O diabo viaja às Américas, o santo ofício em seu encalço : o imaginário da magia no Brasil colonial

Abstract

This monograph examines the magical imaginary present in Colonial Brazil by exploring the inquisitorial discourse on witchcraft during the Early Modern period. It highlights the Lusitanian and African influences on the formation of this imaginary and emphasizes the transformations and cultural mestizaje that occurred in the Brazilian context. The research is grounded in the framework of Cultural History, which enables the analysis of symbolic representations shaped by diverse beliefs and practices. The concepts of “cultural circularity” and “filters,” as proposed by Carlo Ginzburg, are employed to understand the impact of inquisitorial imaginaries on magical worldviews, while the notions of “hybridization” and “mestizaje,” drawn from Serge Gruzinski, are used to interpret the mixtures present in both the Portuguese and Brazilian magical imaginaries. The study investigates continuities, ruptures, and overlaps between magical practices recorded in Portugal and Brazil between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, based on inquisitorial sources transcribed and analyzed by historians such as Laura de Mello e Souza, Ronaldo Vainfas, Daniela Calainho, Carolina Rocha, and Luiz Mott. The practices examined include love spells, divination rituals, the use of mandinga pouches, nocturnal gatherings, and calundus, all understood as expressions of the magical imaginary in circulation during the Early Modern period. Ultimately, Brazil is conceived as a colonial space of magic, where the actions of the Holy Office did not eliminate but rather documented and symbolically reconfigured magical practices, contributing to the formation of a specifically colonial and mestizo magical imaginary