Lindsay Hale, Hearing the Mermaid's Song: The Umbanda Religion in Rio de Janeiro

摘要

In Hearing the Mermaid's Song, social anthropologist Lindsay Hale discusses Umbanda, a religion that combines various African, indigenous and European elements to form a new, uniquely Brazilian faith. Hale presents engaging ethnographic material, bringing spirits, rituals and individuals to life through vivid anecdotes and personal histories. The book is based on research conducted in four Umbanda centres in Rio de Janeiro, ranging from 'White Umbanda', as it is called by its mosdy light-skinned, middle- and upper-class practitioners, to more Africanised forms, usually referred to as 'Afro-Brazilian Umbanda', in which mediums and visitors tend to be darker-complexioned, poorer members of the lower classes.