A casa de Fanti-Ashanti, em São Luís do Maranhão

Abstract

This study is a case study conducted in São Luís, Maranhão, focusing on an Afro-Maranhense religious center known as the Casa de Fanti-Ashanti. The objective is to determine how the group's members—drawing upon a body of knowledge they term "African tradition"—classify the world, organize themselves, and establish norms of conduct while confronting the novel elements imposed by their context. The ethnographic data were analyzed at three levels: the historical level, the Casa as a variant of Brazilian social organization, and the Casa as an ethnic group. The first part seeks to identify the factors legitimizing the Casa through a historical reconstruction of the group: its African cultural heritage and the leader's "saint genealogy" (spiritual lineage). The second part analyzes the Casa as a variant of Brazilian social organization that uniquely combines common elements such as hierarchy and equality. Finally, through an analysis of the categories employed by the group, the study seeks to identify the Casa as an ethnic group that upholds an ethnic ideology.