“O papa da umbanda omolocô”: Tancredo da Silva Pinto, clivagens e disputas no campo religioso umbandista do Rio de Janeiro (1950 – 1979)

Abstract

This research aims to analyze part of Tancredo da Silva Pinto's religious trajectory, between the years 1950 and 1979, in Rio de Janeiro. He was a leader of the umbanda omolocô and a central figure in the formulation of a conception of literate umbanda and with a black cultural identity, “close” to candomblé. Tancredo was born in Cantagalo in 1905 and died in 1979, in Rio de Janeiro. Circulated throughout his life between umbanda and samba, representing a "link" between these two worlds. However, it has been little studied by the academic field. With that, in the present work we analyze your trajectory with a focus on your vision around an “africanized” umbanda, that is, the “omolocô umbanda”. To analyze his trajectory, newspaper columns and works written by the Umbanda leader were used, in which his religious conceptions were discussed. We work in our theoretical-methodological perspective with authors who promote discussions around the concepts of religious field, public controversies and cultural identity. In the end, we intend to demonstrate that despite resorting to a mythical conception of Africa, Tancredo exercised a certain black role in building and defending a black cultural identity for Umbanda.