1481/2012 - Axé, práticas corporais e Aids nas religiões africanistas do Recife Axe, bodily practices, and Aids in Africanist religions in Recife, Brazil
• Cinthia Oliveira - Oliveira, C. - Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - <cinthia_psi@hotmail.com >
Área Temática:
Ciências Sociais
Resumo:
Este artigo analisa as respostas das religiões afro-brasileiras à epidemia de Aids no Recife, considerando a estrutura simbólica religiosa. Baseando-se em observações participantes e em entrevistas em profundidade realizadas com líderes religiosos afro-brasileiros e técnicos de saúde pública e de ONGs, destaca a importância do “axé”, a categoria nativa utilizada para pensar os eventos corporais, para entender a história da Aids nessa comunidade religiosa. Axé é energia mística, vitalidade corporal. Ele é manipulado em rituais religiosos e simbolicamente associado a sangue, suor e sêmen. Nos tempos de HIV, os rituais de escarificação corporais e a troca de fluidos durante as transações sexuais, formas para a circulação do axé e elementos-chave para o cultivo deste, também se tornam meio para a transmissão do HIV. Esses elementos foram o foco do diálogo entre as instituições religiosas e o sistema de saúde pública, um processo que gerou mudanças nas práticas religiosas de regulação da reprodução social e da vida sexual dos adeptos.
Palavras-chave:
Religiões afro-brasileiras
HIV/Aids
Sexualidade
Corpo
Abstract:
This article analyzes the responses of Afro-Brazilian religions to the Aids epidemic in Recife, considering the religious symbolic structure. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted with Afro-Brazilian religious leaders and public health officials, it highlights the importance of “axe”, the native category used to interpret corporal events and to understand the history of Aids in this religious community. Axe is the mystical energy in these religions: the corporal vitality. It is manipulated in religious rituals and is symbolically associated with blood, sweat and semen. In the times of HIV, these practices became means for the transmission of the virus through scarification rituals and exchanges in fluids during sexual transactions, which incidentally were key forms to care for axe and ways through which axe circulates among initiates. These elements were the focus in the dialogue among religious institutions and the public health system. This process generated changes in regulatory religious practices and the social reproduction of sexual life among religious initiates.
Axe, bodily practices, and Aids in Africanist religions in Recife, Brazil
Resumo (abstract):
This article analyzes the responses of Afro-Brazilian religions to the Aids epidemic in Recife, considering the religious symbolic structure. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted with Afro-Brazilian religious leaders and public health officials, it highlights the importance of “axe”, the native category used to interpret corporal events and to understand the history of Aids in this religious community. Axe is the mystical energy in these religions: the corporal vitality. It is manipulated in religious rituals and is symbolically associated with blood, sweat and semen. In the times of HIV, these practices became means for the transmission of the virus through scarification rituals and exchanges in fluids during sexual transactions, which incidentally were key forms to care for axe and ways through which axe circulates among initiates. These elements were the focus in the dialogue among religious institutions and the public health system. This process generated changes in regulatory religious practices and the social reproduction of sexual life among religious initiates.
Rios, L. F., Parker, R., Garcia, J., Oliveira, C.. Axé, práticas corporais e Aids nas religiões africanistas do Recife. Cien Saude Colet [periódico na internet] (2012/ago). [Citado em 23/12/2024].
Está disponível em: http://cienciaesaudecoletiva.com.br/artigos/axe-praticas-corporais-e-aids-nas-religioes-africanistas-do-recife/11049?id=11049
