The patrimonialization of the “Goméia”

crossings between religion and culture in the “divinization” of the memory of a tata

Abstract

Based on the use of the figurative perspective, this article addresses contemporary relations between religion and culture, but focusing on the historic event of nomination as a Fluminense cultural heritage of the land where Terreiro da Goméia was located, in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro. In order to do this, positions are inserted in circuits and instances of symbolic production which act in the assembly of the current framework of memory related to the biography of the “tata” Joãozinho da Goméia. The objective is to discuss the socio-historical factors which result in the current equation of the figure of Joãozinho da Goméia as a sign of an affirmative agenda of cultural diversity, because it seems to match the deification of diversity itself as an irreducible value in the qualification of humanity and its actions.