Dancers on Iracema Beach fight erasure: “Iemanjá em Mares Verdes” by Ilaina Damasceno spotlights Fortaleza’s Iemanjá Festival as bold Afro-religious political statement.
Geographer and professor Ilaina Damasceno draws from her Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) doctorate. The book examines the 50+ year event, declared intangible heritage in 2018.
Performance as Public Resistance
Damasceno notes: “The Afro-Brazilian body in public rituals creates an aesthetic-political experience that reshapes narratives and territories.”
Participants’ performances — music, gestures, attire — make politics through the body.
Fieldwork from 2011-2019 at Iracema Beach shows devotion to Iemanjá, the “Great Mother,” strengthening Black and Indigenous identities in Ceará. It blends Northeastern tradition with activism for rights.
Personal Roots and Change
From Quixadá in Ceará’s sertão, Ilaina grew up with folk Catholicism and Sacred Jurema. In Rio, she embraced Umbanda and Candomblé. “It transformed me personally and academically; I became a cambone in a terreiro,” she shares.
The book adapts her thesis for everyday readers. A follow-up with interviews from festival elders is set for November 2025.
On Iemanjá Day, February 2, celebrations thrive in Bahia and Rio. This work boosts geography studies and Black movements.
Photo: Divulgação
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