Correr gira: pessoas, exus e pombagiras em Corumbá e Ladário/MS

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to understand how relationships are organized between people who circulate in different religions of African origin and entities known as left-line or people of the crossroads - especially exus and pombagiras - based on the categories of places of work, obligation and demand, in the neighbouring municipalities of Corumbá and Ladário, both located in the Pantanal in Mato Grosso do Sul. Starting from the narratives of Dona Zizi, a key figure in the history of Ladário, about the interference of the exu Seu Corisco in her life, I try to show an ethnographic cross-section of religious activities in that region. Although the umbanda and candomblé terreiros served as the basis for the fieldwork, I would point out that the discussions proposed here are not limited to these terreiros. In other words, the ethnography on which this dissertation is based is not the result of my regular participation in one specific terreiro or another, something that is common in anthropological production on religions of African origin in Brazil. On the contrary, I'm trying to show how the relationships between these entities (exus and pombagiras) and people (whether mediums or clients) go beyond the spatial limits of the so-called houses of worship, unfolding into everyday effects.