Material religion, colonial heritage, and building modernity in Brazil

This presentation takes the relation between religious buildings and cities as its starting point. Unlike the majority perspective in Latin America, our focus is not on the construction of temples but on the disputes arising from the demolition of religious buildings. We argue that demolition implies the decomposition of religious materialities and their circulation in other spaces: museums, public buildings, and other churches. This article focuses on two cases to explore the tensions between a modern city project and Brazil's colonial past heritage. The articulating element of these two axes is the perspective that we face (yet another) tension between religion and modernity, which, in this case, is spatially inscribed.

Marcella ARAUJO is a Professor at the Department of Sociology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Professor of the Graduate Program in Sociology at Iesp/Uerj. Coordinator of the URBANO research group.

Conférence organisée par le GRIAL et le LAAP

Caroline SAPPIA, Rédactrice en chef, Social Compass
Thibault FONTANARI, Rédacteur en chef adjoint, Social Compass
Olivier SERVAIS, Directeur, Social Compass

Cette conférence fait l’objet d’un article qui sera publié dans le numéro de décembre 2024 de la revue Social Compass.