The construction of umbanda identities: epistemological struggles and conquests

Abstract

The article analyzes the internal and external conflicts that marked Umbanda during the 1940s, highlighting the processes of identity redefinition and the struggle for legitimacy that characterized this period. Particular attention is given to the role of Zélio Fernandino de Moraes in affirming the identity of Umbanda without, however, being credited with its creation. The aim of the article is to highlight a new form of religious worship that interconnects with Catholic saints, Kardecist rituals, and Candomblé practices, but brings new elements of entities hitherto unknown in Brazilian Spiritism. This new religion is shaped and expanded by its own identity in an effort to attract all audiences, without discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or gender, in the terreiros where there is freedom to worship the entities, without fixed rules as in other denominations. The research is referential, bibliographic, descriptive, and explanatory in nature, drawing on authors who address religion in Brazil and other countries, especially Latin American ones.