African legacies: word of ethnic symbolism

Abstract

Different ethnic groups create symbolic representations. One such represention comes in the form of images expressed in words. In this way, we can say that upon entering the field to study the diverse ethnicities, the first thing a researcher or writer does is strive to understand which representations permeates the universe under consideration. And in order to approach such universe, I focus here on the ethnic representations evoked by the words “African Heritage”. The significance of the treatment given to the investigation of this subject can be seen in the increasing number of works by diferent writers examining the African heritage in Brazil, be it in the cultural, religious, linguistic and/or race issues dimensions, among other ones. My purpose here, though, is to take under consideration the papers produced by various students under my advisory during the Lato Sensu Graduation Program in Anthropology with a Special Track in Afro- Brazilian Culture, with a view to understand these symbolic universes. It should be noted right from the the beginning that in my advisory work I have allways stressed the importance, for the program in Anthropology with a Track in Afro-Brazilian Culture, of never leaving aside from the investigation  the central category of African Heritage, save if the methodological treatment deal with  the subject in a reductionist way that excludes, denies or reduces to silence African reminiscences. One can see in the papers produced by these students that  the symbolic representations contained in the words “African Heritage” are understood not as “ancient wisdom” and ethnic belonging, but rather as beliefs.

Keywords: African Heritage, Symbolic Representations, Afro-brazilian culture.