Narrativas de controle: Candomblé, Umbanda e a construção da “religiosidade ideal” na revista O Cruzeiro - Ditadura Civil-Militar (1964-1985)

Abstract

This research investigates the representations of Afro-Brazilian religions, especially Candomblé and Umbanda, in the pages of O Cruzeiro magazine during the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship (1964–1985). The main objective is to analyze how the magazine contributed to the construction of an "ideal religiosity" that marginalized and criminalized African-based spiritual practices. Using a qualitative methodology and based on Tânia de Luca’s framework for interpreting periodicals as cultural artifacts, the study examines the magazine's textual and visual narratives and their alignment with the authoritarian regime’s ideological discourse. The findings reveal that O Cruzeiro actively promoted stereotypes and symbolically silenced Afro-religious communities, legitimizing instead a Christian, white, Western model of religiosity. The concluding remarks emphasize that the repression against these religions went beyond physical violence and was deeply reinforced by symbolic mechanisms of the media — many of which continue to echo in contemporary expressions of religious intolerance and structural racism.