Nochê Hunjaí Emília de Tóy Lissá Agbê Manjá e o Centro de Tambores Mina Gêge–Nagô de Tóy Lissá Agbê Manjá- Manaus/AM

Abstract

This thesis is the result of an investigative path of the life trajectory of Nochê Hunjaí Emília de Tóy Lissá Agbê Manjá - Mãe Emília, priestess of the Mina Gêge-Nagô Drum Center of Toy Lissa - Agbê Manjá (1988) in the religious, social and political fields at the service of traditional terreiro communities in Manaus/AM. Maria Emília de Souza Borges, of black ancestry, was born on January 10, 1945 in the city of Manaus, and died on September 25, 2020 at the Samel hospital in the same city. Starting in 2019, this research work took place in several stages and was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the passage of Mãe Emília to the Orum - the spiritual world. The terreiro, by religious tradition, remained closed for a year; the field research was resumed at the end of May 2021 after the Qualification Board provided new directions. Mãe Emília's life trajectory was investigated through dialogues, listening of accounts narrated by her biological children, children in religion, close relatives, friends, and brothers and sisters in religion; the examination of ethnographic essays, and observations at the terreiro's public festivities, resulting in a collective construction. Organized into four chapters, chapter 3 contains the core of the thesis: who was Mãe Emília from various perspectives? The scope of this inquiry included her role as wife, mother, priestess, teacher, psychologist, caregiver, and an honest, militant, and politicized person, with a strong spirituality and social mysticism, reputed to be a woman ahead of her time. The ritual of the Tambor de Alegria on September 25, 2021, signaled the reopening of the Terreiro after a year of mourning. The methodological support of the research was based on references that were appropriate to the core theme, which favored a general and in-depth view with discussions about religions of African and Afro-Brazilian origin, specifically the Tambor de Mina Gêge Nagô. The composition of the theoretical framework of the religious field in Amazonas and Manaus, engendered some difficulties at the same time as efforts were made to continue. It was based on phenomenology with a qualitative approach, and on Oral History, with a focus on ethnographic essays, in the dialogues and accounts of informants, in the field notebook, and in technology. The research informants were blood children: two women and three men; other family members: two women and three men; children in religion: four women and one man; people close to Maria Emília: three men and three women, for a total of twenty-one (21) informants, with academic backgrounds ranging from elementary school to graduate school. The results of the study went beyond what was expected, in the discovery of the roles, functions, and values that played part in the construction if the civil and religious identity of Mãe Emília, a champion for justice and peace. The aim of this study is to contribute as a reference for new research in the religious field of African and Afro-Brazilian religions among others in Manaus, in the Amazon state, in Brazil, and the world.