The roots of the Nation and the “nations” of the “root”: an outline to (another) counter-theory on syncretism amongst cults on candomblé

Abstract

The paper covers some information raised in the fieldwork I conduct in a candomblé cult, located in Ribeirão Pires, in the southeast of São Paulo. After considering the relations between the place and umbanda, I emphasize two native expressions – “nations” and “roots” – according to the way they were used in a conversation with one of the leaders of that candomblé. Inspired by some recent developments regarding the idea of “afroindigenous anthropologies”, as well as Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari theoretical framework, I suppose that these emic notions herein outlined can foster a counter-theory on syncretism. Away from hegemonic theories, mostly concerned with origins, synthesis and correspondences, and to what  diversity always tends to be presupposed, those two concepts – “nations” and “roots” – seem to aim at a regime of multiplicities, in which the differences refuse to be tied.