The Chokwe in the Work of Anajá Caetano: African Practices in the Novel Negra Efigênia

ABSTRACT This article aims to analyze the ritualistic practices described in the novel Negra Efigênia: paixão do senhor branco [Black Efigênia: White Master’s Passion] (1966), by Anajá Caetano, which are related to the Chokwe ethnic group. The novel is an important literary contribution that reveals sociocultural aspects of both the time when it was published and the period portrayed, slavery. Despite this, both the work and the author have been little studied to date. In the novel, there are various religious and cultural references to the Chokwe, an ethnic group of African origin. I aim to compare how these practices appear in the novel and how they resemble or differ from the customs of this people.