Abstract
In this article, I reflect on the effects of the reurbanization of Rio's port area on the Afoxé Filhos de Gandhi, a carnival group rooted in Candomblé practices. I seek to understand how the group prepared a claim to heritage status through the narrative construction of 'Little Africa', in an attempt to regulate and reform the large house they were based in. However, they met with no government or private support because the property was classified as "ruined and occupied". I explore the hypothesis that this non-recognition was partly due to the fact that these sectors invested in narratives about a mythical past related to orality and African religion, which dissociated heritage and tourism from the housing demands of the present. But it was also due to internal disputes within the group's membership about their own concepts of heritage, disputes that, in turn, reverberated different experiences and collective memories of the "holy people".
Key words:
Cultural heritage; Urban Project; Candomblé; Carnival; Afoxé Filhos de Gandhi; Rio de Janeiro