The African Religions of Brazil ― Toward a Sociology of the Interpenetration of Civilizations

Written by one of France's most brilliant and creative anthropologists, The African Religions of Brazil is regarded as a classic in Afro-American studies. First published in France in 1960, the book represents a singular effort to develop a theory of the interpenetrations of African, European, Christian, and non-Christian cultures in Brazil from colonial times to the present. Addressing a remarkable range of topics—from mysticism and syncretism to the problems of collective memory, from the history of slavery in Brazil to world-wide race relations—the work is shaped by the author's rich and original conceptual framework. The result is a compelling study of the origins and growth of a native religious environment.

The English translation is supplemented with a biographical foreword by Richard Price and a thematic introduction by Brazilian sociologist Duglas T. Monteiro.

At the time of his death in 1974, Roger Bastide was a professor in the Faculte de Lettres et Sciences Humaines at the Sorbonne. Of a rich scholarly legacy of some thirty books and well over three hundred articles, his acknowledged masterwork is The African Religions of Brazil.