Pelas mãos de Mãe Nilza: mulheres negras e religião em Codó-MA.

Abstract

This work aims to contribute to the understanding of the historical processes that have involved racial groups belonging to Afro-Brazilian religions, especially women, in Codó, Maranhão, through the life story of the Saint-Mother Nilza de Odé. In this sense, through the Oral History methodology, led by the narrative mediated by her memory, it was possible to understand some nuances of Maranhão and the city of Codó, regarding the religious practices of black women and men and their permanent clashes with the local elite. The narrative reveals the situation of socio-economic precariousness of the city, the difficulties related to the access to education, work and dignified conditions of survival. Two situations stand out in this aspect: the early domestic work of children and adolescents and the export of labor for modern slave labor. Furthermore, it points out how the city is developing, adopting codes of whiteness and denying the codes of the black population, especially those who practice religion of African origin. The consequences of the burden left by the process of slavery, materialized in racism and prejudice, existing with those who practice religion, are narrated by Mother Nilza based on her misfortunes and difficulties in assuming religion. At the same time, her story points to the tensions regarding the struggle carried out by women in order to live their religious practices and occupy their spaces of representation. Thus, her life story reveals this particularity of the city, of representation as a land of enchantment, of the agency of the Orixás and enchanted people and of her construction as a religious leader, from the building of Terreiro Ylê Axé de Oxóssi and Oxum. In addition, he points out the strategies constructed by the black population, through the implementation of AUCAC - Federation of African Matrix of the State of Maranhão, in what concerns the elaboration of programs and projects for the quilombola and Terreiro populations, as well as their tensions with the elitist practices of the city, contrary to the identity of the municipality, in relation to its Afro- Brazilian matrix.