Samba Struggles: Carnaval Parades, Race and Religious Nationalism in Brazil

Abstract

This chapter analyzes contemporary carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo as reflections of the current struggles concerning the religious character of the nation. Our overarching argument is that while Brazilians generally consider carnival a ‘secular sacred’ national heritage, several religious organizations strive to re-religionize carnival. Carnival parades are entwined with historical configurations of Brazilian nationalism, Roman Catholicism and Afro-Brazilian religion. This religio-national configuration is currently contested by evangelical Christian movements that have grown substantially and have gained much political power. Some evangelical groups turn their back on the carnival festivities altogether but plenty of groups currently celebrate their own carnival gospel during the national carnival celebrations and organize their own parades. In this chapter, we contend that the evangelical carnival parades we describe display the desire of evangelical organizations to reform carnival parades so that evangelical groups can also partake in carnival traditions and inscribe themselves in representations of the nation, and we argue that the selected samba school parades we describe demonstrate the aspiration of Roman Catholic and Afro-Brazilian organizations to push back the evangelical encroachment and defend their identity as privileged partners of the nation.