Crossing cultural borders and identities in Brazil and Denmark: a comparative perspective

Resumo

This article compares identity-making among ethnic majorities who practice the religious traditions of ethnic minorities, i.e., of white Brazilian practices of Afro-Brazilian religion and ethnic Dane conversions to Islam. This unusual comparison illustrates the various processes, conditions, and consequences of such forms of identity-making. In the context of discussions on identity-making within modernity, globalization, and cultural complexity, the article argues that identity-making that includes taking on the cultural symbols and traditions of others involves certain tensions. Examining the cases of ethnic majority co-optations of the symbols and traditions of ethnic minorities in Brazil and Denmark, the article shows how such spiritual quests and forms of identity-making invoke positionings of difference and power relations connected to the histories and politics of identity and ethnicity. Both cases consequently imply the need for invoking notions of cultural purity and hybridity, both of which are used in different ways for legitimizing identity. In Brazil, hybridity is the point of departure and purity is an end, whereas in Denmark purity is the point of departure and hybridity is an end.