Aparecida: símbolos religiosos, histórias estranhas e dissidência sexual e de gênero

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the limits and possibilities of indecenting the symbol of Our Lady of Aparecida through the theoretical tool of indecency formulated by Marcella Althaus-Reid. Situated within the field of Religious Studies, the research argues that the Marian symbol, although historically operated by heterosexist, patriarchal, and racialized regimes, is not exhausted by official interpretations that stabilize it as an expression of purity, docility, and sexual normativity. On the contrary, it maintains that Aparecida—a Black, popular, and situated saint—carries tensions, fissures, and potentialities that allow for her reinscription from dissident experiences of gender and sexuality. Methodologically, the study articulates historicalsociological analysis, critical hermeneutics, and dialogue with Latin American feminist and queer perspectives. The structure of the dissertation is inspired by Nancy Cardoso Pereira’s metaphor—“removing stones, planting roses, and making sweets” – but unfolds in four analytical moments, distributed across six chapters. The research is organized as follows: (1) a historical-doctrinal excavation of the formation of Mariology and of the colonial and ecclesial processes that shaped the figure of the Virgin up to Aparecida; (2) the theoreticalmethodological grounding of indecency as an epistemological displacement in the study of religious symbols; (3) a critique of the regimes of purity and the sexual idealisms that structured the “Virgin” within systematic theologies; and (4) the application of the indecent perspective to the symbol of Aparecida, highlighting popular practices, marginal narratives, and dissident experiences that challenge its institutional capture. The dissertation argues that indecenting, in this case, consists in making visible layers already present in the historicity of the Symbol — layers marked by body, race, class, desire, and politics. As a contribution, the study expands the debate on Mariology in the Brazilian context, situates Aparecida within feminist and queer theological horizons, and proposes a consistent dialogue between Althaus-Reid’s indecency and Religious Studies, suggesting that pedagogies of gender and sexuality may emerge from such readings, offering ethical-political horizons for religious studies that are less exclusionary and more committed to the dignity of lives historically deemed indecent.