African-derived religions on the Web: Cyber “terreiros” (places where Afro-Brazilian fetichism is practiced) and Global African Diaspora

Abstract

Through websites, mailing lists, social networking and blogs, which discuss issues associated with African-based religiosity, I evaluate the contribution of the Internet for the creation of a new social network that is being built, once the real terreiro is being replaced by the virtual terreiro. Also evaluate its contribution for the transformation of traditionally oral-centered religions into hypertext religions, as they are being reconfigured virtually, in an image-text space, hypertext space. Such facts show that there is a new reality: the democratization of knowledge (even the secret knowledge, liturgics), and the new path to establish the diasporal African-derived religious field as a space to globally forecast African-derived religions, with magic-religious services available or as a self resource ? when the Internet transforms the so-called minority religions in global religions, and they become, therefore, socially inclusive religions.