The Sítio Dagomé

A Rural Afro-Brazilian Temple in the 19th Century (Salvador, Bahia)

Abstract

The article presents information about the Sítio Dagomé, a rural Afro-Brazilian temple that operated in the city of Salvador (Bahia) between the 1830s and 1870s. Based on a topographical plan of the temple produced at the end of the 19th century, the article explores the historiographical possibilities of cartography to reveal aspects of spatiality, sociability, and the ritual praxis of the religious group. In a second moment, it deals with rural Afro-Brazilian temples and conflicts between tenants and landowners, showing the overlap between the struggle for land tenure, the agricultural economy, and the institutionalization of Afro-Brazilian religion. In the final part, the text examines the social network of the temple's leadership, inquiring to what extent the Atlantic communication mediated by African merchants and travelers, in the first half of the century, had some impact on the formation of the Sítio Dagomé.