In Place of Exu: the Tourist Guides in Candomblé of Salvador, Bahia

Abstract

This article explores the dynamics of the construction of legitimacy amongst candomblé groups by looking at the relations established between these religious groups and tourist guides who bring visitors to candomblé terreiros in Salvador da Bahia. Aiming to understand how guides deal with tourists and Candomblé members, as well as the reasons for their refusal to participate in an ethnographic research project, I compare their position with that of Exu, an indispensable but controversial deity in that religion. I suggest that tourist guides occupy a mediating position between “religion” and “money”, thus representing for some agents – both tourists and candomblé practioners – the danger of contamination of a “traditional” religion by their mere presence in ceremonies. I also note that they have become part of accusations of inauthenticity between terreiros (Candomblé groups) themselves, reproducing older dynamics of legitimacy amongst these religious groups in Salvador.