Revista del CESLA. International Latin American Studies Review

Introduction: The Processes of Mediatization, Commercialization, and Politicization of Religion in Brazil

2026-07-22T17:53:36+00:00

Reflections on the Panama Canal: from historical analysis to geopolitical foresight

2026-03-21T16:47:30+00:00

The history of the construction of the interoceanic canal in Panama demonstrates how one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century forever changed global trade routes. The difficulties related to the climate, tropical diseases, and technical challenges were enormous. Similar problems are currently being faced in the construction of the Nicaragua Canal, a serious competitor that may emerge. The Panama Canal is not only the lifeline of Panama but is also crucial to the security of the United States. The opening of a new canal in Nicaragua raises concerns, especially about the alteration of the balance of power in the region. A possible weakening of the United States’ position on the international stage would contribute to the strengthening of China. This potential scenario could worsen the already tense relations between the two powers.

Elza Freire: circulation, exile and education

2025-04-13T16:06:50+00:00

This paper attempts to understand Elza Freire’s exile as a fundamental experience in her life, which allowed her to circulate in the field of education. Circulation represents possibilities for rereading, in symbolic and political terms, the work of Elza Freire, married to Paulo Freire. The trajectory of the exile traces the reconversions of identity, marks the struggle for survival while passing through the Americas, Europe and Africa, and her condition as an exiled woman in political and pedagogical contexts. Thus, describing paths, recovering memories, investigating processes, is a way of trying to prevent dictatorial governments, rejecting social situations of control, oppression, exclusion and violation of rights, and strengthening democratic society, freedom, education and life.

The protagonism, persecution and expulsion of Marina São Paulo de Vasconcellos during the civil-military dictatorship at UFRJ

2025-05-16T23:43:26+00:00

This article examines the pioneering role of Marina São Paulo de Vasconcellos as the first and only female full professor of Anthropology at the National School of Philosophy (FNFi) of the University of Brazil (UB), now the UFRJ. In addition to her career as a professor at the institution, her work toward the consolidation of Anthropology as an autonomous science and her tenure as director of the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences (IFCS) at UFRJ stand out - until she was affected by the authoritarianism and violence of the country’s civil-military dictatorship, which not only persecuted her, forced her into retirement, and imprisoned her, but also prevented her from teaching at the very institution where she had been trained. Finally, the discussion explored how her legacy endures in places of memory and in the recollections of several generations of social scientists and historians both within and outside the University.

The Merchant, the Priest, and the Shoemaker: Jewish-Christian Millenarianism and Messianism Seen from Below in 18th Century Bahia

2026-03-21T18:26:18+00:00

In the early 18th century, commissioners in Salvador, Bahia, forwarded to the Lisbon Holy Office a list of accusations categorizing New Christians’ conduct as heretical. This inventory documented critiques of the Inquisition and possession of prohibited texts. One merchant in particular was accused of maintaining a bookshop, a library, and shelves filled with books. This study reveals both the intensification of Jewish identity and cultural exchange during this period, alongside a corpus of “shameful words” directed against the Inquisition. These expressions promoted Mosaic law while blending Christian millenarianism with Jewish messianic ideals. Judeo-Christian messianism emerged as a dominant theme, and many anticipated the coming of the Messiah, who would arrive to judge humanity and dismantle the Inquisition. This study focuses on the manuscripts produced by the Portuguese Inquisition, especially the “prosecutor’s notebooks” and the proceedings. This is a case study that analyzes the existence of a system of transgression of the institutional order present in the interstices of the literate elites and the popular classes of the Modern Era. This article reframes debates on colonial religiosities, particularly 18th-century Crypto-Judaic practices.

The Attention Economy and Digital Catholicism in Brazil: The Case of Priest Fábio de Melo

2026-04-25T17:41:36+00:00

This article examines how the mechanisms of the attention economy, particularly recommendation algorithms and engagement metrics, are reshaping the practices and strategies of evangelization within the Catholic Church in Brazil, generating controversies and ethical dilemmas that are often overlooked in the pursuit of virality and digital visibility. To demonstrate this, the study employs a qualitative methodological approach, combining netnography, content analysis, and digital discourse analysis, focusing on the activity of Fr. Fábio de Melo on Instagram and in the Globo news websites about him during the year 2025. By analyzing the content and public reception of the social media activity of one of the most prominent Catholic digital leaders, Father Fábio de Melo, the study shows how this influencer captures attention by mobilizing “worldly” elements and promoting a form of mediated evangelization that is often subtle or indirect. In this process, an “asymptomatic” Catholicism becomes visible—one more centered on human experience than on the explicit mediation of the divine—engaging with secular repertoires and following mainstream cultural trends in the hope of expanding likes, shares, and overall engagement.

Between progress and Christian civilization: Catholic press and modernity in Goiás (1922–1931)

2026-06-19T16:44:31+00:00

This article analyzes the newspaper Santuário da Trindade, published by Redemptorist missionaries in Goiás between 1922 and 1931, aiming to understand how the concepts of “progress,” “modern,” and “civilization” were appropriated and re-signified within the context of Brazilian modernity. Drawing on conceptual history and the theory of the civilizing process, the study demonstrates that Catholic press discourse did not merely reject modernity, but rather engaged in selective strategies of incorporation and critique. Progress and modernization were accepted when linked to material development, social order, and the expansion of Catholicism, but rejected when associated with changes in moral values. In this framework, the notion of “Christian civilization” emerges as a key category, enabling a synthesis between tradition and change. It allowed the Catholic Church to legitimize its presence in the modern world while preserving its conservative orientation. The article concludes that Redemptorist press activity in Goiás reveals a hybrid temporality in which the future is guided by values rooted in the past.

IMAGETICS PROFILES OF THE BRAZILIAN CATHOLIC CLERGY: Competition, Commodification, and Mediatization

2026-05-05T05:25:21+00:00

How are Catholic clerical discourses configured within contemporary digital networks? This study is grounded in the hypothesis that, within the context of digital capitalism and algorithmic logics, the online religious activity of Catholic priests expands their visibility while simultaneously shaping and intensifying longstanding disputes among different sectors of the Church, particularly between conservative and non-conservative currents. The research employed a mixed-methods approach, combining partial bibliographic review with the systematic observation of six clerical Instagram profiles over a period of one year and four months, from September 2024 to January/March 2026. The findings indicate the existence of three major typological configurations: the charismatic-celebrity type, characterized by spectacularization and by logics of symbolic production and consumption; the conservative-doctrinal-catechetical type, oriented toward dogmatic reaffirmation, the reinforcement of hierarchical authority, the maintenance of sectarian virtual communities, and the commercialization of formative content; and the socio-evangelical type, guided by the praxis of social justice and by community-pastoral mobilization within public and political spaces. The study demonstrates the emergence of a Catholic socio-digital universe shaped by the dynamics of commodification, the construction of digital personae, prosumer culture (prosumption), and ongoing symbolic, political, and communicative struggles. It concludes that clerical presence in this environment is configured as a public-digital performance structured around three principal modes of engagement: the celebrity-performer, the doctrinal-dogmatic militant, and the social-pastoral actor.

The elderly and the socio-pastoral and political context on digital platforms: a study on mediations in the São João Bosco Parish, in Itajaí,

2026-05-04T14:54:32+00:00

Drawing on the theoretical and analytical framework of Mediation Theory, this article aims to identify the mediations constructed in the relationship between elderly adults and media within the current socio-pastoral context and the political landscape in Brazil. The analysis corpus consists of interviews conducted with seven elderly adults from the São João Bosco Parish in Itajaí, aimed at reflecting on the social uses of media regarding religious and political content on digital platforms. The results highlight the close relationship between foundational communicative, political, and cultural mediations, as they intersect with practices of friendship and social and religious organization—practices that have taken on new forms and possibilities through the socio-technical networks established on these platforms, which are permeated by political content. The study also identifies the importance of Catholic digital influencers in the current context of mediatized religiosity, noting their impact on both private and communal daily practices.

From Pulpits to Platforms: an expression of Neo-Calvinism as a public religion in the digital age

2026-05-04T14:58:51+00:00

This article examines the emergence of a form of Brazilian Neo-Calvinism as a form of public religion through digital media, using the work of pastor and theologian Franklin Ferreira as a case study. The research analyzes how Reformed theology, by articulating faith and rationality in the digital space, legitimizes Evangelical conservatism in the contemporary public sphere. It demonstrates that the traditional pulpit has been reconfigured as a digital platform for political, cultural, and moral influence. The analysis, grounded in the sociology of religion, communication theory, and political theory, reveals that Neo-Calvinism is not limited to individual evangelism but seeks to reform culture by proposing a public rationality of a religious nature. The results indicate that, in the media age, religion reinvents itself as public discourse, converting ecclesiastical authority into communicational influence.

Pulpit, media, and politics: the mediatization of evangelical discourse and electoral mobilization in Brazil

2026-05-04T15:48:07+00:00

This article analyzes the relationship between religion, media, and politics in contemporary Brazil through the process of mediatization of Evangelical discourse. Based on the concept of mediatization of religion developed by Stig Hjarvard, the text examines three modalities of religious presence in the public sphere: religious media, journalism on religion, and “banal religion.” The analysis focuses on the newspaper Mensageiro da Paz (CGADB), BBC Brasil’s coverage of the Evangelical vote, and the slogan “Brazil above everything, God above everyone.” The central argument is that mediatization has acted as a mechanism for converting religious capital into political one, reconfiguring forms of electoral mobilization and consolidating Evangelicals as strategic actors in the national political dispute.

The Adventist response to streaming culture: mediatization and religious audiovisual fiction on the Feliz7Play platform

2026-06-02T04:54:20+00:00

Situated within Communication and Religion studies, this paper examines the strategies adopted by the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) in response to streaming culture, focusing on the Feliz7Play platform. Based on a historical overview of Adventist fictional production in South America and a mixed-methods analysis of 115 catalog titles, the study investigates formats, genres, and themes. The findings indicate a shift from the denomination’s historical rejection of fiction, with the SDA consolidating a continuous production policy. This is marked by the predominance of drama (81.7%), the dominance of film format (67.8%), and increasing genre hybridization. The incorporation of streaming industry logics is also evident, including franchises, sequels, and releases aligned with the liturgical calendar. Audience performance indicators point to the maturation of this religious-media market. The analysis shows that productions address themes such as gender-based violence, social media exposure, and identity, translating socially relevant issues into everyday and entertainment contexts. It is concluded that the SDA combines evangelistic purposes with the socialization of values and community building by positioning itself in the gospel audiovisual market through on-demand content. Furthermore, through fictional narratives, it engages with and positions itself within public debate.

DIGITAL MEDIATION, CONSUMPTION AND GENDER PEDAGOGIES IN BRAZILIAN EVANGELICALISM

2026-06-13T10:20:22+00:00

This article investigates the intersections between digital religious mediation, the commodification of faith, and the production of gender pedagogies in Brazilian evangelicalism. Drawing on a multi-sited ethnography, I analyze interconnected initiatives that exemplify these processes: relationship mentoring programs aimed at evangelical women; the circulation of devotional goods and experiences; and programs promoting a “Christian marital sexuality” centered on the restoration of masculinity. I argue that such initiatives constitute a media-religious ecosystem structured by a moral economy that fuses market language with doctrine, within which gender norms are constantly negotiated, updated, and performed. Two predominant symbolic economies thus emerge: a feminine affective economy, which combines spiritualized waiting, devotional consumption, and regulated agency; and a project of restored masculinity, which codes sexual pleasure as both a responsibility and a foundation of spiritual authority. The findings indicate that faith is translated into gendered products, experiences, methods, and subjectivities, thereby rearticulating—without dismantling—gender hierarchies through digital practices that intertwine morality, consumption, and religious formation.

Christian anti-feminism and media coverage on digital platforms

2026-06-02T04:55:17+00:00

This article analyzes the role of two anti-feminist digital courses, one Catholic and one Evangelical, centered on the idea of “feminine virtuousness” within a context of religious intolerance and the growing mediatization of religion on digital platforms in Brazil. Through their public identification as Christian content producers, these actors dispute the category of “woman” and commercialize courses on “feminine vocation”, virtuous cooking, skincare, modest dress, personal style, table setting, and the pillars of the feminine ideal, among other topics. This universe targets mothers, wives, tradwives, coaches, female pastors, church workers, laywomen, politicians, lawyers, and physicians, among other women who share situated confessional identities, in a context in which the Christian right consolidated its visible political expression. The article develops a discourse analysis of the construction of gender repertoires, regimes of truth, authority, visibility, and theological and doctrinal utterances within the digital religious market, examining which categories, networks of formulation, and utterances are mobilized by conservative Christian influencers to sell anti-feminist courses, monetize discourses on virtue and biblical femininity, build authority within digital communities, and confront, through binary logics, feminisms and the democratic mechanisms that guarantee social and sexual rights in a plural society.

Media and mediation in Afro-Brazilian religions in the far south of Brazil: the role of Afro-Brazilian production companies

2026-06-16T22:22:31+00:00

In Rio Grande do Sul, a southern Brazilian state where Afro-Brazilian religions have a significant presence, media companies specializing in Afro-religious audiences have recently emerged. Commonly referred to as produtoras afro, these enterprises produce photographs, videos, podcasts, documentaries, livestreams, and other media content, most of which is disseminated through social media platforms. This article examines the activities of four such companies in 2019 and 2023. The analysis draws on data concerning rituals photographed and published on Facebook by Grande Axé, Kizomba, Planeta África, and Afro Mídia, as well as ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with religious practitioners. We argue that each of the three Afro-Brazilian religious traditions most prevalent in Rio Grande do Sul - Batuque, Umbanda, and Quimbanda - and their respective deities and spiritual entities relate differently to the production and circulation of images and to media companies. These distinct patterns of interaction reveal significant differences in regimes of visibility and exposure while also pointing to recent transformations in the Afro-Gaúcho religious field.

Media, authority and gentrification in Afro-Brazilian religions

2026-06-10T20:16:49+00:00

This article examines how the increasing use of digital media in Afro-Brazilian religions particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic - has reshaped ritual practices, forms of authority, and modes of knowledge transmission. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in Candomblé and Umbanda communities, it argues that this “digital turn”, stemming from a “crisis of the body,” as the centrality of physical presence - essential for the circulation of sacred energy - is challenged by technological mediation. At the same time, these transformations expand access to ritual knowledge, destabilize traditional hierarchies, and enable the emergence of new religious actors, especially younger practitioners, more adept in digital environments. The article further explores how these shifts intersect with broader processes of religious gentrification, through which practices are increasingly adapted to urban, transnational, and middle-class audiences, becoming more “portable,” didactic, and aligned with contemporary values. Ultimately, it suggests that digitalisation both mitigates moral tensions and fosters the commodification and pedagogization of sacred knowledge, profoundly reshaping how religion is practiced, learned, and legitimised.

MACUMBEIRA “MILITANCY” AND REACT VIDEOS: EVENTS AND EXPERIENCES OF RELIGIOUS RACISM IN DIGITAL CULTURE

2026-04-28T20:51:50+00:00

The article aims to depict performance and the effects of the agency of axé influencers on the politics of religious racism. We start from the assumption that new actors, guises and complex engineering have re-updated discriminatory narratives against Traditional Communities of Terreiro in the environment of digital culture. Thus, we investigated the meme “Que show é esse?” by digital content creator Gabriel Manhaes (@biel_manhaesbjj) as an episode of “macumbeira militancy'” that grants, hierarchizes and controls the spiritual-civilizational knowledge and identity of the terreiro members. Therefore, we assume as a hypothesis that the reel catalyzes processes of folklorization about the black sacred through practices of recreational racism. The methodology adopted will be Critical Discourse Analysis in order to problematize the challenges that the digital influence of axé represents for Terreiro Communities’ (CTTro) identity politics, social respectability and self-definition.

“What If It's True?”: Digital Mediatization of Religions in Brazil and the YouTube Channel Fatos Desconhecidos

2026-04-16T02:28:21+00:00

This paper explores the digital mediatization of religions through a case study of the Brazilian YouTube channel Fatos Desconhecidos. The channel is a popular entertainment enterprise with no specific religious identity and over 22 million subscribers, operating within what we term the “digital mystery market”. Drawing on the dialogue between religious and media studies, we describe the channel's diverse religious content to illustrate a specific case of the mediatization of religions on digital platforms. Based on a corpus of 2025 videos, we discuss technical-mediatic aspects, including SEO tactics, as instances of the media logic “algorithmic culture”. As we demonstrate, Fatos Desconhecidos remixes ufological, Christian, esoteric, and conspiracist narratives, with eschatological approaches predominating.