Memória, tradição e herança: o acervo fotográfico do terreiro Candomblé de Mãe Preta em Natal (RN)

Abstract

The present work aims to understand which and how factors of an external and/or internal nature can interfere with the existence and maintenance of a religious community and its cultural heritage, explaining the mobility or closure of space. It is based on the oral history of Isabel Silva dos Santos and the photographic collection of the Terreiro Candomblé de Mãe Preta, which she directed. In this process of reconstitution of her memory, using the concept of Photobiography (Bruno, 2014), this monograph proposes the elaboration of montage operations of the Terreiro's photographic collection, not only to visually (re)narrate the religious journey of Dona Isabel, mãe-de-santo of the Terreiro, but also to demonstrate how archives can be important mechanisms for strengthening of the bonds of memory, history, identity, recognition and belonging to the religious traditions of Candomblé, Umbanda and Jurema, as well as the strategies of existence, maintenance of their beliefs and resistance to racism and religious intolerance experienced by these religious spaces in the city of Natal (RN).