Although narratives can be conceived both as a mode of 'ordering' meaning and as symbolic manifestations of ideological forms, the poetic dimension of narrativity also involves the production of meanings and a proliferation of signs mediated by the act of 'narrating the world.' Adopting this theoretical premise, the essay seeks to explore the many stories of the so-called spirits of the 'povo da rua' ('street people'), emphasizing the performative dimension of narrative. Recounted by 'clients,' 'practitioners' and the spirits themselves, such narratives are not only symbolic or representative, but also constitutive of the 'supernatural power' attributed to the spirits. More than narrate a reality external to the stories, the narratives themselves become an inextricable part of the reality they narrate. By shifting the focus away from the framed space and time of ritual, the ethnographic narrative also seeks to evoke the very sociality of this narrating of the world.
Narrative; Poetics; Ethnographic representation; Afro-Brazilian religions; Performance