TY - JOUR
TI - “Pomba Gira Keeps an Eye on Us”: The Presence of the Orixás in Rio de Janeiro Brothels
AU - Blanchette, Thadeus
AU - da Silva, Ana Paula
AU - De Lisio, Amanda
TI - “Pomba Gira Keeps an Eye on Us”: The Presence of the Orixás in Rio de Janeiro Brothels
AB - 
	Oswaldo de Andrade’s poem, “O Santeiro do Mangue” (1991 [1950]) and Ruth Landes’ ethnography

	“City of Women” (2006 [1947]) both highlight how African-Brazilian religions have maintained connections to sexual practices considered to be “perverse” by Christian moralities. The present article describes the presence of the orixás in today’s brothels in Rio de Janeiro. We emphasize the use of Candomblé and Umbanda as counter-hegemonic forms of spirituality which protect women involved in the sale of sex and are used as symbolic languages criticizing a moral order that highlights female passivity. Through the language of the saints, that which cannot be said becomes public in Carioca brothels, highlighting agencies in a space nominally dominated by men.
VL - 2018
IS - Volume 51, Issue 4
PY - 2018
SN - 0137-2432
C1 - 2084-4077
SP - 247
EP - 263
DO - 10.4467/20844077SR.18.018.10102
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/studia-religiologica/article/pomba-gira-keeps-an-eye-on-us-the-presence-of-the-orixas-in-rio-de-janeiro-brothels
KW - Prostitution
KW - Rio de Janeiro
KW - African Brazilian religions
KW - Pomba Gira