The Devil and the Land of the Holy Cross: Satanism and the Brazilian Religious Imagination

Record summary

Laura de Mello e Souza’s study of European and colonial Brazilian demonology traces how ideas about Satan, magical practice and Indigenous or African religious life were combined in the colonial imagination. It is relevant to underworld and boundary-crossing comparison because accusations describe exchanges with infernal powers, while the historical record reveals processes of classification and persecution. The lead concerns representations and religious history, not evidence that devils were encountered. Verification should attend to Portuguese terminology, archival context and the difference between European models and local traditions.