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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zoab Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48100 7 6 1 * 6 1 9 LERCH#.PATRICIA JANE BARKER WARRIORS OF JUSTICE! A STUDY OF WOMEN>8 ROLES IN UMBANOA IN PORTO ALEGRE# BRAZIL. THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY# PH,Oa» 1976 © 1978 PATRICIA JANE BARKER LERCH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WARRIORS OP JUSTICE: A STUDY OF WOMEN'S ROLES IN UMBANDA IN PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Patricia Jane Barker Lerch, B.A., M.A. * * * * The Ohio State University 1978 Reading Committee: Approved By Dr. Erika Bourguignon Dr. Daniel T. Hughes Dr. John Friedl Adviser ; \ Department of Anthropolo To my mother, ' Ruth Agnes Beck Barker ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this dissertation depended greatly upon the excellent guidance which I received from my adviser, Dr. Erika Bourguignon. I wish also to thank Drs. Daniel T. Hughes and John Friedl for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this dissertation. To Thelma Soares of sSio Paulo, Brazil, I am grateful for aid with transcriptions of taped interviews, and to Antonieta Felicio of Columbus, Ohio, for editorial comments. I wish to thank Mrs. Karen Greene for the excellent typing of this final manuscript and Mrs. Mary Lou Marella for the typing of earlier drafts. Finally, I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my husband, Alfred, for his patience and help during and after fieldwork. iii 4 VITA March 24, 1947 ..... Born, Cleveland, Ohio 1969 ............... B.A. History, Cleveland State University 1972 ............... M.A. Anthropology, The Ohio State University 1972-1974; Adjunct Faculty, Anthropology, 1977-1978 .......... Franklin University, Columbus, Ohio 1976, 1978 ......... Graduate Teaching Associate, Depart­ ment of Anthropology, The Ohio State University 1977 ............... Graduate Administrative Associate, Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS Forthcoming, "Riograndense women and the role of spirit medium.V in A World of Women. ed., Erika Bourguignon. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Cultural Anthropology Studies in Psychological Anthropology. Professor Bourguignon Studies in Afro-American Anthropology. Professor Bourguignon Studies in the Anthropology of Women. Professor Bourguignon Studies in Role Analysis. Professor Hughes iv TABLE OF CONSENTS Page DEDICATION...................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................ iii VITA ............................................ iv LIST OF TABLES .................................. viii LIST OF FIGURES .... ............................. ix INTRODUCTION .................................... 1 Chapter I. REVIEW OF LITERATURE............. 13 .Spirit Possession and Trance .............. 13 Role, Status, andWomen .................. 23 Some Trends in the Anthropology of Women .. 27 II. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...................... 36 Participant Observation: early phase .... 38 Participant Observation: middle phase .... 40 Key Informant Interviewing ............. 46 Participant Observation: final phase .... 49 Structured Interviews and Questionnaires .. 52 III. ETHNOHISTORICAL CONTEXT OF EVANGELIZED UMBANDA .................................. 56 Rio Grande do Sul and the S o u t h .......... 57 The Social and Cultural Background of Rio Grande do Sul ........................ 64 Spirit Possession Trance Cults of Porto Alegre ............................. 72 IV. COSMOLOGY AND RITUAL ...................... 100 Cosmology ................................ 100 Ritual ................................... 121 v Trabaiho de Caridade ..................... 122 Trabalho de Oriente and Triangulo de Pogo . 127 V. THE ROLE STRUCTURE OF EVANGELIZED UMBANDA . 135 The Cult Leader .......................... 137 The M e d i u m ............................... 148 Developing Mediunidade: A Rite of Passage 151 Spirit Guia .............................. 178 Spirit Medium-Client Relationship ........ 195 Treatment: The Therapeutic Procedure .... 202 Astral Operations ........................ 222 The Effectiveness of Umbanda Curing ...... 233 VI. THE BRAZILEIRA........................... 238 Introduction ............................. 238 The Historical Brazileira ................ 239 The Literary V i e w ........................ 241 The Brazileira and the Latin American Woman .................................... 242 The Brazileira: Reality vs Image ........ 244 The Porto Alegrense Brazileira ........... 250 Family Structure and Family Relationships . 251 Mothers and Sons ......................... 254 Socialization of B o y s .................... 256 Socialization of Girls ................... 257 The Moya (Young Girl) .................... 258 The 'Suffering' of W o m e n ................. 260 Modernization and Economic Roles of Women: 0 the Private and Public Domain ............ 264 Brazilian Women and the Economic "miracle": the Public Domain............. 268 Domestic Domain Roles and Social Production ............................... 274 Domestic Service and Domestic Crafts ..... 285 S u m m a r y .................................. 289 VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS......... 295 Warriors of Justice: the GaiScho and the Cosmology of Umbanda ..................... 295 The "Feminine Orientation" of the Role of Spirit M e d i u m ....................... 303 The Enhancement of Social Status via the Role of Medium ........................... 306 APPENDIXES A. Data on Background ....................... 309 vi B. Cult and Non-Cult Women ................... 310 C. Role of Medium .......................... 325 D. Pontos Cantados .......................... 326 REFERENCES ...................................... 333 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Summary of the Background Data on Twenty- Nine Porto Alegre Women 1974-1975 ........... 54 2. Etiological Categories in Evangelized Umbanda Diagnosis .......................... 201 3. Summary of Astral Operations 231 4. Population Present, 10 Years Old and Over Per Sector of Activity: Female ............ 270 5. Percent of Working Population by Sex and Economic Sector RGS 1950-1970 .............. 273 6. Survey of the Occupations of Married Women . 290 7. Survey of the Occupations of Single or Widowed Women ......................... 291 * r ' viii LIST OF FIGURES ' Figure Page 1. Brazil ................................ 58 2. Rio Grande do Sul ........................... 63 ix INTRODUCTION This is a study of the ritual, cosmology, and role relationships defining the role of spirit medium in the possession trance religion of "Evangelized" Umbanda in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil*. Umbanda is a religion in v/hich an altered state of consciousness, or trance, is believed to be caused by the possession of humans by supernatural beings. Altered states of consciousness have been of continuing interest to students of Psychological Anthropology as far back as- E.B. Tylor*s Primitive Culture (1871) in which he postulated that such states stimulated early man to invent spirits. Tylor suggested that in a belief in spirits, or animism, we see the very origins of religion itself. Altered states of consciousness involve not only trance states but also visions, dreams, and hallucinations. In the 1930s there developed a debate over whether or not such states were pathological. One of the first to argue that such states were not pathological in certain cultural contexts was the Anthropologist Melvile J. Herskovits (1937, 1948). Taking the view of a cultural relativist, Herskovits argued that spirit possession trance among Haitian and Brazilian cult members was