicine: An Ethnography of Health and Disease in NyuswaZulu Thought and Practice, London 1977.

Norris P., Inglehart R., Sacrum i profanum. Religia i polityka na świecie, Kraków 2006.

Oliveira, E.R., O que é benzeção, São Paulo 1985.

Pereira E.A. de, Gomes N.P.M. de, Assim se benze em Minas Gerais. Um estudo sobre a cura através da palavra, Belo Horizonte 2018.

Rodrigues N., Caroso C., A ideia de sofrimento e representação cultural da doença na construção da pessoa, [in:] Doença, sofrimento e perturbação: perspectivas etnográficas, L.F.D. Duarte, O.F. Leal (eds.), Rio de Janeiro 1998, pp. .

Schieffelin E.L., Performance and the Cultural Construction of Reality, “American Ethnologist. Journal of the American Ethnological Society” 1985, December, vol. 12, issue 4, pp. 707–724.

Siuda-Ambroziak R., Jumping into Faith: The Phenomenon of Brazilian Pentecostal Conversions, “Studia Religiologica” 2018, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 11–32.

Siuda-Ambroziak R., Benzedeiras em vias de extinção na Ilha da Magia, “Metis: História e Cultura” 2018, vol. 18, no. 34, pp. 125–146.

Steedly M.M., Severing the Bonds of Love: A Case Study in Soul Loss, “Social Science and Medicine” 1988, vol. 27, issue 8, pp. 841–856.

Tourism Department Will Elaborate Catalog of Benzedeiras de Feira de Santana, http://www.feiradesantana.ba.gov.br/busca.asp#links [access: 14.01.2019].

Velho G., Projeto e metamorphose: antropologia das sociedades complexas, Rio de Janeiro 1994.

 

Weber M., Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, Berkeley 1978.

Information

Information: Studia Religiologica, 2019, Volume 52, Issue 3, pp. 191 - 204

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Benzedeiras: Lights and Shadows of the Religious Healing Practice in Brazilian Folk Catholicism

English:

Benzedeiras: Lights and Shadows of the Religious Healing Practice in Brazilian Folk Catholicism

Authors

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6594-0058

Renata Siuda-Ambroziak
Pontifical University of São Paulo
, Brazil
University of Warsaw
, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6594-0058 Orcid
Contact with author
All publications →

Pontifical University of São Paulo
Brazil

University of Warsaw
Poland

Published at: 05.11.2019

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Renata Siuda-Ambroziak (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

-

Publication languages:

English