The The Exploratory Witchcraft in the Meshes of the Police

Psychiatric and Police Persecution of Bahian Candomblé between 1920 and 1930

Abstract

This article aims to discuss how the police repression of candomblé, which occurred in the 20th century, specifically between the years 1920 and 1930, mobilized psychiatry and medicine to criminalize this religion, both from a penal perspective and through police raids. For this, we conducted a qualitative documentary analysis, seeking to demonstrate how certain news reports from Salvador newspapers reveal indications of this scenario. While repressing some magical practices, this repression reinforced the perception of their dangerous and criminal potential for society at the time. One of the challenges faced by adherents of African-based religions in the 20th century was combating medical discourses on madness. These studies increasingly sought to specialize and build a relationship between Black religiosity and mental health under the pretext of finding a supposed cure. Spiritual problems were almost always treated as medical issues. It was common for candomblé practitioners to be interned at the Juliano Moreira Hospital, as it was believed that medicine could cure them. This practice was quite controversial, but there were many priests and priestesses who went to the hospitals to retrieve their "patients." Historiography has shown that during the repression of candomblé worship in Bahia, the police sometimes acted arbitrarily, without recording, listing, or informing the competent authorities about their actions against candomblé and other Afro-Brazilian religions. Notifications and complaints rarely turned into inquiries.