Nagô Grandma and White Papa: Candomblé and the Creation of Afro-Brazilian Identity

Latin America in Translation

by Beatriz Gois Dantas

Dantas, Beatriz Góis

198 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2009

Reviews

[Emerson Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bone to gnaw through. While I understand the need for rigor in academic pursuits like this, I can't help but be frustrated with the confining form on academic writing. There are some interesting pieces to this book that were at times revolutionary moments, and I would even say that made it worth walking through some of the groundwork chapters. But in the end I found myself wanting more discussion. The conclusion was succinct and summary, but I wanted to know more about how the author applied some of what was learned. I think that in between the lines there is some really cool discourse about how the structures of society shape and distance ritual and ceremony in a continuous evolution. I think that the central questions were often hidden by the scaffolding of academic writing. How have identities like white, black, native and mestizo shaped each other throughout the dialogue of history and the conflagration of colonization? I am hungry for this discussion and I can't help but feel like so much was left out.