"The witchcraft magic": African appropriations in Brazil Colon

Abstract

The present study analyzes the conceptions of agreement of the African religiosity in the Portuguese Atlantic colonies. The central object is the implication of the transposition of the European speech about "witchcraft" for the Africans religious practices. To visit ceremonies and religious symbolisms of the African Diaspora peoples is essential for theagreement of "aggregations", "appropriations" and "new creations" of cultural representations of the groups of enslaved Africans who had been transmigrated to Brazil. We will examine the African Portuguese colonies of the region of the Bacongos, name that the Anthropology and History have identified to the peoples inhabitants of the Congo and Angola current regions. Some important studies had perceived the good relation between witchcraft and social tensions. It is necessary to understand the meaning of "witchcraft" for a great part of Africa, in comparison to the occidental perspective. The enslaved African searched and used diverse resistance forms, trying to minimize the enslaved relations adversity. The witchcraft practices are inserted in one of the forms of enslaved resistance against the slavish system, as legislator instrument of the repression and violence.