A umbanda e seu novo espaço: o terreiro virtual – um estudo de caso

Abstract

The fact is, we are intertwined in many ways at all times. People have already "connected" socially through a network of signs, codes, languages, and especially common interests, long before the advent of the internet. Even the simplest idea of networking may be a tangle of small interconnections, but it may also be followed by a large and rich theory of the Umbandist Continuum. When a continuum forms in the physical space, offline, it becomes an online, virtual space. This phenomenon deserves attention under several aspects. Much more so if this entire process involves a theme that allows connections between various "worlds", in addition to the physical, as is the case with religion. In this work, we studied the way in which technological changes and the formation of new communication environments are appropriated by a network of social, ritual and religious practices linked to Umbanda. We sought to understand how these connections may or may not alter the mode and the possibilities for understanding the continuum in the "recent" Umbanda.