School of Social and Political Science

Description

Please join us for a presentation and discussion of Dr Maya Mayblin’s new book: a richly cinematic and compelling look at priest-politicians in Brazil and their religious and secular entanglements (Fordham University Press).

What does desire have to reveal about the nature of power? Through a detailed focus on the lives and loves of Catholic priests as they enter the profane world of party politics, Maya Mayblin explores the complex intersection of democracy, patriarchy, and religiosity in Brazil. For over a hundred years, Catholic priests have been running for government office, challenging Brazil’s constitutional separation of church and state and its self-image as a modern, secular nation. Priests find themselves walking a tightrope between religious and secular demands in one of Brazil’s poorest regions. Vote of Faith is a beautifully crafted ethnography based upon decades of fieldwork that tells the story of the ambiguous and frequently transgressive relationship between Catholicism and state governance, a relationship ultimately mediated by kinship, gender, and sexuality.

Discussants: 

Prof Jonathan Spencer, Social Anthropology, UoE

Dr Giulia Liberatore, Social Anthropology / Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, UoE

Dr Diego Maria Malara, Sociological & Cultural Studies, University of Glasgow

Chair: 

Prof Lotte Hoek, Social Anthropology, UoE

The event will be followed by a reception in the CMB foyer