Entre a Constituição e a lógica colonial: o papel do Estado na (não) preservação da memória das religiões afro-brasileiras

Abstract

This scientific initiation work analyzes the confrontation between the logic of coloniality and the right to memory in contemporary Brazil, with a special focus on African-based religions. It is based on the premise that the process of cultural, religious, and identity erasure of Afro-descendant peoples did not end with political independence or with the promulgation of new constitutions, and continues to operate in a symbolic and institutional manner in the present. The research seeks to understand how the structure of the Brazilian State, through institutions that should ensure justice, such as the police and the Judiciary, reproduces practices inherited from colonialism, even under the 1988 Constitution. The first chapter examines colonization as a political, religious, and economic project, and its continuity in the form of coloniality. It demonstrates the role of religious domination in the subordination of African peoples. The second chapter discusses memory as a collective phenomenon linked to identity and recognition, relating it to constitutional protection. The third chapter confronts theory and state practice, showing the persistence of public actions that stigmatize African-Brazilian religions, such as Umbanda and Candomblé, even after the formal guarantee of religious freedom. The methodology is deductive, with a qualitative approach and historical and bibliographical analysis. Starting from theoretical concepts, the work interprets cases from Brazilian reality based on legal texts and specialized literature.