Africa in Brazil: etnhic groups and social organization in São Paulo on XIXth

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present a profile of the ethnic groups of African people in the city of São Paulo in the first half of the 19th century, pointing out their forms of social organization, in particular their cultural and religious manifestations. It is intended to argue, based on the concept of the ethnic group supplied by the anthropologist Frederik Barth, the forms of attribution and identification of these groups by external agents as the Catholic Church and the proprietors of slaves. This concept also has as estimated the incorporation by the African people themselves who had identified with these ethnic groups, directing their forms of organization, after all, by the means of the association in religious brotherhoods, “audiences” in batuques, capoeiras and dances. The intention is to perceive as the incorporation of determined ethnic groups directed the organization forms, the manifestations of their traditions by the means of the cultural and religious aspects, the relation with different ethnic groups and with others social classes.