Captains and Priestesses in Afro-Brazilian Congado and Candomblé

• Published in: Ethnomusicology 2019-07, Vol.63 (2), p.184-221
• Main Author: Dempsey, Genevieve E. V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anthropology; Brazilian culture; Captains; Community; Consciousness; Cultural identity; Dance; Equality; Ethnic Studies; Female roles; Gender equity; Gender inequality; Human dignity; Marginality; Music; Politics; Religious music; Religious traditions; Rites & ceremonies; Rituals; Sacredness; Women
• ISSN: 0014-1836; 2156-7417
• DOI: 10.5406/ethnomusicology.63.2.0184

Afro-Brazilian communities that practice the religious traditions of Congado and Candomblé consider not only the significance of the sacred in their lives but also the importance of female enfranchisement. This article explores how practitioners, known as Congadeiros/as and Candomblecistas, have increasingly shaped and reshaped the roles of men and women in ritual music to reflect a growing consciousness of gender equality. In the broadest sense, this article plumbs the gendered conditions of possibility in Congado and Candomblé to help us more fully comprehend how the multivalent voices of the self and the community emerge from within these strongholds of sacred conviction. This article is valuable because it brings together the social, political, and cultural at the locus of the sonic and the somatic. Furthermore, by exploring how women and men harness music and dance in ritual contexts, it makes legible how modern Congadeiros/as and Candomblecistas strive for goals such as equitable treatment and sensitizes the wider public to the dignity and dimensionality of marginalized communities. As practitioners of Candomblé and Congado continue to illuminate their musical cultures of gender equality, they succeed in amplifying both their visible identities and their voices.