At the crossroads: from Eshu’s mediation at public places to political-ritual agency in two African-Brazilian religious contexts

Abstract: Given some ethnographic moments of different scales and length, ranging from the rebirth of an ancestral tree to a great legal dispute, this article aims to analyze the agency of people, things and entities in two African-Brazilian religious contexts - one of them situated at Porto Alegre, the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul state, while the other is located at Santo Amaro, a small town in the state of Bahia. Those two cities´ central public markets host some sacred rites from batuque and candomblé cults, respectively. Based on that parallel, this article discusses some issues concerning cultural heritage, territory and ancestry through an ethnographic account that addresses centrally the role of Eshu, a key divinity, at both contexts.

Keywords:
Eshu; african brazilian cults; materiality; territory; political/ritual agency.