Transnational Migrants and Transnational Spirits: An African Religion in Lisbon

Abstract

Portugal, for long a country of emigration, has in recent decades become one of immigration. One of the largest groups of newcomers is constituted by Africans from the former Portuguese colonies. This paper focuses on how religion and ritual traditions from their home country are manipulated by people from Guinea-Bissau in order to recreate their identity in the urban world of Lisbon. Based on fieldwork conducted among the Pepel of Guinea-Bissau from 1997 to the present and on ongoing research on a Pepel religious healer in Lisbon, this paper specifically dwells on the issue of transnational spirits. It explores how such entities are constructed, and the rituals around them. This entails a complex and ceaseless relation between the world of the living and the world of the dead, as well as a constant flow of goods and symbols between the physical original grounds, in Guinea-Bissau, and Lisbon: people, money, goods, practices and ideas, as well as spirits, circulate and create bridges between Europe and Africa.

Space in Pentecostal Healing Practices among Ghanaian Migrants in London

“…Certain places in homes are dedicated to ancestors, temples are built for gods, and gifts and goods need to be procured, often from far away, to satisfy the needs of spirits. Ethnographies on how spiritual healing is constituted in transnational migration contexts are particularly illuminating in this regard (Saraiva 2008). They show how and in what way rituals are 'portable' (Csordas 2007) and what spirits require in order to ''come into presence'' (Lambek 2010:17) in different local contexts.…”

Sociologia e antropologia da religião em Portugal: agentes e publicações

“…No CRIA, encontra-se José Mapril, doutorado em Antropologia (ICS-UL), professor convidado na FCSH-UNL, que tem publicado no estrangeiro, pesquisando sobre minorias muçulmanas em Portugal (Mapril, 2010a(Mapril, , 2012b(Mapril, , 2013(Mapril, , 2014(Mapril, , 2016, focando-se nas originárias do Bangladesh (Mapril, 2005(Mapril, , 2009(Mapril, , 2010b, sobre as quais escreve a sua tese de doutoramento, que aborda o trânsito entre Bangladesh e Portugal, sendo a religião aspecto saliente (Mapril, 2012a). No mesmo pólo FCSH insere-se Clara Saraiva, doutorada em Antropologia (IICT), professora convidada na FCSH-UNL, que tem lecionado, publicado e colaborado em projetos no estrangeiro, investigando sobre as religiões afrobrasileiras ( 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015a/b), africanas (Saraiva, 2008), e comparando ambas (Saraiva, 2007). Refira-se ainda, do mesmo polo, João Leal, doutorado em Antropologia (ISCTE), professor catedrático da FCSH-UNL, o qual tem estudado as festas do Espírito Santo nos Açores, sobre as quais realizou a sua tese de doutoramento (Leal, 1994), estando agora focado na vertente transnacional.…”

Circulating Spirits and Dead Bodies

“…People from Guinea-Bissau have a long tradition of migration, and there are Guineans scattered throughout Senegal, France and the Netherlands (Machado 2002), but Portugal soon became a preferential destination, due to the ties connecting the two countries. The immigration to Portugal started after the 25th April 1974 revolution and the independence of Guinea-Bissau, but it was mainly after 1984, with the opening of the country to more westernized economic and social models (Machado 2002;Saraiva 2008;Quintino 2004) that it increased. Portugal is seen as a paradise, where one can have a job and send remittances to families back home (Saraiva 2008: 256).…”