People of Faith

Mariza de Carvalho Soares is Associate Professor of History at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

• List of Tables ixAcknowledgments xiIntroduction 1Part One 1. From Ethiopia to Guinea 192. Commerce with the Mina Coast 403. African "Nations" and Provenience Groups Gallery of Illustrations 67Gallery of Illustrations 101Part Two 4. Urban Life and Brotherhoods in the City 1135. Constructing a Religious Norm 1466. Conflict and Ethnic Identity among Mahi 183Postscript 223Appendix 241Notes 249Bibliography 293Index 309

“The Portuguese version, entitled Devotos da Cor, was a popular success in Brazil and the English edition merits a prominent place in both the literature of Afro-Latin American religious history and the ongoing study of the subtle and changeable meanings of ethnicity in Africa and the Americas.” - Nicole van Germeten (Hispanic American Historical Review) "The recent publication of People of Faith gives English readers a chance to explore Soares’s impressive scholarship by way of a generally well-translated version with the added bonus of a characteristically thought-provoking postscript.... English readers now have the chance to delve into some of the very best that Brazilian historiography has to offer." - Douglas Cole Libby (Ethnohistory) “[T]his work will certainly serve as a new foundational text…. In addition, the analysis of identity and the terminology used to describe it will be of interest to scholars of subaltern groups both within and outside the field of African diaspora studies. Although the analysis is complex, the translation is excellent, serving to make the text accessible to scholars, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates.” - Elizabeth W. Kiddy (The Americas) “This book... provides considerable insight into the social organization and customs of slaves in the colonial city.” - Elizabeth Kuznesof (Journal of Interdisciplinary History) “People of Faith tells a complex story of the ways in which African peoples in the diaspora developed social bonds and organized collective associations that cultivated and promoted a common cultural and social identity… [I]t offers a useful new framework through which students and scholars in the field of African diaspora can understand cultural development and identity formation.” - Mariana L. R. Dantas (American Historical Review)