Abstract

RODRIGUEZ, Manuela. Quimbanda in Argentina: an encounter with a different logic and Exu's friendship. Soc. relig. [online]. 2017, vol.27, n.47, pp.134-164. ISSN 1853-7081.

The present article aims at describing the importance of Quimbanda in the expansion of Afro-Brazilian religions in Argentina. For that purpose, focus is centered in the intituting-bond between spirit entities of this religious version: the she/heExus. Mainly the role they play in the life of mediums, from their first approaches to mediumship, to their agency and intervention capacity in affective and everyday relationships, in their decision making and in the way they become a source of knowledge and power for their devotees. Based on a long-scale field work and a solid survey on the religious conversion of a Mãe de Santo in the city of Rosario, Santa Fe, the Quimbanda religious space is proposed as the doorway towards a universe of senses as well as foreign and strange practices for the Argentinean devotee where the she/he Exus' actions and presences are their main mediator.

Keywords : Quimbanda; Afro-Brazilian Religions; Exus; Mediumship; Spiritual Agency.