MATA                                  
PESQUISA E ACERVOS DE ENCANTARIA RESEARCH AND ARCHIVES


      PARTICIPE








Projetos de Pesquisa Research Projects
Publicação Publications
Sobre About





ArquivoArchive
F0X Tenda Espirita de Umbanda São DomingosCodó - MA
E0X
Tenda Espirita de Umbanda São Raimundo, Santa Rita e Santa Filomena Codó - MA
T0X
Tenda Espírita de Umbanda Nossa Senhora da Conceição Codó - MA
L0X
Tenda Espírita de Umbanda Santa Helena Codó - MA
M0X
Tenda Espírita de Umbanda São Jorge e Nossa Senhora da Conceição Codó - MA


Research Projects









Years of Life: Trajectories of People and Enchanted Spirits in an Afro-Brazilian Religion




Research Center


Funding Scholarship


Year
The Crossroad Project/ Center for Culture, Society, and Religion / Princeton University

Henry Luce Foundation
Community Stories Fellowship

2024- 2026
Coordination


Research Team



Research  Collaboration







Cult houses
Martina Ahlert
Lior Zisman Zalis

Conceição Lima
Adson Carvalho
Marcos Lamy

Antônio José Pereira
Elias Alves dos Santos
Francisca Maria Viana de SouzaLuiza Lopes DuarteMaria Benedita Dias
Maria do Socorro Sousa GalvãoMaria José Viana de Souza
Nayrine Francisca Sousa SiqueiraTeresinha de Jesus Guilion Trindade

Tenda Espírita de Umbanda São Domingos
Tenda Espírita de Umbanda São Raimundo,  Santa Rita e Santa FIlomena
Tenda Espirita de Umbanda Nossa Senhora da Conceição
Tenda Espírita de Umbanda Santa Helena
Tenda Espírita de Umbanda São Jorge e Nossa Senhora da Conceição




“Years of Life: Trajectories of People and Enchanted Spirits in an Afro-Brazilian Religion” was developed between 2025 and 2026 through the Crossroads Community Fellowship at Center for Culture, Society, and Religion, Princeton University, with support from the Henry Luce Foundation. The project explored memory, its material forms, and the ways archives are produced and activated within Afro-Brazilian religions in Maranhão, focusing on the Terecô of Codó.

Working with photographs, oral histories, ritual objects, and family collections as living archives continuously engaged in religious practice, the project was developed in collaboration with five cult houses in Codó: Tenda Espírita de Umbanda São Raimundo e Santa Filomena (Pai Elias), Tenda Espírita de Umbanda Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Mãe Teresinha), Tenda Espírita de Umbanda São Domingos (Mazé and Francisca), Tenda Espírita de Umbanda Santa Helena (Luizinha), and Tenda Espírita de Umbanda São Jorge e Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Maria do Lebão).

The project took the contexts of the enchanted spirits’ birthday celebrations as its main point of departure, involving the documentation, digitization, and recording of photographs, collections, and narratives related to the trajectories of both people and enchanted spirits. The images presented here were collected during this research process and form part of an archive currently under construction.

The project also led to the creation of MATA – Research and Archives of Encantaria, an initiative developed to continue this collective work of research, preservation, digitization, and archival organization, while creating archival practices grounded in the dynamics and forms of transmission of these religious traditions.

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